Pretend for a moment that you’re an internet marketing newbie.  You’ve just built your first niche website, and you’re wondering how, exactly you’re supposed to get indexed in the search engines. Since this is your first site, you don’t have any other websites to link from.  You also don’t have any friends with websites.  And you only have $30 to spend on promoting this new website.  What would you do?
I’m always on the lookout for interesting new techniques for getting sites indexed in Google and Yahoo.  You know, if you have a few high-PR sites, getting indexed is easy… just link from a high-PR site that you own to your new site, and you can get indexed very quickly.  However, a lot of my customers are just getting started in building niche sites, and don’t have access to PR5 or higher websites from which to start building links.

This situation highlights the newbie’s dilema - if I’m just starting out, and I don’t own any other websites, and I can’t afford to buy links, how do I get my sites indexed quickly?
In order to more accurately answer this question, I’m holding a Fastest Search Engine Indexing Competition.

Goal:  To get a brand new niche website fully indexed in both Google and Yahoo faster than anyone else, and then maintain that state of indexing for one full month.

The Rules:

1. The domain name that you are entering into the competition must have an initial registration date on or after today, July 2, 2006.
2. Your official start time will be the day that you register your domain name.  If you don’t register your domain until July 15th, your clock will start on July 15th.
3. You must announce your intent to enter the competition within 5 days of registering your domain name.  If you register your domain on July 15th, you have until July 20th to register for the competition, but your start date will still be July 15th.  You can announce your entry either by posting a comment on this thread, or by emailing me at marc@marcquarles.com.  You do not need to publicly announce your domain name.  If you want to keep your domain a secret for the competition, be sure to email it to me.
4. The site must consist of at least 25 pages.  All your pages must be on the same subdomain.  You may have more than 25 pages if you wish.  You may start with any number of pages you wish, but your timer does not finish until you have all your pages indexed in both Google and Yahoo.
5. You MAY NOT link to your new site from any of your existing sites.  This competition is about ways to get indexed without depending upon your existing network.  Additionally, links from friends, partners, or associate’s sites are not allowed.  If you obtain high PR links, you should be prepared to show copies of email correspondance to verify that you are not affiliated with people from whom you are receiving links.
6. You may spend up to $30 on promotion for this site.  You should keep a detailed record of what you spent and where.  If you spend more than $30, you will be disqualified.  This limit excludes costs for domain names, software and hosting.  Expenses for promotion software (SEOElite, Webposition, RSS2Blog, etc) are not included in this limit if you announce you will be using them when you first register for the competition.
7. To stop your clock, you should email me and alert me that you have been indexed in both Yahoo and Google, and provide a basic synopsis of what you did to get indexed.  We will verify your claim, and record the number of days it took you to get indexed.
8. The competition ends when the person with the fastest time has been fully indexed in both Google and Yahoo for one month.  To illustrate this - if your clock stops on July 15th, and your official time was 12 days, we will verify on August 15th that you are still indexed.  If you are still indexed after 30 days, and if no other competetor has a chance to beat your time, you will be declared the winner.
9. You may enter this competition at any time for the next month - registrations close at midnight Central Daylight Time on August 2nd.
10. You may enter up to 3 websites.
11. You should be prepared to allow me or a member of my staff access to your site’s statistics and logs so we can verify you have complied with the rules.  Because logs can easily be falsified, you are required have a strong site statistics system in place in addition to standard logs.
12. The amount of time it took you to get indexed will be recorded in days.  In the event of a tie, the prize will be split equally among the winners.
13. My employees, independant contrators, partners and relatives are not eligible for this competition.  I’m not eligible either.
14. I’m the judge and my decisions are final.
15. If less than 15 people enter, we reserve the right to cancel the competition.
16. You agree that we may use your name in future promotions.
17. If you live in the US, you will receive a 1099 for your winnings.  Taxes are your responsibility.
18. There is one prize - $1,000US payable by check or wire transfer.  If you choose a wire transfer for payment, the wire fees will be deducted from the prize.

Here it is in one quick, easy to read paragraph:  

Using a domain that you register anytime between July 2, 2006 and Aug 2, 2006, build a 25 page niche website using any tools you wish (including no tools at all), and get that website fully indexed in Google and Yahoo faster than anyone else.  The site must still be indexed in Google and Yahoo 30 days later.

You may use any technique(s) you wish as long as you comply with the spirit of the competition - You’re a newbie, this is your first site, and you don’t have any friends with websites that you can use for links.  And you’ve only got 30 bucks to spend for promotion.

SERP ranking does not matter in this competition.

Here is the format you should use when registering:

Name: Joe-Bob Marketer
Domain: http://www.mycompetitionsite.com
Registered: July 2, 2006
Promotion Software:  SeoElite, RSS2Blog

Good luck to all participants!