Before you submit your site to search engines, it is imperative that you establish links from other relevant websites to yours. Some engines such as HotBot are known to drop pages after a couple weeks if they find no other domains linking to your site. Google has also stated that it will not index a site that does not have at least one external link pointing to it.

Sometimes a link from a major directory such as Open Directory, LookSmart, or Yahoo will suffice. However, you should also try to trade links with other Websites that are complimentary to yours, then submit the URL's of those pages that are linking to you. If you can submit the page of one of these external links and let the search engine spider find your site on it's own, you'll stand to rank much higher than if you'd submitted your site directly. The drawback is that it may take a bit longer for the spider to get around to indexing you.

If you're in a big hurry, buy a second domain and put some unique content on it and cross-link your two sites. To give the impression of independence, it's best if you host the two domains at separate hosting services. You might also vary the spelling of the information you submit when your purchase the domains or use a valid PO Box on one and your street address for the other. This can further the illusion to an automated spider that the two sites have different owners.

Beware of link exchange programs. Most of the time they are indiscriminate. The search engines are wise to this trick. If you end up with a bunch of irrelevant websites linking to yours, some search engines will consider it spam and ignore your website.