Relevant

Submitting your web site to search engines and directories is the first step to search engine marketing. It gives your site exposure to hundreds of web sites that display web sites to visitors, either in a category format or by searching with key words.

It's important to prepare your web site for submission to both search engines and directories. There are different guidelines for each type of submission.

SEARCH ENGINES:

A search engine uses automated technology to surf the web and it adds web pages to its database which web surfers use by typing words into the search box. Using the search box queries the database for relevant results.
See my section on Submitting to Search Engines for more details.

DIRECTORIES:

A directory is a web site that is edited by people, not technology. It's organized into categories, which web surfers can browse in addition to searching. Search engines scour directories and find new sites through them. Getting listed in a directory gets you a permanent static link, which is very important to high rankings among the major search engines.
See my section on Submitting to Directories for more details.

LOCAL SEARCH SITES:

There are a number of important local search sites like online Yellow Pages and Search Engine Local Business Listing. The majority of them are free. I recommend letting me help you submit your site to all the current local search sites if you're a local business.
See my section on Submitting to Local Search Sites for more details.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social media includes social bookmarking web sites and a wide variety of other types of web sites that allow you to share opinions on any web site. Examples are Stumble Upon, Furl, Digg, Delicious. There are hundreds of them that you can use to build links to your site and bring traffic.
See my section on Submitting to Local Search Sites for more details.