OK, I’m waiting for Godot, sorry Google, and Man is it getting tedious…

I built a site on Sunday – nothing fancy – just a self-hosted wordpress blog skinned with a magazine theme. It’s a test site for me to do some experimenting on, in particular, some marketing stuff.

I set it all up, wrote ten pages of content, and then sat back smugly expecting Mr Google Bot to come calling and pay his respects.

Except he hasn’t.

Last night I logged back into Webmaster Tools (http://www.google.com/webmastertools/) to find that Google hasn’t been able to access my site map beacuse of an error with a plug-in. So I’ve removed that and submitted a rss feed instead.

Woke up this morning. Nada.

I’ll let you know when I finally get indexed, but in the meantime, here’s some ideas about how you get google to notice your new site:

• Bookmark it using a social bookmarking site such as Delicious
• Write an article for the site and submit it to an article directory, remembering to add a link back to your new site
• Leave your new URL in any forum sigs you have
• Add the new site to online directories (but make sure they’re ones with a good rep, not spammy)

And not forgetting, a manual submission here: http://www.google.co.uk/addurl/

photo credit: Yodel Anecdotal

On Tuesday 12 January, I’ll be kicking off a new FREE webinar – the Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization.

A webinar covering everything you want to know about search engine optimization (SEO) but were afraid to ask.

Join me as I explain

• What meta tags are and why they are important
• How to build the best backlinks and avoid the ones that are worthless
• What Web 2.0 is and how it can benefit your business

And much, much more…

The webinar dates are below. If you can’t make next week’s then do sign up for the February or March dates.

Tue, Jan 12, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT
Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/127695905

Tue, Feb 9, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT
Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/327353297

Tue, Mar 9, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT
Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/675296305