If I'm going to build an online community then I want to make sure it contains people with a similar interest and outlook on life.

This isn't always easy to develop.

Sure I could join a social networking site but to be honest although I can meet many unique friends I can also be inundated with spam content by people who have not learned the distinction between friendship and selling products.

I have one established community and two others which are live and gradually developing.

The established community is a poetry site called coffee connection poets and it's existence and success is solely down to inviting the right people to join.

This isn't an advert and I'm not selling you on joining the site. This is advice on how you could build your own online community.

First of all do you have the time, energy and passion to maintain an online community.

You might think it's easy but if you want to be able to handle decent traffic then you will need a dedicated server.

Secondly you will need some kind of content management system which can host multiple users. We use joomla and although I am not an expert, I've had to learn enough about the software so that I can ensure a stable service to my members.

A website which crashes or has constant bugs is not going to last long.

Thirdly consider the type of people who will use your site. Will they be well behaved? Are they respectful of other cultures? If you set up an online community you are bound to attract people from all walks of life. Those with small minds need to be deterred from joining.

Fourthly be aware of spammers and those looking to hijack your community for their own gain.

During the early days of the poetry site I had one member who created multiple profiles and then posted comments under pseudonyms praising their own poetry.

The person was a hardline Christian fundamentalist who posted derogatory remarks on other poems which did not agree or meet with her religious stance.

This was at odds with my policy of bringing different cultures together as one community.

In the end I made a record of the persons activity and asked them privately to leave the site. When they kicked up a fuss and gave their side of the story to other members I revealed the factual evidence and the person left the site never to be seen again.

To manage an online community you will need a thick skin.

Once the site is set up you need to make it a home from home. Create activities and competitions to encourage involvement.

A stance I would recommend is to encourage others to step up to moderator positions. They can help you maintain order should the situation occur.

Ask prominent members with they want to assist. These shared responsibility can spread the burden.

Communities above all else should be fun for everyone including the site developer. Don't become to entwined in technical aspects and ignore the members. If you set it up to make friends then participate. Don't take a territorial stance give others the platform of involvement through an inclusive approach.

If the site is good then word of mouth will gradually build and you will have your own facebook.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities.

He has an interest in developing poetry websites which not only host communities but also act as an umbrella for all online poetry communities and websites. The poetry community is called http://www.coffeeconnectionpoets.com/.

This is the ninth and last article covering my personal experiences in Internet Marketing. This article will cover social networking, commenting, building an online profile and word of mouth promotion.

Social Networking

Although we should not forget about our other avenues of marketing a website the future of online marketing is social networking.

With search engines moving towards the indexing of more upto date live date from social networks it's important to have a presence in these sites.

These days so many Social networks exist that it's almost impossible knowing where to start.

First of all though a warning. Social Networks can seriously damage your health. It's easy to spend days, weeks or even years getting lost in these online communities.

You have to remember you are using these sites to build an online presence and generate traffic to your websites.

This doesn't mean you can not make friends or acquaintances. In fact to be successful you will need to. Just don't over step the mark and ignore your over marketing avenues.

For any Social networks you participate on ensure you have an up to date profile with a description of who you are and a nice picture.

If possible add a url link to your website, blog etc.

Then check to see if you can import your rss feed to the site. This can provide regular posts and content even if you are not active. This can be effective in facebook and twitter.

Remember these sites have rules, follow them, or you could be banned. Posting to many identical comments can and will lead to warnings.

These sites are designed to build relationships and communities. Start by searching for and adding your existing friends.

Social Network is a catch all name. These sites can be very different from each other. Twitter is a microblogging site which allows you to post short comments or thoughts. You build follows if they are interested in your posts. Look up popular keywords relevant to your website niche. Include these keywords in your posts. On a gradual basis invite relevant individuals to follow your tweets. Hulu and twhirl are decent platforms to manage multiple tweet accounts. Allowing you to monitor tweeters and choosing individuals whom you wish to follow.

Try not to post regular promotional material. Use it as a platform to build relationships and chat with other tweeters.

I prefer twitter because you can have it running on your desktop whilst performing over internet marketing avenues.

Facebook is the other major Social Networking site. In this you can build friendships, create or join existing communities. But it can be time consuming with a lot of distractions. It's best to limit yourself to visiting once a day for at most 30 minutes. Post unique comments with links to existing communities and participate in the social life.

I would concentrate my time on the major social networks as they have sufficient traffic. You might also obtain better success by joining a network dedicated to your own niche.

Commenting

Part and parcel with Social networking is commenting. But this can be applied across the internet. Search for any website or blog relevant to your keyword. Ensure you read and understand the content and post a response. This will give you a backlink to your website and generate a small amount of traffic over a long period of time.

Profile

Commenting is one avenue where you can increase your online profile and expert status. If you are considered an expert in a niche then this can increase traffic and generated sales. This takes time but will occur naturally as part of your online marketing strategy.

The important thing is to start by establishing one identity across all marketing avenues. Using different usernames can dilute your profile. Try not to be negative and antagonistic with your posts. Be honest and truthful but offer advice or give praise where it is deserved.

Word of mouth

This can be generated online simply by the gradual accumulation of your online marketing activies.

I know if i need to I can contact almost any member of my poetry website and they would vouch that I am an honest trustworthy person. They even post comments on the site stating this and I didn't blackmail them to do it.

What it all comes down to with online marketing is honesty. If you lie and cheat your way to sales then you will not succeed in the long term. The internet is a democracy which will bring down any con artist looking to make a quick buck. There really is no hiding place.

So be honest and straight forward, embrace the net, and in time you will be rewarded.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the 8th in a series of articles detailing my experiences of Internet Marketing. In this article I am going to explore Newsletters, RSS Feeds and Press Releases.

First of all I am going to say my strategy in each of these areas is in it's infancy. I would appreciate any comments to fill in the obvious gaps in knowledge which will obviously occur.

Newsletters

Newsletters are a means for you to retain the attention of those individuals who have already visited your website and shown an interest.

The only ways to build an effective Newsletter e-mail list is to have an option on your website for members to subscribe or / and to automatically include individuals who make purchases through your website.

Newsletters should contain relevant updates about your products or services.

As individuals have already expressed an interest in your services a newsletter can be used to expand the knowledge of the recipient.

If you retain an active blog on your website then a newsletter could simply contain this content.

Try to take a professional but personal approach to the content. Never go for the hard sell. Your subscribers are old enough to make their own decisions. Use the newsletter as an opportunity to build a relationship. The best way to do this is by providing useful advice and tips. Inform subscribers of any discounts or deals you are offering etc.

Always give the option to opt out of the newsletter. Maintaining an upto date list of subscribers is very important.

The effectiveness of a newsletter campaign is only as good as the time you put into building your list and writing your articles. They are fundamentally about customer retention.

I would set up the subscription service as soon as possible and perhaps provide monthly updates.

I would then turn my attention to other Internet Marketing avenues which help increase traffic. Once they are established and the list has grown to an acceptable level I would then increase the frequency of newsletters to once a week.

The downside to Newsletters is they can be slow to build and depend on other marketing avenues to grow. Do not give up. Once your site is established they will be vital to the growth of your website.

On one of my sites I have a list of 400 members. However only around 100 are active on the site on a daily basis. Once I month I send out a newsletter to all members. This reminds them the site is still active and developing. I always receive a quick burst of hits during this period.

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds may well be the new Newsletter.

If set up through feedburner every person who subscribes to your feed will generate a backlink to your website.

Feeds can contain a dedicate blog post or even all content submitted to your website.

I submit my feeds to ping sites, social networking sites and search engines.

Feeds are a way of saying this is my upto date content. The site is active and content is fresh and new.

Of course feeds need readers and if you are treating it as your newsletter you will want to ensure people can subscribe to it. Place a link or button on your website.

Do a search online for 'feed submissions' and see where you can submit your feeds.

If you want to protect copyright then use your website to restrict how much of the feed content can be exported.

Feeds are also easy to configure to display google adsense adverts. So you could also earn a few pennies along the way.

Like newsletters feeds need time to develop and grow. Unlike newsletters they should be updated on a more regular basis. At least one new post every day. This of course makes it harder to post new fresh content.

I feed will need to provide quality content to retain subscribers.

I've only recently set mine up and will monitor how they develop. The great thing about them is how easy they are to maintain. If set up correctly, you are already posting unique relevant content to your site, your feeds are then automatically updated.

Press Releases

I will confess that I have not yet explored this avenue. It's on my list of Internet Marketing avenues because it is still a method which can attract traffic to a website.

A Press release needs to be about something. It's not a newsletter or website update. If you are launching a website then search for 'press release' and explore the available services online. Plenty of guides exist offering advice on how to write a press release. When I reach that stage I will post an article. In the meantime please post any suggestions or comments.

I do know that an effective press release will generate short term traffic to a website. It's then down to the quality of content and services to retain the interest of customers.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost. He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the 7th in a series of articles detailing my personal experiences with Internet Marketing.

Of all the avenues for Internet marketing the most important is a back linking strategy. On a basic level the more links pointing to your website from around the net the better for your page rank, search engine indexing and site traffic.

It's obvious really. As search engine crawlers traverse sites following link after link they will visit your site more often if more inbound links exist. The higher the number of inbound links the more seriously search engines will take your site. Thus having a beneficial effect on your website popularity.

With recent refinements Google is seeking to clarify the service or product a website provides. They will scan keywords and content, compare with inbound links, identify your niche and index accordingly.

The higher the number of relevant inbound links to a page the higher the position in search engine results. This is the general rule. So it's not just about having tons of inbound links. It's about having relevant inbound links. Remember it's also called Page Rank not Site Rank. So we are talking about links to an individual page not the whole site.

Secondly it's important to link to sites with higher Page Rank than your own. Install the Google Page Rank tool into your browser and each time you surf the net you will know the Page Rank of a website.

Backlinks can be obtained in many different ways. Join forums, create a profile with your url and submit posts. Each post will give you a back link. Search Google for websites or blogs matching your keywords.

On the websites see if they have a link exchange facility. SEO experts will say a reciprocal link is pointless as the links nullify each other. If this is true then it would have no effect on Page Rank. My view is exchange the links. It still helps Google identify your website and could provide a small amount of traffic.

For blogs, read the articles, and post comments. The blog sites should have the ability to display your url.

Submitting links to directories is probably a waste of time these days. But if you find some software which allows you to manually submit to 40 or 50 free directories, then it is worth spend a day on this strategy, but no more.

Of course submitting to Article syndication sites is essential and is one of the first avenues you should set up. Each article will over time create more inbound links to your web pages. RSS Feeds create inbound links for each person who subscribes to the feed.

Social networking sites are growing in importance for link building. Search engines like Bing, Google and Yahoo are all going to index live results from microblogging sites like Twitter.

These sites create a huge number of links each day.
My guess is this is really going to shift the focus of link building more towards relevancy and niche but with recent activity as a new factor. Search engine results will fluctuate from day to day.

At the same time Google have stated that Page Rank should no longer be taken as the ultimate focus of SEO campaigns. Page Rank will still provide authenticity to site visitors and greatly assist link building but I believe search engine results will be more fluid with more recent niche activity appearing higher in results.

I'm going to continue with my back linking strategy as detailed above but gradually I will place more and more emphasize on social networking sites. Plenty of services exist like hulu and ping.fm which can help automate posts into your twitter feed. This is very important and will allow you to spend your time fine tuning your niche back links.

In terms of time spent promoting a website 80% of my time is spent on building back links as this is the path to tons of free organic search engine traffic.

At this moment in time I have not concentrated on online marketing and yet I still have one site, which has been on line just over a year with a Page Rank of 3.

This site has around 30 percent of the links pointing towards the homepage and the remainder towards subdomain links. Only a few of the inbound links come from sites with higher page rank. But 99% of the sites contain relevant niche content. In this case poetry.

I have other sites with lower Page Rank but more traffic from search engines. These sites have more pages indexed and this probably the reason for higher traffic. These other sites also have more inbound links. So why is the Page Rank lower?

My guess is that two factors are effecting Page Rank. These other sites contain inbound links with less relevancy. So not all of them are considered important by the search engine crawlers. The second factor is competition within the niche. I would guess that poetry sites are less competitive than business directory or online marketing sites. Page Rank could be harder to build in highly competitive niches.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the sixth in a series of articles covering my personal experiences of internet marketing.

Web Link Directories

Directory submission used to be a core part of marketing your website online.

Submitting your website to web link directories would create back links, increasing your page rank, and as a consequence your search engine indexing and generated traffic.

This still holds true but with an important caveat. Only submit to directory pages with relevant content (keywords) to your own.

The key problem with directories is that over the last couple of years many companies have been using automated sign up software. Joining 10,000 to 100,000 directories at a time.

Google woke up, realized what was happening and devalued the links created by joining directories. They have also been known to blacklist sites associated with this practice.

The reality though is that even without this action by Google the value of directories went down because everyone else was mass submitting.

This isn't proven but it seems Google have moved towards relevancy of links. Two sites with similar keywords and content is of more value than 100 or 1000 non-niche links.

Returning to the topic of directories. Do a search online for directories relevant to your niche. Try to submit to directories with a page rank higher than your own.

If you have the Alexa toolbar installed you can also see the directory site rating. Does the site have good relevant traffic for your niche area. If it does and it's free then sign up.

Follow the manual process and ensure the content you submit reflects your own websites keywords and content.

Many sites will offer two services, free or subscription.

Personally I wouldn't pay for directory submission. As directories are now only a supplemental source of website traffic.

The reality is that the only directories worth getting into will not accept your link until it adds value to their own site. Meaning you would need an equivalent or higher page rank.

Sites like dmoz - the Open Directory Project are essential for high volume traffic. Submit only when your site would justify an inclusion. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

Yellow Pages Directories

Dedicated business directories like yellow pages are a slightly different animal but the practice stated above still stands.

Business directories are essentially designed to give off line businesses an online presence.

They range from catch all umbrella directories like yell, thomson local etc to niche specific directories.

When submitting to a business directory I would perform a Google site search. Type in site: website url and see how many of their pages are indexed by Google.

Secondly I would consider what services are free and what are subscription based. Unfortunately many of these sites do not declare any fees until after the registration process has been completed.

A lot of the established sites will allow a free basic listing with limited exposure but in return they allow third parties access to your contact details. This can result in spam mail and unwanted phone calls. It's all in the terms and conditions when you register.

Many free sites are worth signing up to if the niche is relevant. They are unlikely to have the quantity of mass data which would make selling on your business details worthwhile. Check each site on it's own merits. Free websites might not have the high volume short term traffic but they can have real value as part of a long term strategy.

When you pay for a subscription service, you are either paying for a more prominent position of your listing on their website (if this is the case ensure they have high traffic); or for additional promotional services, SEO optimization etc. For SEO I would only sign up to the major brands. They will have the traffic to justify the expense.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the fifth in a series of articles covering my experiences marketing in the online environment. Internet Forums are easy to sign up to, join and can be a good supplemental source of traffic for your website. Most of them are free and allow you to connect with similar souls or prospective clients.

Remember you are targeting your core audience. You should remain focussed and join internet forums which are relevant to your product or service.

After you have signed up, look at your user profile, fill in all the details including links to your website. If possible upload a photo of yourself. Although business logo's or banners provide a professional touch they are impersonal. Sometimes it benefits to know the face of the person you are dealing with.

Most forums will have an area where you can introduce yourself. Follow the forum rules when posting your content. Don't go overboard on any sales pitch. Concentrate on who you are and why you are on the board. Emphasize your personal qualities.

You shouldn't be on the forum simply to promote yourself. This is an arena to build relationships. The best way to do this is to scan the forum posts, identify posts where you can offer advice or expertise. Post useful and helpful responses.

Each time you post on an established forum with good page rank you would have created one back link to the website url stated in your profile.

The benefits of forums are clear:

1, Increases targeted niche backlinks to your website.
2, Build relationships with potential clients.
3, Increase your profile presence online.
4, Forum post will be indexed in search engines.

Once you are comfortable on the forum you might wish to start a thread yourself. Make sure the topic is relevant to the forum and your own website niche.

The thread might be yourself seeking help from other members. This is fine as it will help build relationships. But be wary as these pages will be indexed by search engines and you may not be able to delete the post. In this circumstance it might be best to private message members.

An expert on internet marketing seeking advice on the topic does not look to good. Although the flip side is it will make you a human being.

Post on a regular basis, perhaps daily, depending on the traffic it generates to your website. Monitor this over a period of a month to determine which forums to stay a member of.

Settle on four or five forums to use over a long term basis.

Over a period of time your status on these sites will change from newbie to expert and site visitors will take your comments and posts more seriously.

Arrange your time so you spend twenty minutes a day across these forums. You can set the forum to notify you by e-mail when relevant posts or comments are made.

Finally be yourself and be honest with people. The real long term benefit may be the friendships you make.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the fourth in a series of articles detailing my experiences in promoting and marketing websites online.

E-mail campaigns

Some experts will say e-mail marketing is dead. Overtaken by social networking and feeds. Hampered by spam filters and isp blocking. The big question these days is whether your e-mail is even getting through, let alone read and responded to. This is most probably true. I wouldn't base my marketing strategy with e-mail campaigning at the core.

However if done in the right way it can still be a good supplemental avenue.

First of all you must build a list of e-mails in an ethical way.

Personally I wouldn't pay for a list but if you have the budget then do a search online and ensure the company who provides the list is bone fide. Any list must comprise of 'opt-in' subscribers. This means the individual has given permission to receive the e-mail.

These companies can take the form of sites which allow you to mass mail millions of users or simply send you a database of e-mails. Remember you are not the first person using this path. How many others have gone before you and limited the impact of your e-mail.

You will find a lot of companies try to sell you a list and at one stage they might have comprised of 'opt-in' subscribers.

But the recipient has received so many 'opt-in' e-mails that they no longer take any notice of them.

My conclusion is that purchasing 'opt-in' lists is only an option if you have cash to burn. Think of the response rates.

10,000 e-mails sent, 9,000 blocked or placed in spam folders, 900 deleted by the recipient. 100 e-mails read. How many of those are actually going to visit your website or buy a product? These are of course rough numbers but you get the idea of how tough e-mail marketing is.

Whether the e-mail is seen as 'opt-in' or not it's seen as an intrusion into the time of the recipient.

E-mail marketing has two problems:

1, Getting the e-mail to the recipient.
2, Getting the recipient to act on the e-mail when it is very likely they are not looking for your purchase or product at that moment.

The best way is to build a list through from your existing customers. If someone makes a purchase from your website, subscribes to a newsletter, shares backlinks or joins a community, then give them the option to opt into your e-mail campaigns.

These lists will be recent and targeted to your product. They are already interest and you are simply keeping them informed of your services or products.

Make the e-mails regular. Send them on the same day of the week or month. The recipient will get used to their arrival.

Ensure the content is useful and informative. In fact only send out your e-mails when you have something new or useful to say.

Ensure spelling is correct. Do not include too many links. I would focus each e-mail on one topic, with a summary of what it is and how it would benefit the recipient. Link to a web page with further details and close with your name, company name, website url and perhaps even a physical address.

Give the recipient the option to 'opt-out'.

Use the e-mail to build a relationship. Perhaps link to a blog page, skype, pms or social networking site where they can interact with you on a more personal level.

The key I think is to add humanity to an inhuman process.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the third in a series of articles detailing my personal experiences in internet marketing.

Article Submission

Wherever you are reading this article the chances are you already know a fair bit about article sites.

You may be reading this on the original source site or an affiliate who have syndicated the article.

The fact you are reading the article is proof enough that article marketing has value.

I'm relatively new to this marketing avenue and am far from being an expert but for what it's worth this is my approach.

When I write an article I try to create content which is relevant to my own experience. I write what I know. At the very least if I make an incorrect statement someone may post a response to correct me.

I'm also here because I want to inform people about my own websites. Let's be honest I want traffic but not any old traffic. I want people who are interested in my niche area. So my content is relevant to my own websites.

I try to learn and follow the guidelines outlined by the article submission site. They generate plenty of traffic and following the rules can help prevent an article from rejection hell.

Some article sites allow links within content whilst some prefer pure text. I would submit unique articles to both although when the content is syndicated the articles with links may benefit you more in the long run.

Links on an article site with good page rank can help with search engines indexing your site. So concentrate on posting your articles to those sites.

Any decent article submission site will have an author profile box where you can include personal blog and official business links.

The article should be a minimum of 400 words and be written naturally. By this I mean avoid the process where you deliberately repeat keywords over and over again.

Search engines have long since established Algorithms to determine good content from spam and a naturally written article will give a better experience to the humans you are targeting.

Try not to write articles on dated topics like football results. Although this may give you higher hits in the short term, over a longer period of time the article will become obsolete.

A well written article on a popular topic will generate hits and traffic to your site, it will aid attempts to increase Google page rank (as part of an ongoing SEO campaign) and it will establish an online presence in your specific field.

A good article can take as little as 30 minutes to write and can provide real benefits for years to come. Good luck and remember an article is for life not just for Christmas.

John Nightingale is from Kent, England and operates 18 websites ranging from business directories, online marketing and promotional sites to article, blogging and poetry communities. He writes for all of his sites and has an interest in how a website can be promoted online at zero cost.

He is currently working on establishing free online marketing tools for UK business. Part of his strategy includes passing on knowledge gained to other new comers to Internet Marketing.

This is the second in a series of articles detailing my personal experiences in internet marketing.

Sitemaps

I'm sure you will find better definitions of what a Sitemap is and what it can do for you. I would define it as a list of your website url's, it can be used to increase search engine awareness of your website and as a consequence increase organic search engine traffic to your web pages.

It seems to me the online marketing experts are split on the importance of Sitemaps. Whilst some have dismissed it as a gimmick stating that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, will crawl your site eventually without the assistance of a prompt, others support it's pro-active stance giving the webmaster the ability to remind the search engines that a website exists.

I'm very much in the positive camp. From experience, submitting Sitemaps to the major search engines has increased there awareness of my websites, and over a period of time has helped to generate natural free traffic. However once the search engines are aware of your website then other avenues of online marketing and promotion take on more importance.

I update my Sitemaps with the major search engines every couple of months.

Creating a Sitemap is very easy and if you use automated software can be achieved within a short amount of time.

I use free tools like GSiteCrawler for websites with over 50,000 pages and AuditMyPC for smaller sites.

Ensure you have a robots.txt file on your server. This gives instructions to crawlers and generators on which pages it is allowed to crawl or include in the Sitemap. Good advice can be found in Google Webmaster Tools.

Once you have created your Sitemap register and verify your site with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft etc.

After a month use Google Webmaster Tools to check the results. Don't just look at which pages have been indexed, also use it as a maintenance and optimization tool deleting dead pages etc.

Returning to the point of online marketing and promotion. Do not rely solely on Sitemaps. They can help get you started but they will not increase your page rankings or generate mass traffic alone.

One of the key factors I look for is automation. We have so many avenues to promote our websites that we can simply run out of time. Once my Sitemaps have been generated I then configure the generator to automatically notify the search engines of new content. This means I can concentrate my efforts on other avenues.

I have no proof but other marketeers have suggested that Google looks at pages indexed by Yahoo and MSN and is more likely to index those pages. So make sure you submit your Sitemap to all three.