Great tips, guys! I've seen my MSN searches increase weekly for the last month but I'm not doing too much extra stuff.. wonder why?
I think MSN takes longer to index sites, I have also noticed that my sites were quickly indexed in Google and Yahoo but took longer in MSN. I guess patience is the key here!! Wait and see.
I don't think there's any real way to guarantee search engine inclusion for any site. It's sort of up to technological whims when you get right down to it. Even the best "optimization" techniques rely on the search bots actually following the rules and playing to what we guess is their algorithm. My mindset is that word of mouth generates the most traffic, you know? If you get those solid back links from people actually advocating your site then pretty much every search engine (should be!) is obliged to index your site.