Got an email address? Got a website? Great. But that’s just the beginning.

If you want to get more visibility online, you need to do a little more to build your Web presence. Here are some tips that will help sprinkle your name all over the Internet – and they won’t cost you a dime:

1. Start a blog – even if you have a website. Why? Because search engines love blogs. Each time you add an entry to your blog, Google and other search engines view this as new content, and they notice it. Thus, 5 little blog entries get the same attention from Google as 5 new web pages! – which translates into higher ranking for you on the search results page.

You can set up a blog in a few minutes (OK, maybe an hour if you’re really fussy about how it looks) at blogger.com or wordpress.com.

2. Leave comments on other blogs and on news sites. Blogs and news sites invite readers to comment, usually at the bottom of each item. If you find an article stimulating, or if you have something substantive to add, type in your comment. At the end, add your full name and a link to your website or blog. If you have written a book, include the title.

When other readers see your comments, they may respond and/or click on the link to your website. You may also get the attention of journalists who wrote news stories to which you commented. If they like what you said, they may want to interview you for a future news story.

3. Write brief articles and submit them to article directories such as ezinearticles.com, selfgrowth.com and goarticles.com.

Be sure to include your name, website and link at the end of the article. Your article is added to their database. Website owners, ezine and newsletter publishers search these databases for interesting items to post in their own publications.

If your article is picked up, you don’t get paid, but you do get in front of audiences that you would not otherwise have access to. You never know where it’s going to turn up. My articles have appeared on gardening websites, celebrity blogs, and other unlikely places.

Pauline Wallin, Ph.D. is a psychologist in Camp Hill, PA, and teaches online marketing skills to mental health professionals. Visit her blog: http://marketwithauthority.blogspot.com