According to Dugan, it's logical that your company's unique name or that of a unique product or service will score high. One way to get good placement is to study Web sites that receive top placement, especially those that do so in competitive businesses with common keywords. The Dallas hot-sauce company's site consistently comes up in the top five of the top 10 lists on sites such as Lycos and Yahoo. Besides having strong content, Harris says that his best advice is to read the search engine's submission directions and follow them precisely so as not to run afoul of their regulations, which could mean immediate rejection. Harris says it helps to have your keyword in the URL and in the title of the home page.
Persistence pays off, too.
In an attempt to keep out spammers, search engines such as AltaVista allow only one page to be submitted daily. This takes lots of time because his site has more than 200 pages of hot sauce lore, collectors' information, gift ideas, and recipes, many of which are updated regularly. Harris, who works as an IS director at a window and door manufacturer in Florida, says he studies competitors to see what they're doing to get their placement. Another critical element is keeping constant track of placement. Harris uses WebPosition Gold reporting software from FirstPlace Software Inc., which tells him how he ranks using certain keywords and phrases.