Search engines are the phone books of the Internet. According to a study by CommerceNet/Nielson Media Research, 71 percent of all Web users typically check a search engine when trying to find a site. Since the goal of most sites is to get as much usage as possible, placement on the leading search engines is enormously important.

To have your site listed, go to the leading search engines and register. (A list of major search engines can be found at http://www.ourbroker.com. Just press the "Search Sites" link.) There is usually a link somewhere on each search site which says something like: "Add Your URL." Most search engines will then ask for your home page location and e-mail address.

Once you register with a search engine, the service will likely use an electronic "spider" or "robot" to visit your site. The spider typically looks at two items: your title information and the data contained in your "meta" tags.

The title information can be seen at the top of the browser when you bring up a page while meta tags are hidden within the page coding. There are different types of meta tags, but the most common information they contain is a brief description of your page -- what you usually see when a search engine produces a list of sites -- and a list of keywords. For instance, if one of your keywords is "applesauce" then your site will turn up when someone searches for that term.

To build search engine visibility be sure to follow these guidelines.

• Use meta tags. Many sites don't.

• Use each meta tag keyword only once.

• Limit the number of meta tag keywords to 100 or so. More may suggest spamming to spiders.

• Be aware that you cannot register on all search services -- some are "meta" sites that rely on other search engines.

• There is no need to register on 100 or 200 search sites. Just pick the top 10 or 15 and you'll reach most users. Also, if you're on these leading sites you'll automatically be on many "meta" sites.