My interest in the Net has grown immensely in the last few years. While recovering from major surgery and wanting to keep busy I struck a deal with my old employer (old co). I would study the Internet and determine how to utilize it for maximum benefit. As I surfed I would look at competitor's pages, downloading them for my boss to help him stay aware of who was doing what and were there any new innovations or technologies appearing. I would search for our customers sites and download information to keep current. This information helped in many areas of the business from sales and marketing on down to shipping.

Wanting to learn more about the Web and needing a place to start, the most logical spot was Old Co. Web site. What I saw was that the company's page was not always at the top of my searches. It appeared there were more competitors and even if their pages were low quality, they sometimes held the top spots. This really piqued my interest. There had to be a reason. I kept hearing about rankings in search engines and <Meta Tags> and other ways to drive customer's to Web sites so I decided to see what I could find and out how it could be better utililized.

I found that I could submit URL's for indexing to search engines and directories. I had previously been unaware of this. So I began to submit URL's for Old Co's pages, they were pleased with the results and were happy to pay for me to do this. Some of the search engines/directories make it easy to do, although some make you jump through hoops and some don't allow any at all. There are literally hundreds of both types. In my search to discover who I could submit to I've uncovered some information about what makes search engines tick that I believed would benefit Old Co. or any company.

There is a lot of money to be made by marketing on the Web but it can't just be done by simply uploading Web pages to the Internet. How the page is designed, how it's titled, how it's meta tagged is just a start. All of the research that I have done has shown me that marketing on the Web is different than other marketing. It requires a different set of strategies. #1 is getting them to your site!

During my research I ran across some interesting statistics which reinforced my findings. My conclusion is you could have the greatest site on the Net, but if nobody can find you then think of all the time and money that you've wasted? You need to build awareness of your site, maximize your HTML for specific search engines, and submit several of your Web sections individually as a start. Awareness building requires commitment and you need to keep a constant watch in order to have your site at the top of the list!

Because I did a lot of research, that's why. It paid off very well for me. I like the idea of giving something back. I started all of this due to an illness which resulted in my inability to no longer work outside my home. While what I can do is limited, I am grateful for all the Internet has offered me. I think it is an awesome medium with fabulous potential which I don't believe has been reached yet, but it will.

I've used the 'Net to find my Aunt's friends family. She had never seen a picture of her own Mother and only had memories of her before she had died so tragically when she was five. She didn't even have her own birth certificate as she and her brother were placed with a family who, for whatever reason, choose to hide all information from them. I was asked to help out and on a whim thought, why not? It was very frustrating having so little to go on. After a month went by I figured it was a lost cause yet continued sporadically over the next month to plug away. I finally located an obituary for one of the names in her family that she remembered. I called and asked a surviving family member if they remembered her and if they could get the papers and news articles about the horrible death so she could close this chapter in her life. It was so lucky, not only did they have all the birth certificates and so forth, but had pictures for her. It felt great. I was offered money or a dinner and I choose nothing. I saw it as a challenge and a good deed. Ya, what a girl scout. But it did feel good!

I've also located lost money for a lot of my family members and friends, even my ex-husband. It felt exciting to find it and to be able to send them the information on how to go about getting it. In most cases they were able to do so sucessfully. Only one is pending for some unknown reason. Again, I asked for nothing. It's just a kick and keeps me mentally alert.