If you want to be seen by the world, you need to be seen by the internet search engines.

Okay, so what's a search engine...LOL...the little train that could...no! A search engine is defined as an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on the World Wide Web.

How does this little engine work? Search engines on the internet store large amounts of information from web pages. They search the web and retrieve this information using a Web crawler (aka... a spider)*shudder* spiders creep me out, even when their virtual! A Spider is an automated Web browser that follows every link it crawls over.

And last but not least, why the devil is this important? It's important because it helps people to find your website, find your content, find what you want the world to know.

Okay...I'm hooked you say! How do I sign up! I'll admit, Goggle is my favorite, but there are others...go sign up with all of them to optimize your chances of being seen.

GO HERE FIRST!!! My new favorite is

They submit it to more that 40 search engines for you, and they have great free Search Engine Optimization and SEO Tools! They will also teach you how to make Meta tags for your template!!! These are the things that you need to do first before you have little webspiders crawling all over your pages picking up useless information...you want to be OPTIMIZED!!

Google is the next one to do.

Go to:

Google Webmaster Tool

Put the URL of your blog in the box in the upper right hand corner...click enter
A new page opens that says, "Next step - Verify" Click there.

Another page opens up...choose verification method...choose - add a Meta Tag.

A box opens with a tag written in bold. Copy and paste that into your template, in the first section, (I put it right below that declaration so that I could find it easily!) before the first section. Save template change. (keep this Google page open!)

Now go back to the Google page and click verify. It will tell you verified!
Under the words Webmaster Tools at the top of the page, click on "My Sites".

Click on "Add a sitemap" it will be on the same line as your blog address.
Under "Choose Type", select "Add General Sitemap".

In the empty box, copy:

http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/rss.xml

(YOURBLOGNAME) should be the name of your blog! Click Add Web Sitemap.

Go HERE to sign up at Yahoo Site Explorer. After you enter your site address over on the right hand side there is a green button that says Authenticate. Click and follow the directions. Use the Meta tag option like you did for Google.

Now go back to the Site Explorer page and click the word "Manage" that is in front of your blog name.

It will go to a page with your blog name and an empty box.

In the empty box add: feeds/posts/full, click "Add feed".

Another of my favorite search engines is Technorati. Go here to the Technorati Sign Up. After filling out the form, check "I have a blog to sign up now", then click Join.

On the new page, at the bottom is a box to put in your URL (blog address), then click! It will give you a small box of code that you need to embed in your template

Choose your claim method. I like embedded claims because you'll be able to customize a widget for your blog to feature a "search this blog" box, a "blogs that link here" link, or profile information. AND I LOVE WIDGETS!!

Log in to your Blogger account in a new window. Go Dashboard>>>Layout...create a HTML widget to hold the code in your sidebar. Click "Save Template Changes". When you're all done with that click the button on the bottom of the Technorati page to proceed. This releases the spiders *snort*!

THESE ARE ALL METHODS OF SIGNING UP TO BE INCLUDED IN SEARCH ENGINES...but if for some reason you don't want Blogger.com to index your blog.

Open your blog. Go Dashboard>>>Settings>>>Basic>>>Add your Blog to our listings? No>>>Save settings.