Make your web pages “crawler” friendly.
It’s essential to structure your pages in such a way that the search engines that "crawl" the web looking for pages to list will pick them up. Crawler search engines include Google, Alta Vista, Inktomi and Excite. You accomplish this by constructing effective title tags, body text, and meta tags. 

The title tag is what shows in the bar at the top of the browser. The title tag for this page, for example, is "How to Get Your Web Site Listed in Search Engines." The title tag should never be just the words "Welcome" or "Home" since this doesn't give the search engines any useful information. 

Pay the same careful attention to important keywords when composing the text on each page of your site. Use meaningful heads, subheads and body copy and don't hide your most descriptive words in graphics since search engines are unable to "read" graphics. 

The meta "keywords" and "description" tags are code that's hidden in your web pages, invisible to the viewer. Their only purpose is to provide information for search engines. The "keywords" tag should be a list of terms that relate to the web page; the "description" tag a 25 to 30 word summary of the page.  Unfortunately, meta tags have been so abused by web page creators (a meta "keywords" tag that repeats the same word 1000 or more times, for example) that search engine companies are reevaluating their usefulness. As it stands right now, most major search engines ignore the meta "keywords" tag; the meta "description" tag is still scanned and so worth doing right.

Make smart submissions to the directories.
In contrast to the “crawlers,” directories such as Yahoo!, LookSmart (which provides directory results for MSN, Excite and Alta Vista) and Open Directory employ people to evaluate web sites and make individual decisions about whether a site should be added to their directory. 

You can increase your chances of being selected by picking the appropriate category for your listing. Choose a category that clearly matches what is on the home page of your web site so the reviewer can quickly look at your site and have no question that it’s appropriate for the category.

To increase your odds of a listing at Yahoo!, submit to their geographic section, (for example, “Regional/U.S. States/New Jersey/Shopping and Services/Dry Cleaners”) if this is appropriate for your business. Yahoo and Open Directory are actively trying to build their regional listings.

For all directories, choose keywords that match how customers speak and search, and avoid sales jargon in your site description and title. The site reviewer is looking for an objective description of what your site has to offer, not a marketing piece, so stick to the facts and omit phrases like “GREAT DEALS!” and “WE’RE THE BEST!” 

Yahoo charges commercial web sites an annually recurring fee of $299 to be reviewed for a directory listing. They guarantee that you will be evaluated within 7 days but they do not guarantee a listing. LookSmart allows you to set your own monthly budget, while Open Directory is free.

Obtain links to your web site from other web sites.
A couple of search engines, Google being the most important, look at how many sites link to your site as a way of judging how important or interesting your site is, and use the results to rank your site in the search results. Links from popular sites carry the most weight.

To improve your listings on search engines, try the following:

1. Develop reciprocal links with other area businesses that offer complementary services.
2. List products or services with online malls.
3. Build online press coverage.

Explore paid search engine listings.
Google, for example, offers a pay per click program called AdWords. You bid on a keyword term (or terms) that a potential customer might search on to find your business. Google then charges you each time a customer searches on this phrase and clicks on the link to your site. The link is in a “Sponsored Links” column that is separate from the regular listings.

A handy feature of AdWords is the ability to set yourself a daily budget. As soon as you've reached your daily limit, Google will temporarily remove your link from the keywords you're targeting. To make your money stretch even further, you are able to set the demographics for each keyword, specifying that only visitors from a specific region or using a particular language be included.