A look at some key points for launching new websites targeted towards small businesses, organizations and sole traders.

1. Website Launch Tips for Small Businesses
Abstract: A look at some key points for launching new websites targeted towards
small businesses, organizations and sole traders.
Intended Audience: Small Business Owners/webmasters and anyone new to the world
of web design and search engine optimization (SEO) particularly those working with
small businesses, organizations and sole traders.
When launching a new website there are a number of key issues to address in order to
get your new website off to a good start and get it indexed by the search engines
particularly Google.
Create a Sitemap
A sitemap file is used to inform the search engines about the content of your website
in terms of the number of web pages, their names, and the priority of each page and
the frequency of change. There are a number of online sitemap generators that you
can use to create a sitemap though always check before submitting your sitemap to
Google that it is complete and contains all the web pages that you want indexed.
Create a robots.txt
A robots.txt informs search engines about which content you do not want indexed by
the search engines. For example most websites do not want their images or documents
directories indexed by Google and a robots.txt file can be used to prevent their
indexing.
Install a Google Map on your website
Most small business will have a requirement for an interactive location map on their
website for one or more of their locations. Websites that use the Google Maps
Application Programming Interface (API) tend to be indexed more quickly than
websites that do not use this facility.
Note: All of the above items should be completed prior to your website going live.
Add Your Website URL to Google
As soon as your website is live then you should submit your website URL to Google
to let them know the website is ready for crawling and indexing. You should also add
your website URL to Bing and Yahoo at this time. Instructions to add your website
URL to the above search engines can be easily found on each search engine.
Utilise Website Monitoring Tools
Once your website goes live it is very important to monitor its progress closely during
the early weeks to ensure it gets indexed and there are no content issues. Tools such
as Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo Site Explorer are useful in this regard and

2. will allow you to ascertain which web pages have been indexed, display backlinks,
uncover content errors etc.
Obtain Relevant Links
Good quality relevant links are also important and more information about this topic
can be found at http://www.istech.ie/blog/?p=133
Eoin Redmond is an expert in the area of Search Engine Optimization and Internet
Marketing for small businesses works for Istech Technology Services in Kilkenny,
Ireland.
Istech Technology Services Ltd
Leading Website Developer and SEO Specialists
Tel: 00 353 56 7780234
Web: http://www.istech.ie/