Free Submission
Can it really be done for free?
It used to be that all search engines simply wanted more listings. You could submit for free and they were happy to list you. Submission software was popular because it saved you hundreds of hours. However, times have changed. The biggest and most important engines have mostly gone to a paid submission format, so many SEOs argue that there is no point in submitting anymore. This is true... partly.

Look at it this way: The SEOs that make this argument will justify it by saying that 95% of the search engine traffic comes from the top seven or eight search engines, and those are the engines that use a paid format (or require a spider visit). If we assume this is true, then the following argument is also true: 1 out of every 20 potential customers that come from a search engine arrive from an obscure engine. You see, the spin works both ways. Would you deny a sale to a customer that didn't arrive from one of the top search engines?

Let's change the angle a bit more and assume the following for the sake of example:

You get around 5,000 visitors a month from search engines
You traditionally have a 5% conversion ratio (5% of the new visitors end up purchasing)
Your average sale is $200

With the above numbers, 250 new visitors would arrive from other-than-major search engines, which would amount to 12.5 visitor to sale conversions, which would total an additional $2,500.00 per month in sales.

Naturally, your real numbers will make this look different (perhaps worse, perhaps better), but the bottom line is that a 5% gain in traffic is a 5% gain in potential customers, so while you may be better off using paid inclusion for the majors, it is no reason that you should ignore free submission to other engines that make it available.

Spin Control
There are two camps out there. Those that will submit your site to thousands of places, and those that say you should only concentrate ona few. Choose a middle ground. You will get more out of concentrating most of your efforts on the few large engines, but submitting to the thousands takes little time and effort, so why not do it?

Do it in AddWeb
AddWeb was specifically designed to give you all of the tools you need to promote your site. If you want to ignore free submissions, ignore the submission feature and use the many other tools. If you only want to submit to select engines, only select those sites. We put the power of decision in your hands. In other words, we give you the tools and the knowledge, and let you decide how to proceed.