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SEO sounds like "UFO" for beginners, and even most experienced Web designers choose to leave the Search Engine Optimization part of their projects to people that are really specialized in the field. The drawback is that to get a really good SEO specialist to make your site well known is often more expensive than building that site, and this is why a lot of programs used for submitting sites to search engines and Web directories are available for purchase. Today's such program comes from Trellian, and it's called SubmitWolf.


Setup

SubmitWorlf's last version is 7.0, and it was released this spring, so it's not really "hot", but since the program can update its search engines database pretty often, I don't think this is a problem. The trial version available for download has some limitations, and to purchase a license of the program you'll have to take out of your pocket no less than $169.

The setup package has 3.3MB in size, and while installing the program I encountered a strange situation. The components selection screen allows you to check a lot of options, but those items are programs included in the Trellian SEO Toolkit. SO, what are we installing here, after all? Just leave this area untouched and press the Next button, as I did, and nothing bad will happen!


Interface

When using a program like this, all that I expect is to see my site's traffic going up, so I don't really care how it looks. As you can see in the screenshot to the left, SubmitWolf looks outdated, but I must tell you that working with it is easy enough for a beginner, and the interactive popup Help Wizard can assist you while getting started with the program. Anyway, since SubmitWolf's price is rather spicy, I expect the interface to be spiced up pretty soon, but until then, let's move on and check the things that can be done with this program, shall we?


Features

If you're wondering about the numbers, then I must confess that Trellian gives us some impressive ones to see: "thousands of engines and directories", and even "over 500,000 link pages". Of course, that happens with the full program, because the trial version can only submit your site to a limited number of engines, and you can't edit the engine packs in this version either. Anyway, The EngineSubscription area from the Settings window shows 845 entries for English(general), and 91 US engines, which isn't bad at all, in my opinion.

The Wizard option from the toolbar starts a wizard(what else?) built to guide you all along the way, from entering the URL you need to submit, to checking the final results. I advise you to be careful when typing the information required, because the keywords and descriptions of your site can have a big impact on your site's popularity, in the long run.

An excellent thing is that before submitting your site, you are warned about the engines and directories that will send you spam, and you even find out the number of such messages, but while some sites send you one or two confirmation emails, others will keep spamming your inbox with a variable number of messages, and there's no detailed information about that. Anyway, thumbs up for this feature!

At last, you should know that batch submissions are also possible, as well as quick access to sites that allow only manual submission, and this is only the beginning... the rest of it is up to you to discover, and share it with the rest of us here, but first, let me draw the conclusions...


The Good

SubmitWolf comes with lots of promises, and despite the limitations of the trial version, things look good. This program is easy to use and has a wide range of features, and is also backed by an unconditional money back guarantee within the first month after the purchase.

The Bad

Considering this product's price, I am not asking much if I want a better interface, suited for the year 2007, and an additional Help document with detailed information about everything that can be done with this program and maybe some additional SEO information, like keyword choosing tips and other useful hints. The "Tip of The Day" option doesn't work at all for me, at this time.

Conclusion

I don't want to advertise what I didn't test for myself all the way, so I can't really tell you that SubmitWolf will make your traffic go sky high, but since you can't lose anything, apart from a little time, if things don't go well, my advice is to get your hands on this program as soon as possible and give it a try. Also, if you purchase it and it lives up to everyone's expectations and Trellian's promises, let us know more about your experience with the program!

Developer: Trellian
Price: $169
Trial Link: Download