Google will list your website almost immediately, but it won't rank well for any search results.
The challenge isn't just being listed by Google, that's easy. The real challenge is getting ranked well when people perform a search related to your topic / product / service.
The right strategy in the beginning is to write content on a regular basis. This will give Google a clear indication that the site is alive and current.
The other thing to do is to start creating backlinks to your site. Preferably, you want to be have backlinks coming from sites that already rank well within your giving industry or topic.
Ways to do that are the following:
1) approach news websites and pitch them your story. Make sure they link back to your site and that their story contains some of your keywords (when possible).
2) approach ezines within your topic material and write articles for them. These articles should have your keywords and link back to the appropriate page in your site (the page you try to rank well for those keywords.
3) Find companies that don't compete with you but are topically related to yours, and exchange links with them. There are two types of companies you can approach:
- International: companies that do the same thing yours does, but in a different geographic market. You can propose to exchange links under the umbrella of an 'international network of service providers'
- Local: find companies that are complementary to your business and exchange links with them as a means to recommend related services to your clients.
4) Approach bloggers and propose to exchange blog posts. This can be hard if your site isn't ranking well yet, but by daily updating your blog, you can convince them that you are committed to growing your site big. That gives bloggers a reason to bet on future gains from your websites popularity.
5) List your site in all web directories, in the right category. Also look for local directories (like Google Local Business Center, yellowpages.com, local.com etc. and list your site in their local directory.
6) Look where your competitors are getting backlinks from and, where possible, create backlinks on the sites that are linking to them (either by submitting your site, submitting articles or pitching stories).
