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So, you've built your club site, launched it onto the Internet, it's packed with information on the work you do and should help attract funds, welfare requests and new members. How do people find you?
The first is up to you; it will kick-start the site but needs constant repetition. The second is free and permanent, and some pointers are covered here.
A few systems, such as Google, index every word on your pages but others may index only the words in the site's title, description and keywords list. These are decided by you, the Webmaster, and deserve some thought.
First, prepare your home page. Look at the source code in a text editor. Here's the top section from our site:
<head>
<title>Mexborough & District Lions Club</title>
<meta name="description" content="Mexborough Lions Club, a voluntary service organisation covering the Dearne Valley area of S Yorkshire, UK. Our members raise funds to help the needy in our community. We also have fun.">
<meta name="keywords" content="Mexborough, Lions, international, club, volunteer, community service, registered, charity, welfare, area, social, fund, raising, fundraising, Dearne, Conisbrough, Denaby, Thurnscoe, Wath, Swinton, Edlington, Doncaster, Rotherham, Barnsley, South, Yorkshire, UK, England, English, British, clip-art, clip, graphic, corel">
</head>
Apart from the title (which appears on the browser top bar) none of this shows on screen. Its only purpose is to help you be found by someone searching for, say, a community welfare group in the Doncaster area, or a social club around Denaby. Or maybe for the local Lions...
A few tips:
This appears in the search results a searcher gets, but only the first couple of lines, (as little as 150 characters) so again, keep to the point, don't embellish and don't use all-capitals. There's no need to repeat the club name (like we have:) if you're short of room. And check the spelling!
Try to put yourself in the mind of a searcher. What search-words could they use where finding your club may interest them? What are you offering as a Lions Club? Does your site explain what a Lions Club is – some club sites seem to be designed for other Lions, not for the public.
The above list has no claim to perfection ("group, association, under-privileged, disabled, handicapped," have just come to mind for adding) but does include essentials such as the local towns and villages and our broader area in the UK, together with words describing our activities.
Repeating words included in the Title and Description (like "needy") isn't necessary.
There's no need to capitalise towns, etc., but it doesn't hurt, and you don't need plurals.
All the search engines have a page to submit your site for inclusion in their system. An easy way to get started is to use the facility at .net magazine's site that submits you to half-a-dozen engines automatically.
Then it's a case of doing the rounds of the others and filling in request boxes. (Tip: Keep your site description handy – open your index.htm file in Notepad – so you can cut & paste it into the box - saves typing & errors).
Keep a record of who you've submitted to (and when) and check later to see if you've been listed (by searching for "x lions"). Some engines are run by humans who view and rate each site – it could take several weeks. Yahoo, one of the most popular engines, is notoriously slow to list submissions.
And don't forget to send MD105 LionNet and your own District site your new URL.