For example: when you type the word “television” into the search box on Google, literally millions of results with the term “television” within them will be returned. “Television” is the keyword. All the results returned for that particular search in some way have the term “television” associated with them.  No results will appear that do not in some way have the term “television” associated with them.  If another online search is conducted using the keywords “Sony television”, the results will be much narrower and only return results with “Sony television” or both words “Sony” and “television” associated with them. The more specific the keyword or words entered into the search engine, the more specific the results.

For marketers trying to get found online it is important to know enough about your customers to know what keywords they would type into search engines so that you can associate those keywords with you and your business. Potential customers have a better chance of finding you at the top of search engine results pages if you have associated those keywords with you and/or your business.  Finding the right keywords is often not as easy as it seems and generally requires a little research. This is an important step to take as the success of your online marketing campaign may depend on traffic directed to you from search engines who display search results based on keywords.

One very good keyword research tool is Google’s keyword tool.

Search engines use many sources to determine the accuracy of the information they display and particularly your business listing. This is why optimizing and publishing your business listing on sites like ClickFirst.com is so important. All the major search engines, including Google use third party sources to compare data. The more data and sources they can find to compare, the more accurate the verified information about your business is likely to be and the better they feel about promoting your business listing on search results pages.

Similarly if Google finds discrepancies with your business listing (business name, business address, business phone number) on other sites, they will be reluctant to show you in their results. You can do a quick search to see what Google and the other search engines see by doing a search for:

Here’s what you need to know about submitting your business listing to Google Places.

• Getting Started with Google Places
  • Follow the menu on the left
  • Follow the instructions on how to submit and make sure to comply with the Google Quality Guidelines. You want to get this right the first time as any errors on the initial submission can really bog the process down.

• Important points:
  • Help Home: Links to descriptive articles on what Places is and how it works.
  • Critically important: Please make sure the NAP information you provide to Google is exactly the same as what you have listed on clickfirst.com.
  • You may use your existing Google account, but they recommend creating an account using an email address with your business domain.
  • Individually submitted listings are trusted more than bulk submissions; this is one of the reasons why it is very important that you take the time to independently list your business on Google places, Bing and Yahoo.

• If you have problems, follow these links:
  • Listing Issues
  • Verification Issues

1. Independently list your business directly on each of the big three search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing. Even if you use clickfirst.com or another service to manage and submit your business listing this step is important because each of the big three search engines maintains their own database and requires independent verification of each listing directly submitted into that database. Independent verified listings then are compared to information on other websites and in other databases. The more mentions on other websites and in other databases the more credible the listing and the more likely the listing will rank higher on search results pages.

2. Make sure your listing is complete, accurate and identical on all three sites.

• Confirm your business location is entered correctly on the map.
• List your website. The search engines will use information from your website to help improve search results.
• Include images and videos if you have them. Images help your listing stand out.
• Add additional information in the boxes provided.
• Make sure that your business name, physical address, and phone number(s) are correct.

3. Choose the most appropriate, specific keyword categories to describe your business.

• Pick a descriptive category or enter one if the suggested ones don’t fit. Be as specific as you can be. The more specific the more relevant the search results.

4. Establish a strong, accurate presence on the web.

• Search engines improve search results by collecting and comparing information about your business from all over the web. Make sure information about your business on third-party sites is accurate.
• We recommend using clickfirst.com to ensure your business listing information is distributed accurately and quickly all over the Internet to help boost ranking on search engine results pages.

List your business Free on Google, Yahoo and Bing:

Google Places – www.google.com/places

Yahoo – http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

Bing – http://www.bing.com/businessportal

There are seven basic steps to completing your Linkedin profile. To start the process you must create an account if you don’t have one already. Once you have created your account go to the “Profile” menu at the top of your Linkedin home page. Click on “Edit Profile” to begin:

Full Name and Picture.

This sounds simple enough, but endless Linkedin users fail to provide their full name and picture. Your first and last name help people find you. Research confirms that profiles (not just on Linkedin, but everywhere) without a picture are viewed far less than profiles with a picture. Pictures help people connect, build relationships and develop trust.

Customize your “Professional Headline”. This is where you tell people what you do. Keep this section short and simple. Think of this section as the place to put all the keywords that descried what you do and people would use to search for your products and services online.

It is important to understand that Linkedin not only has its own search function, but has parts that are also indexed by the major search engines. As a result the “keywords” you use in your “Professional Headline” should be used repeatedly throughout your profile. This will help ensure you are found when people search for those terms.

Work History. In this section you add more detail about your work history and experience. It is important to add your current position at the very least and fill in the information about that position. Don’t add educational history here, your educational history is placed in a different section.

Customize your “Public Profile” URL. From the “Edit Profile” page scroll down to the bottom of the shaded box until you see “Public Profile” with a link next to it. Click on the “edit” button to customize this URL. Customizing this link with a keyword that describes you or your business helps people find you.

Customize Your Website URL. From the “Edit Profile” page click “edit” next to “Websites”. Here you can not only edit your website information but you

can include your interests, groups and associations, and any honors and

awards. The drop down menu for adding a website lists options to describe the type of website it is. We recommend selecting “Other”. This will allow you to insert your own Title, so instead of a hyperlinked word that says “Blog,” it will be more specific, such as “How to Grow Your Business”.

Write a Summary. In this section you can further describe what you do. It is very important to use the same keywords in your summary as you have listed in your profile. At the bottom of the summary section is a section labeled “Specialties”. In this section list your specialties; again keep in mind your keywords.

Recommendations – You’ll notice a hyperlink under each position that

says, “Ask for recommendations.” Honest recommendations build credibility and trust. It is our philosophy that you should not request recommendations from people who are not really in a position to give you a recommendation. Give honest recommendations and ask for honest recommendations. Keep in mind here the old adage – what you do for others will come back to you ten fold in the future. Write recommendations for people you truly feel deserve your recommendation. Others will follow your example.

Add Applications – From the “More” menu on the top navigation bar select “Get More Applications”. From here you can add applications that connect your profile to your WordPress blog, polls and many other tools that will help attract and interact with visitors to your profile.

Using Groups – Linkedin groups are very powerful for making contact and finding new people to invite into your personal network. This is an important feature to remember for two reasons: Linkedin only permits any one individual to send out a certain number invitations to personally connect (currently I believe this number is 2000) and in order to personally connect you must have some prior connection ie as members of the same group or the email address of the person you want to invite to connect with you. Once you have reached your invitation limit you can’t invite anyone else to connect with you.

For learn more about using Linkedin and more in-depth training.

Click Here!

It used to be that businesses controlled all the promotion and marketing of stories about themselves and the experiences their customers had with their products and services. The business developed the story and used the traditional advertising platforms to deliver it to consumers in an effort to find new customers. The Internet has changed all that. Today consumers dominate the conversation to the point where they now control the promotion and marketing of products and services; not newspapers, radio stations and television studios.

Social Public Relations and Referral Marketing are almost synonymous terms in the Internet world. Both rely on other people to help spread the word about you and your business. By incorporating a Social Public Relations campaign into your daily routine you can attract new customers by getting your existing customers and people you know to talk about you and your business. The really exciting part about this is that online social networks have made this very easy. More importantly, search engines now incorporate social connections into the equation when displaying results on search results pages. As a result your Social Public Relations campaign may not just be about getting people to talk about you and your business; simply making the connection may help you attract new customers.

Getting found online has never been easier. Get started now.