Google Visibility -- Making Your Name Appear on Google

Last week we talked about how more employees, business partners, and long lost friends were using Google to find you. This week I’ll give you some tips on raising your Google visibility. If you believe the media, your very future depends on it. Let’s first talk about the importance of having a landing page.

When a company begins a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) project they have a natural landing page in their corporate website, but few people have created a personal page for themselves. You may be very well known in the offline universe, but without a presence somewhere on the internet, you’ll never be found. Here's three quick and easy ways to build that presence.

Create a Corporate Bio Page

If you are a business owner, or executive in a firm, one of the quickest ways to raise visibility is by getting added to the company website. You’ll have very little control over the content and placement, but at least you’ll be online. It’s a start.

Here are three good examples in Doug Novak of Strategic Information Group, Nina Smith of Sage, Inc., and Mike Santoro of Walker Sands Communications. This technique will be a lot easier for those in smaller companies and in high-ranking positions.

Join the Online Social Network

People poo poo the new world of online social networking, but they shouldn't. Sites like MySpace and LinkedIn allow users to create their very own pages that are unique in personality and message. 

MySpace, formerly only a domain for musicians and teens, continues to move forward as a mainstream tool, allowing those with a fun and light-hearted personality to promote themselves. Most actors, artists and other creative types are required to have these pages in order to promote their careers.

More down to earth and suitable for the scientists and business executives of the world is the business networking site LinkedIn. Far less sexy than MySpace, it allows users to build a page of job history, areas of expertise and a short business description of yourself. You don’t get to pick colors or theme music, but maybe it’s best to keep your love of Michael Bolton to yourself.

Enter the Blogosphere

By far the best of these tools to gather Google love, starting a blog allows you to create a personalized landing page with a specialized focus. If you are a music lover, you can write about the latest bands, if you are a financial analyst, you can write about the latest trends in the industry.

Google loves content, so the more your write, the better chance you have of moving up the search rankings. Before I started writing Perfect Pitch I was rarely found higher than the fourth page. With new content every week, and an increasing amount of inbound links. Google recognized my page as fairly important in the Mike Santoro universe.

So get a landing page and put it out there. You wouldn't be found in the real world without a home, an address, a phone number, a place to find you. Why would you expect any differently for the online world?

Once you've got your online home, we’ll talk next week about making that home move up the search rankings.

Whitepaper vs. Webcast -- What Call to Action Gets Results?

If you've ever wondered what offer will most entice website visitors to turn over their information, this recent report from MarketingSherpa is must read. Sherpa in conjunction with KnowledgeStorm, Inc. has put together part two of their report on website content. This one focuses on one of the biggest questions online marketers ask: How do I get site visitors to leave their information behind?

The article is open access until May 16th, so you'll have to hurry to check it out. After that, the full report will be made available at www.knowledgestore.com/connectingthoughcontent. The report has fantastic data about what offers users actually want vs. what vendors think they are looking for. You also get stats on how often people provide valid info, and use of business email address vs. personal.

Because I don't want to enrage the Sherpa, I've just pulled only one of these charts to talk about in more detail. There's tons more information there, so please go visit the site or register for the report. This particular chart discuss the level of detail users desire in a summary.

Chart: Will a Detailed Summary Encourage Registration?

Copyright 2007: KnowledgeStorm Inc. All rights reserved

I've heard many times that you want to just capture the viewer's information and move them through the process. The less they have to look at the more likely they are to fill out the form. This data runs contrary to this and backs up what I've always believed. Web users are seekers of information. The reason why they consider your whitepaper or webcast in the first place is because they need more info. There's some really cool information so I urge you to check it out.

The article is available at http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29964 until May 16th. After that you can download the full free report at www.knowledgestore.com/connectingthoughcontent.

I Googled Myself This Morning

And apparently I'm not the only one. You're a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well explains how the trend of vanity searches, or self Googling, is rapidly increasing. But you're not the only one looking for your name. Potential employers, business partners, and everyone else you know is searching for you. Your credibility is at stake here, so if you aren't appearing in Google, you may be in big trouble.

"About 7% of all searches are for a person's name, estimates search engine Ask.com. More than 80% of executive recruiters said they routinely use search engines to learn more about candidates, according to a recent survey by executive networking firm ExecuNet. Nearly 40% of individuals have used search engines to look up friends or acquaintances with whom they'd lost touch, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Microsoft Corp.'s MSN unit."

People are looking for you, even if you haven't been looking for yourself. Realizing the stakes, people are beginning to manage their online profiles and at points hiring outside firms to help optimize their name for them.

"Some people have taken measures to boost their visibility online, including creating listings in professional directories and paying companies to help them appear more prominently in search results. Parents-to-be routinely plug baby names into search engines to scout out the online competition."

Paying firms for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is still a relatively new marketing technique in the corporate world. To see people writing checks out of their own accounts shows how important online search is becoming. And don't get me started on baby naming. When a company can affect the way you name your child, that's power.

In a way, we've seen this coming for a while. Around here new PR initiatives still focus on company promotion, but we've seen an increase in requests to promote the individuals involved as well. In the last year, more people are requesting high Google rankings not only for their company, but also for their senior executives. People promotion is becoming increasingly important.

A fascinating article, You're Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well is available on wsj.com. Later this week we'll explore some quick and cheap ways to manage your own online presence.

Marketing to Women -- AdAge Goes Inside a Woman's Purse

Marketing to women has become huge in the past decade and marketers are finally realizing that what they thought they knew isn't right at all. It's been well documented by books like Don't Think Pink, that attempts to appeal to women by using pastel colors and "lighter versions" of the original isn't effective, it's actually pretty offensive.

AdAge has a fun piece exploring 100 women's purses in attempt to better open up their world to marketers. Like most men, I fear the inside of a woman's purse. I carry a money clip with a credit card, a license, and if I'm lucky, around $10. To me a purse is a place where there's sometimes candy, and sometimes available storage for my camera. I've been taught from a young age, it's not a place men are allowed to explore. So Steal this bag... from Jack Neff was interesting in one part curiosity, one part actual marketing advice.

There's nothing mind boggling in here. Though I am afraid of purses, I pretty much know what's in them, and so do you. It's a mixture of discount cards, coupons, cell phones, and hand lotion. So it's not necessarily the items that jump out, but rather some of the insights into them. Ever give away promotion pens? There's gems like this:

"(Promotional pens and key chains) were common, showing such trinkets really do stand the test of time. The problem is, brand names frequently were worn off. Cheap printing is not a good idea for your promo item."

Explore the depths of a women's purse and more insights into the items women carry around at Steal This Bag ...and Look Inside: A Hundred Women Show Marketers What Floats Their Totes -- and What Doesn't.

What's In a Name -- Using the Visual Thesarus for Word Ideas

Ever write something and get totally hung up when you couldn't find the right word? Any writer worth his or her salt knows the first place to turn is the Thesaurus. Often seen as the Dictionary's kid brother, it doesn't get the respect it deserves for the work it can help you with.

As you know I recently changed the focus of this blog and had the hardest time coming up with a name. The first place I turned was the thesaurus, only they've web 2.0'd it. Old standby thesaurus.com encouraged me to visit the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus, a thesarus that takes your word search and presents words closely related in a visual format. Click on one of the related words and it will make that the center of the universe with its related words serving as satelittes.

There's no real way to describe it, other than going and playing with it. And maybe I'm a word nerd, but it is a fun toy to play with. You can play the six degrees of seperation game and see how marketing can in less than three steps be related to mildew. Odd, no?

I like to abuse the trial version for my five searches I do every week, but if you want to use it as a real tool, you'll probably have to buy it. It's $19.95/yr or $39.95 for a desktop version. You can acess it at www.visualthesaurus.com. Whether you are trying to rename a product or just bored, I think it's a fun little tool to check out.