You put a lot of thought and planning into your Web site. It’s packed full of useful information. Easy to access. Really attractive.

Only one problem — no one knows your site exists.

Imagine trying to find a book in the library, but it’s not listed in the card catalog. What’s more, all the books are on the shelves in no particular order. What do you do? That’s the situation your customers face trying to find your Web site — unless you’ve properly promoted it.

Follow these tips to turn the spotlight on your site so it attracts the attention it deserves.

Create keywords to unlock greater visibility

To find a library book, you check the card catalog. To find a Web site, you use a search engine (Yahoo!, Google, Alta Vista, MSN Search). To make sure search engines list your Web site, you need to create keywords — invisible words on your site that people might use when searching online for your company, product or service. For example, a car tire manufacturer might use keywords such as “tire,” “car,” “auto,” “steel belt” and “radial.”

Once a search engine finds your site, the search engine will list it when someone searches using keywords on your site. The better your keywords match a user’s search words, the higher on the list you’ll rank and the greater chance they’ll find you.

When creating keywords:

• Use words and phrases people would use to find you. Remember variations on words (“tire,” “tires,” “car tires,” etc.).
• Use words associated with your logo, mascot, corporate colors or brand statement.
• List words that differentiate you from your competition, such as location, product names and trademarks.

Summarize in your site description

Another component to attract visitors is your site description. This provides users with a brief synopsis of what they’ll find on your site. Like keywords, it’s invisible on your site. It does, however, appear below the link to your site in search engine search results. It gives users extended information if they need it.

The tire manufacturer might use a description such as, “Manufacturer of a full line of car and truck tires. Find product information, company news, rebate offers and retailers near you.”

When developing a site description:

• Keep it short — 150-200 characters (including spaces and punctuation marks). Most Web users scan rather than read.
• Repeat and reinforce your keywords.
• Make sure your site description (and your keywords) repeats and reinforces the visible text on your Web page. This increases your chance of ranking high in search results.

Say “Here I am” by submitting your site

After creating keywords and a site description, you’re ready to submit your site to the search engines. You can do this manually by visiting each search engine and following its submission process. This is time-consuming, but yields the best results. Or you can submit automatically with help from software or Web site utilities. You’ll need to carefully monitor where the software submits your site to make sure you’re going to the appropriate search engines.

Use every opportunity

Even if the major search engines list your site, you should promote it using other methods to maximize visibility. Consider:

• Paid listings (sometimes called sponsored links) — This is good for jump-starting a new e-commerce site to generate revenue right away.
• Links from your business partners’ or trade organizations’ sites — This can increase your search engine popularity, because some Web crawlers count the number of sites linked to yours.
• Putting your Web address everywhere — Leverage print advertising, sales material, delivery vehicles, business cards, anywhere you can.
• E-mail promotions — Send your customers newsletters or promotions that link back to your site.
• Corporate e-mail signature — Include your Web address in your signature on all outgoing e-mail.

Creating a great Web site takes a lot of thought and hard work. So does promoting it. With the right steps to promote your site, more customers (and potential customers) will realize why they should do more business with you.