About 90% of the Internet surfers use search engines like Google and Yahoo to find the right site. Websites must be optimized so search engines recognize them speedily enabling the websites to reach their potential customers. Merely submitting a website to a list of search engines won't guarantee high search engine rankings. You must maintain the website regularly to prevent it from sinking into oblivion. There are certain guidelines that can help you get high hits for your site.

1 The content of the site should be relevant and informative. Always incorporate keyword-rich detail and keep it updated regularly. You can keep the keywords in your domain name, title, meta tags.

However, do not overdo it. Too many key words of too general a nature may attract the wrong kind of traffic. 2 Keep the keyword density ratio high and in the range of the subject matter. Use the keywords that are the most sought after. This increases the chance of getting a high search engine ranking.

However, don't repeat the keywords deliberately. The keywords' use should look natural. 3 Make the site user friendly. It should be creative and logical. It should not take too long to load.

The navigation should be easy. 4 Create a site map so the web pages are easily accessible to the search engine spiders as well as to the users. 5 Follow a link popularity strategy. Invite relevant sites to link to the website.

The sites that are creating links to this site should have common content. They should have a good search engine ranking. Never link your site to irrelevant sites. It can lower your relevancy rating.

6 Submit the site to online directories. 7 If you deal in more than one good or service, you can build an individual site for each of them. Within these individual sites, you can use common keywords and create links to the other sites. Avoid building doorway web pages and sites. Search engines fine people for that. 8 Try not to redesign the site and content modification at a frequent rate.

If you need to do this, find the help of a professional. 9 Avoid the link pages that display "free for all". Such sites invite everyone to put up a link and thus get low relevancy ratings. A link with such sites affects the search engine ranking adversely. While uploading your site onto the net and submitting it to search engines, remember that certain acts like spamming can actually affect a site's status.

The owner may have to pay for this. Try to design a site that contains effective keywords and fits in with its content in a smooth strategic manner. This not only gets the highest search ranking, but may also get the site added to the users' favorites list. Seek the help of webmasters in building sites.

David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company publishes afree weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web site http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com