Get Your Blog in the Game with Bing

Bing is the revamped search engine of MSN and should not be neglected when it comes to trying to get your blog visible to the major search engines. I realize that Google is the king of the search engines and commands most of the search traffic, but there is still tons of loyal users who prefer the likes of Yahoo and Bing. Forgetting about them could be detrimental to your online business.
Additionally, a recent deal between Microsoft and Yahoo was confirmed by Congress, which will allow the two search engines to join forces. There is a great deal of speculation as to just how this might affect SEO strategies for each search engine. Is this new venture going to eat into Google’s dominance? Will the two search engines return identical results? We may not notice any visible changes until the end of 2010. Regardless of the outcome, Bing is definitely worth paying attention to.
Below are instructions on how to submit your blog to Bing.
1. To add your site to Bing Webmaster center, Visit Bing Webmaster Tools page and add your blog’s URL (you will need a Bing account).

2. After you submit, you will be asked to verify your site. There are two options:

•  Upload XML file in root directory of your website
•  Add a META tag in the head section of your website html page.

I prefer the second option. This code must be pasted within the header section of your blog’s home page (learn how to add meta tags to WordPress blogs)

Once the meta tag is installed into your blog, Bing should have it verified within 24 hrs. Like Google and Yahoo, Bing has a great site for Webmasters. The Bing Community Blog is a great resource and should be bookmarked. In addition, the Bing Toolbox has a wealth of information on SEO and SEM basics for Bing, including developer and digital marketing tools that wil help you make money with your blog. Learn and Earn!