Feature Article

The Search Engine Strategies conference this past month in New York City had a lot of great sessions about all aspects of search engine marketing. There are many ways to promote your site. The search engines are a primary source of e-commerce traffic on the Web.

We'd like to share with you some of the lessons and techniques we learned at the conference that we believe will help you if you have a newer domain name or if you simply want to become more visible in the search engines. How do you get search engine spiders to find your site and index you in search results?

You can submit your site to the search engines, which his basically like saying, “Hey, come look at my site.” Or, you can ask other sites to link to you, which shows the search engines that your site is important enough that others are willing to place their reputation on it. In this way, when one web page links to another, it is as though that page is casting a vote.

Major search engines, including Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo!, will look at both the number of pages linking to your site and the quality of those pages to determine your site’s relevancy. Having good quality and quantity of links going to your site will drive the search engines to spider your site and also help improve your rankings for keyword phrases. Therefore, one of the most important things you can work on to gain higher rankings in the search engines is your site’s own “link popularity”.

There are many ways to gain links to your site from other sites. We have broken them down for you in this month's newsletter. Read more by selecting a link below.

  • Reciprocal link exchanges
  • Link advertisements
  • Submitting to the Search Engines
  • Link popularity tools and tips

MonsterMarketplace Merchant Spotlight
We are proud of the accomplishments and triumphs of all of our clients and hope that you will feel encouraged and inspired by the thoughtful business plans and achievements of the Monster Merchant of the Month.

This month: Larry Sugarman with DiscountGolfShoes.com

  • View Current Merchant Spotlight

Top Sellers in the MonsterMarketplace
This month, several MonsterCommerce storefronts did better than $5K in sales from MonsterMarketplace referrals, and some even more than $10K. Read More>>

• Submit your store to MonsterMarketplace

New E Commerce Web Template Designs
The MonsterCommerce design and brand management team recently created many new templates for the MonsterCommerce storefront. You can now choose from over 45 template designs designed to provide your site with a modern, professional look and feel.

• Also, MonsterWebDesign recently celebrated its 1,000th Web design project. Read more >>

New EPower hosting programs launched
New packages available for customers who need a more "robust" hosting environment for your site. Sign up currently includes a Google AdWords credit bonus. Read more>>

New MC Team Members
Last month, we saw the addition of three new team members in the software development and web promotions departments. Now, MC is adding new members to its hard-working technical support, sales and design teams. Read More>>

• Collin Sindelar, Software Development
• Erina Guardia (Erin), Technical Support
• Chrissy Evec, Technical Support
• Jennifer Steuer, Technical Support
• Wendy Ogier, QA Manager
• Matt Driscoll, QA Specialist
• Randy Windsor, Sales
• Kevin Hill, Sales
• Jaci Johnson, Sales
• Janet Lackey, Designer
• Robin Rath, Designer
• Anna Lang, Technical Support Receptionist

Other team news:

• Scott Baird
  Scott's last day was last Wednesday, February 2nd. We'll miss you Scott and good luck in Cleveland!
  
• Cherise Kennedy
  Cherise is Going for the Gold! Cherise has decided to become a personal trainer at the new Gold’s Gym in O’Fallon.  Cherise will work part-time at MC and will be training Julia Dalton as her replacement in the billing department.

• Steven "Sparky" Walkup
  Happy 1 Year Anniversary with MC, Sparky!

Full list of MC Team Members

MonsterCommerce is hiring!
Visit MonsterCommerce's new Job Site to view open positions and learn more about the MonsterCommerce team working environment

MC Team Profiles
Ever wonder where the MonsterCommerce team came from, what experience they have and what makes them tick? Now you can learn more about the faces behind MonsterCommerce. Team Member Profiles are currently under development.

This Month's Forum Hot Topics:

• MonsterMarketplace Click Reports Now Available
• Stephanie Leffler, CEO, speaks at Search Engine Strategies, NYC
  

Regards,
The MonsterCommerce Team