site promotion is a job in and of itself. there are some good suggestions here, but as an seo expert, i can tell you its all about the content of the site. keywords and descriptions, page titles, are all part of the algorithm, but the bottom line is textual content. dont use keywords on your site that are not included in your textual content, dont run up some elaborate description that really has nothing to do with your site. do not spam your keywords, this can get you black listed by google quickly. see more

incoming and outgoing links are relevant to google. the more times your sites url appears on the internet, the more weight the google bots put on your site, and your site will advance upwards on those keywords.

the rules are that if your site is about blue widgets, you should try to stay inter-connected to sites about blue widgets, there are many parameters that can keep you within that realm, and you should know your market, not only as part of the internet, but as a whole. so to outline what components are necessary to get your site not only indexed by a google bot, but to get you some placement when something is queried:

1. site & page title
2. site description
3. site keywords
4. incoming and outgoing links
5. textual relevant content
6. submit your site to google
7. create a sitemap and submit it to google

i could never get into exactedness on here, but i know that the more niche your site is, the better off you are going to be. the broader spectrum of the internet, and not only legitimate sites, but sites that are setup just for spamming keywords, are a hard battle to fight. please understand that you are not going to appear on page one of google for blue widgets next week if you have just established your site. this takes time, and where i wont get into the whole sandbox theory, i believe it does exist. so patience and attention to detail matter.

now yahoo is a different story, they are a little more loose on most every aspect of a site when they are including it in their search engine. msn is slack as well, ask.com and there are probably 10 other major search engines that are worth being listed in. dont waste your time on the infamouse dmoz, that site went corrupt some time back. stay away from link farms. if you frequent sites that are of the same discipline as yours, and it is not against the rules of the forum or blog, i would use my url in the signature. there are many ways to get promoted, what is the exact best way, good question.

good luck with your endeavors.

later,
DosDawg