Web search robots will eventually find your site, but you can speed up the process by notifying them of your address. All these services work differently, want different information, list different information. The Resource List has some details.

Specific listing sites maintained by organizations or individuals usually want a short description of your site and/or some keywords as well as your URL. Some have "add link" buttons on their sites; some just want you to e-mail them the information. The Resource List includes some listing sites for Catholic publications [since this was for a Catholic conference]; make a list of sites suitable for your publication.

Check both listing & search sites to see what categories are available; many let you chose where your site is listed.

You can have visitors to your site register for notification of updates. If you do it yourself, you get (some of) your visitors' e-mail addresses and permission to send them mailings--which allows you to send content. An automatic update notification service such as Netmind will do the work for you, but doesn't allow you to tell them what's new on the site. Plus you have to be careful because correcting a typo on a published page can generate a new update notification, even though the visitor won't notice the change if they come to check it out.

No standards have developed (yet) for the cost of advertising on other websites; prices are what the traffic will bear, and likely to remain very fluid for a while yet. If you've got a budget for it, by all means, advertise on other sites. If not, check out free exchange ad services, such as The LinkExchange and Banner Exchange, which allow you to swap banner advertising with other websites.

Domain names are those catchy website addresses like "www.macleans.ca" or "mojones.com". You can get a domain name for your site via your ISP (who will likely charge you for the service), via your web hosting service (which might or might not charge) or by doing it yourself.

Pros:
usually short & memorable (although as time goes on and domains proliferate, they'll get longer and less memorable)
good for use in print/TV/radio advertising
if your site relocates, the public "address" doesn't change

Cons: cost money
If you do it yourself, $100 to register (covers first 2 years) and $50/year after for .com, .net, .org, etc. National domains (.ca, for example) are free, but may have usage restrictions.
ISPs often charge to register the domain and also a monthly fee for using a domain name. Hosting services more often will do the registration for free or as part of their set-up fee; usage is included in the monthly fee.

Essentially, when you've got something new to offer--content from a new issue; a new back issue for the archives; a new ancillary product; a special promotion. Don't be alarmed by the current idea that if your site doesn't change at least once a week, you're nowhere in cyberspace. Most of us have trouble finding time to check back with our favourite sites once a month. Web surfing may be growing in popularity but it still has a long way to go before it replaces TV watching or curling up in bed with a good book (er, magazine).

Certain companies (especially software companies selling Internet-related applications) seem to think their websites need a new look every other week. Frankly, that annoys the dickens out of me. I come rushing back to check some information and what?--the link has disappeared!! Hunting around, I usually find it, relocated to a new section behind a new (differently named) button, but I've just lost irreplaceable time.

The pundits say that web publishing requires different practices from traditional print publishing, but I say there are some things worth taking with us. You don't redesign your magazine every issue, so why redesign your website? If you do a good job setting up the site structure and basic design, you shouldn't need to redesign it any more often than you redesign your print version.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't change anything. Certain things will emerge as the site grows--either from your own use of it or from comments from visitors--additional links between site items, clearer navigational elements, etc.

The Compass homepage has had 2 changes (aside from sponsors/special offer banners) since it appeared in January 1996: the first navigational system, a table of buttons & text connecting to the main sections of the site, proved to be too "tall" for the webminder's patience. I wanted to see them all on one screen, so I created a more compact button table and put the text links below (also creating space for the What's New button, one I hadn't thought of when I first put the site up!). Shortly after that, client-side image maps became possible, so I replaced the button table with a map, not a lot smaller, but much more attractive (well, I think so). And that is all I foresee doing to this page (aside from adding sponsors' banners, I hope) for now.

In short, if the purpose of your site is the content, don't redesign it for the sake of doing so.

Nothing stays put, in cyberspace, as in real life, and the same may well be true of your website. If you have a domain name, redirecting your visitors is mostly paperwork (well, the electronic equivalent). If you don't, there are a couple of things to remember if you don't want to lose all the readers who've found your site.

First, if you can, keep a page at your old site, telling people that you've moved and providing the new URL. These can be automated to direct the browser to the new location after a few seconds, or simply linked to allow visitors the time to absorb the shock and then click when they're ready.

Second, dig out all those notices you sent out when you announced your site. Some search robots will find your new URL on their own, but they probably won't delete your old listing. And some of the lists you're on won't know you've moved. If you don't notify these lists, you'll lose visitors who excitedly click on your listing in their favourite search engine only to get the infamous Error 404: File Not Found. Old Net-hands know tricks for tracking missing sites, but many more don't and you'll have lost them, maybe forever.