Over here! - Buzz - SMBmeta search engine tool to increase web site visibility - Brief Article

Are Internet search engines ignoring you? Yours may be the best darn doughnut shop ever, but when someone checks Google for, say, "doughnut shops," are you even among the 84,400 results that pop up? What's the use of having a Web site if no one can find it?

That's why Dan Bricklin, co-inventor of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program, launched the SMBmeta initiative, a way for some of the unique attributes of small and midsize businesses to rise to the top of search results. His site, SMBmeta.org, describes the new SMBmeta form you can fin out with specifics about your company: its name, address, services, location, hours of operation, nearby transportation and what makes it special. Your webmaster can insert the form onto your home page, and, hopefully, as search engines and online directories pick up on the concept, you'll start to get noticed. Bricklin has posted a demo site (www.overall.com) where you can see the results of a search involving companies that have already inserted SMBmeta files in their Web pages.

So what's the catch? None. The SMBmeta file can be filled in quickly and easily with tools available on the SMBmeta site, and it's free. Try ignoring that!

PAUL HYMAN, a former editor-in chief at CMP Media. writes about technology. He lives in long Island, New York

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