dumpTRUCK! usage

 about

 requirements

 basics

 settings

 schedule

 disclaimer

 search engine tips

 basics

 using frames

 meta tags

 site title

 get a domain name

 submitting to other engines

 more resources

 contact us

about dumpTRUCK!

Tired of promoting your pages one URL at a time?

Get dumped!

Try dumpTRUCK! the batch URL submission tool.

Software that lets you submit up to 25 URLs with the touch of button to the internet's top search engines.

dumpTRUCK! is designed for fulltime webmasters and other online professionals who need fast and easy web site promotion. Why only 14 search engines? Take anybody's top 20 search engines, remove the ones that can't be automated, and you end up with the list that we have. And over 90% of a website's search engine traffic comes from the top 10-15 engines.

Let dumpTRUCK do the dirty work, while you slave to design awesome traffic pulling sites. We won't try and tell you that our software will put you in the top 10 or generate massive traffic to your site, we'll just make sure your pages get to the engines without running you through hoops.

program requirements:

All you need is a Macintosh with a 68020 or higher processor or any PowerPC, System 7.5 or higher (MacOS 8.X compatible), an internet connection (with browser to boot), and a truck load URLs to promote!

dumpTRUCK! basics:

1. Job is the internal name for the batch you are creating.

2. Driver is the email address that is the contact for the batch of URLs you are sending.

3. Cargo is the list of URLs (one per line, must start with "http://"). You can add them one at a time, or you can import an ascii text list. You should really not put more than 25 URLs in a job.

4. Schedule is the list of search engines that dumpTRUCK will send the "cargo" to. dumpTRUCK! includes 14 major search engines to submit to. The "edit", "load" and "restore" buttons all relate to an ability to add, modify and use different schedule lists.

5. START is the key. Once you have a job ready to go and you are connected to the internet and online, click start and dumpTRUCK will do its thing.

the settings dialog:

Use Proxy: Check this if you access the internet through a proxy server or other firewall. The settings are defined in the edit field.

Use http proxy settings (proxy.server.address:portnumber):

Example: 219.49.40.304:7044

User Agent ID: This is where you can specify what "browser" dumpTRUCK! will emulate. The default setting is for Netscape Navigator 3.04 for Macintosh 68K. You can make the setting anything you like, but a "valid" setting ensures that all you submissions will be made in full stealth mode.

Name: This is for registration purposes.

Key: This is for registration purposes.

advanced schedule use:

Select All: Click the Select All button to check all the engines in the schedule. The checked engines are the ones that will get your URLs.

Clear All: Click the Clear All button to uncheck all the engines in the schedule.

Get Info: Click the Get Info button to see the name and version number for the loaded engine file.

Edit: Click the Edit button and the currently loaded schedule file will open in SimpleText (unless you've got text files mapped to another program). Once you have a schedule file open in SimpleText you can modify it to suit your purposes. See the specs section below for details.

Load: Click the Load button and the standard file open dialog will be presented. Here you can open other schedule files that may be available.

Restore: Click the Restore button to the schedule to the "default" one shipped with the program.

Note: If you click on a specific search engine name and then hit the "G" key the highlighted engine will open in your browser.

schedule specs:

The schedule format is fairly simple and with some knowledge of HTML forms you can add your own search engines and/or make your own custom schedule files. Please note that you there is a maximum of 24 search engines you can provide in an engine file. If you wish to provide more engines, just create a separate engine file.

The first thing you may want to do is make a schedule with just one engine (for when you really need to help that special client with a problem). This is easy to do. Just edit the file by erasing all the engines you don't need, then make sure that the third line of the file has a number that matches the number of engines provided in the file or this case "1".

First, one major point: DO NOT OVERWRITE THE "Engine File" FILE. Open it, then go ahead and edit it, but save it under a different name (like "My Engine File"). That way you'll always have the original to use as well.

Here's what the schedule file format looks like:

The first two lines are for info about the schedule file itself; the schedule name and the version number.

The third line indicates the number of engines available in this file.

The rest is the guts of the schedule. First the name of search engine, then the main URL for the search engine. Next is the actual URL of the real submission page. These should all be fairly straight forward. Remember to put a return after each line.

Now, the exciting part, The actual submission info! The submit line is created by looking at the source for the engine's submission page and then coding the form information into one long URL, using "[URL]" and "[EMAIL]" as placeholders. Don't worry if the form action is GET or POST (it doesn't matter). Make sure the submit line is one long line with no breaks (it may wrap in SimpleText; that's ok) and then do a return at the very end. It should be obvious that you can only submit to engines that ask for just a URL and/or an EMAIL address, and not ones with lengthy submit forms.

Hopefully, these notes will help you customize your own schedule files or just modify the one provided. Yes, we've left a lot out, but hey, we didn't want to spoil all the fun!!

license/disclaimer:

simple/CHAOS grants to the user a nonexclusive license to use dumpTRUCK! solely for the user's own personal or internal business purposes.

dumpTRUCK! is not freeware. If you continue to use dumpTRUCK!, please pay the $15 registration fee. Your registrations will enable us to enhance dumpTRUCK! and develop other site promotion tools.

You can register online at our web site:

http://www.trafficstudio.com/register.htm.

This software is provided as is. All responsibility for determining fitness of purpose rests with you, the user, for which purpose the free evaluation period is provided. On purchase of a full license, you are deemed to have agreed that the software is fit for the intended purpose of use. No refund of the license fee shall be entertained thereafter, for whatever reason.

The user may not distribute, sublicense, resell, or otherwise transfer for any consideration, or reproduce for any such purposes, the dumpTRUCK! software or any modification or derivation thereof, either alone or in conjunction with any other product or program. Further, the user may not modify the dumpTRUCK! software.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN AS-IS BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

SIMPLE/CHAOS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY OTHER WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANT- ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL SIMPLE/CHAOS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF SIMPLE/CHAOS HAS BEEN ADVISED BY USER OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH POTENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE. USER AGREES TO HOLD SIMPLE/CHAOS HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, LOSSES, LIABILITIES AND EXPENSES.

Prizes won by minors may be awarded to an authorized parent/legal guardian.

Special Thanks:

socket class based on httpSocket copyright © 1998 Dan Vanderkam

picbutton class provided by Einhugur Software

hyperlink class provided by Fabian Lidman

glyphs provided by Tal "Scrow" Sella

copyright © 1999 simple/CHAOS
all rights reserved

search engine basics:

FOCUS:

The number one thing to remember when designing web sites that you plan to promote directly to the search engines is focus. Why? Most search engines will respond best to focused content. And that focus will bring you higher positions.

Take a company that sells software. If you have one master site that talks about 5 different products, the page loses focus. Sure, they may get high relevance for "software" but so do 56,485 other sites on the 'net. Instead of a master site, (or in addition to) they should devise separate pages, even separate domains devoted to each product. This concept can apply to nearly every site on the net.

PATIENCE:

Even advanced URL submission tools like dumpTRUCK! can do nothing about the time it takes for search engines to actually list submitted sites. The search engines have a lot to do these days and many of the big ones seem to be having trouble keeping up with the explosive growth on the internet. Engines will say thanks for submitting and then promptly forget your URL and you can end up never being listed. A basic rule to follow is that an average submission will take 4-6 weeks to be posted and then will likely need to be re-posted in 2-3 months. In competitive areas, resubmission may need to be more frequent.

INTELLIGENCE:

Knowing what your potential customers will be typing into the search engines is the most important key to getting the proper traffic. Going for general terms like "software" or "free" can be pretty useless. Doing some basic market research now applies to search engine placement as well as other media outlets.

using frames:

Here's the short version: don't.

First of all, we're not trying to put down frames. They have a place in HTML design and can be very useful for presenting information. However, most of the search engine spiders on the 'net cannot read frames, thus foiling your attempt to get the site recorded properly. If you ever wondered why you see search engine descriptions that start "Your browser doesn't support frames...", now you know.

If you cannot live without frames, you must create "gateways" in order to effectively promote your site. "Gateways" or entry pages are single pages (think of them as billboards) designed to talk-up a web site and point to the actual entrance.

Another possibility is to use the "NOFRAMES" tag and provide some actual content in the page for the spiders.

meta tags:

Meta-tags can also be an important piece of your promotional plan. The idea is to use words and phrases here that will "match" what people are searching the 'net for and also provide a handy way for search engines to summarize your pages.

The meta-tag format is simple and is described below:

<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="This is the description of my site. It's a cool site and deserves your attention."> <META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="keyword, keyword, keyword, a key phrase, a key phrase, a key phrase">

The meta-tags go in between the <HEAD></HEAD> section of your page's source code. And the idea is to fill both of these tags with keywords applicable to your site. Please note that some engines will penalize your for repeating a word or phrase too many times (generally 6 or more times counts as "spamming").

site title:

Your page's site title is yet another important section for promotional opportunities.

The site title tag looks like this:

<TITLE>This is the great site title for this page</TITLE>

The title tag should appear after the meta-tags, but within the <HEAD></HEAD> section. Again the theory is to utilize keywords and phrases in this section and also provide some sort of a description of what is on the page.

Many of the search engines use the site title as the title that appears in the results page, so it's best that this title makes a little bit of sense. While a totally stuffed site title may get you a higher listing, you'd be amazed to learn that us 'net surfers will probably skip a "spammed" listing cause it looks like you're trying.

Site promotion is part science and fancy tricks. And the rest of it old fashioned marketing and knowing your customers. Don't forget that.

get a domain name:

Having your own domain name makes things a lot easier. Believe it or not a lot of search engines today are making it harder for "free" site owners to keep their pages indexed.

Get your-name.com today!

submitting to other search engines:

Click on a search engine listed below to visit their submission page or "how to submit" page. These are manual submission engines, so take your time and have fun!

LookSmart

Snap

Yahoo!

web site:

Visit the dumpTRUCK! web site at

http://www.trafficstudio.com/dumptruck/about.htm

email:

You can contact us via email at: software@trafficstudio.com