So you have the world's best site about your talented and alarmingly smart cat. The design is pretty, the pictures of your cat are beyond compare. There's only one thing missing, no one but you and your cat are visiting your site.

Don't be discouraged, this happens a lot. There are a few easy and effective ways to increase your traffic. Some are traditional, others are more creative. But all in all, if you follow these simple steps that I have divided into traditional and non-traditional categories, you can really improve your hits. Hey these have worked for me!

Part I. TRADTIONAL:

1. General Search Engine Submission:
As we all know, most people find web pages through search engines. But did you know that the average web surfer only checks about the first 20-30 results? To truly understand the way that search engine's work and how they determine the relevant results check out: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.html.

No matter how crazy the search engine "formula" is, it is ALWAYS worth it to submit your site. FortuneCity lets you submit your site to 100 search engine's for free, just click here: http://www.submitplus.com/scripts/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=Fortune. But don't run and submit until you have read the rest of this section� I talk about "smart submission" further down.

By the way, don't forget Yahoo, you have to do that one manually, but it's totally worth it because more than half of all the people who do searches on the net use it. You can submit by clicking here, http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/. Be patient though, it takes a while for them to categorize all the submissions they get.


2. Meta Tags:
Meta Tags are a major way search engines "find and rank" the web sites that they list. Like I mentioned above, who cares if you are in the search results if your site is 30,000 of 169,606,909. Manipulating your Meta Tags can improve your ranking. I won't spend too much time on this because Alan, FortuneCity's resident Search Engine Expert, has great articles in every other newsletter. They focus on easy step by step ways to optimize your site for search engines. If you missed them, go back and check them out. Or, you can also check out this Meta Tag reference: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html.


3. Pick the right category!
All to often we webmasters don't really think about this one. Most search engines ask you to choose a category for your site. If you choose a relevant category that has 600 websites already, you have cut your chances of being noticed. Try finding a shorter category that fits your site PERFECTLY in with less than 100 sites already in it. This is especially true if the title of your site starts with a word in the end of the alphabet. Search Engine categories usually alphabetize their sites, giving those that start with an early letter of the alphabet higher placement. You might want to consider re-titling your site.


Part II. NONTRADITIONAL:

1. Message Boards:
There are tons of message boards out there! They are a great way to find the people online that are interested in any given topic. People who participate in message boards usually have a passion for the topic, so why not get them to visit your site? Do a search for message boards that have the same theme as your site, then post some messages about your site; like, why it's so cool, what its about, special content. The number of people that will come check it out'd surprise you. Also, these visitors are "quality". If your site is really as good as you say it is, they can be your free "marketing team". You will notice that people posting messages will often suggest good sites to others; they might just start recommending yours! There is also a pretty good chance that these visitors will come back again because they are already interested in this topic. You can also put a message board on your site. Become a place where people go to talk about your site's topic. If you get some good postings people will come back. FortuneCity offers a free message board; it's on the Cool Tools page. http://www2.fortunecity.com/util/authenticate6/authenticate?url=PageManager/GoodiesInfo


2.Cool Links Lists:
The best way to find these lists is to check out the sites that are recommended in the Message Boards. You should also do a search on search engines for your site's topic and visit the top results. Chances are pretty good that there will be a "recommended" or "cool" links page on at least a few of them. Read through the sites and see if they have a "suggest a site" e-mail. If they don't have that, look for the Webmaster's e-mail. Send him or her a message asking to be included on the list. Make sure you make your case about why your site is worthy of consideration. It's also a good idea to start one of these pages yourself. Be discriminating and don't let just any old site be listed. Only put sites you think are worth it, your visitors will respect you for it. When you add a site make sure you e-mail the Webmaster to let them know. Why not suggest that they return the favor.


3.Apply for Web Awards:
Be careful with this one. Don't go crazy putting the graphics of all the awards you one on every page you have on your site. It will look super tacky! Most people who are web savvy have a pretty good idea which awards are prestigious and which is handed out to everyone. Shoot for the stars; it's better to win a few prestigious awards than a million crappy ones. I would suggest using the Web Awards Worksheet for this. (http://websiteawards.xe.net/worksheet.htm ) This free resource helps you apply to over 600 Awards Sites around the world and track your activities. Easy to use, it's a great organizer! Start with the tough awards and work your way down. You might want to consider creating an awards program of your own and submitting it to the sheet. Most of these awards require you to place the award somewhere on your site. I have a couple of suggestions for this. DON'T PUT THEM ALL OVER THE PLACE.!!!! Put all your awards on one page as cleanly as possible. These sites are good examples of how to display awards tastefully:
http://www.treecity.co.uk/home.html (awards won)
http://www.nbntechinc.com/about/awards.cfm

Good Luck, I hope your traffic improves. Who knows, maybe next month your site will be listed in the top 100 on FortuneCity.com