Hello, my name is Pete, and I’m an entrepreneur.

Sounds like an introduction at an alcoholics anonymous meeting doesn’t it?

Strangely enough it seems as though there are quite a few people out there who believe being an entrepreneur carries with it almost as much of a stigma as being an alcoholic.  Ever since I was first bitten by the entrepreneur bug I’ve heard people say things like, “People who can’t do anything else become an entrepreneur.”

Most people would be offended by comments like that if they considered themselves an entrepreneur.  Personally I think it’s funny and I believe  most people who make these statements make them because they’re scared to death at the thought of stepping out and starting a company of their own.  To them it’s much more comfortable to find a job … punch the clock each day … cash their paycheck at the end of the week … and repeat week after week as the years pass by.

YUCK!  Chances are if you’re a frequent reader of my blog you’re probably an entrepreneur looking for a way to build your business online.  If that is you, you probably get the same creepy feeling I do at the thought of knowing exactly what your paycheck will be from week to week.

Now, I’m sure there are many times when you’ve thought about going back into that situation, but if that entrepreneurial bug bit you hard enough, you’ll never be able to stomach putting yourself in that position for very long.  :)

I’m absolutely energized by entrepreneurs!

It doesn’t matter if you’re busting your tail on the side to build your multi-level marketing business until you can replace you full time income

… if you’re a real estate professional who loves seeing the joy in people’s faces as they FINALLY walk into their dream home,

… or if you’re an aspiring solo-preneur who is determined to build a business online regardless of what it is.

I simply love talking, and working with, people who have the guts to step out and build a business that eventually creates jobs.

America has been built by entrepreneurs and these people are the most significant players in the ongoing success of our country.  If you don’t believe the significance of entrepreneurs, take a quick peak at some stats I found from the Small Business Administration.

The estimated 29.6 million small businesses in the United States:

• Employ just over half of the country’s private sector workforce
• Hire 40% of high tech workers such as, scientists, engineers, and computer workers
• Represent 97.3 percent of all the exporters of goods
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms
• Generate a majority of the innovations that come from United States companies

Well if you’ve already had your moment of acceptance and have publicly admitted to being an entrepreneur, I’m guessing these numbers will make your hold you head a bit higher.

I believe the Internet empowers anyone with guts, passion, and a personality to become a superstar online.  Fortunately for some of us, there is still a chance for those of us who are lacking in the personality department.

I’ve spent the last 12 years, along with my team at Mindscape , helping companies around the world become successful online.  Along the way we’ve had the opportunity to experience almost every online tactic you could think of.  We’ve identified things that work amazingly well for one industry, that may work horribly for another business segment.

Over the past 12 – 18 months I’ve been trying to figure out a way to leverage the experience I’ve gained and, at the same time, satisfy my desire to work with fellow entrepreneurs.

Well, it’s time to stop thinking and start doing!  I’m committed to helping as many entrepreneurs succeed online as I possibly can.

If you’re an entrepreneur I’m sure you find it very difficult to have an experience with a company and not spend time thinking about ways they could improve their product or service.  I personally find it impossible to avoid this type of thinking.  I spend a good deal of my idle time thinking about how different companies could significantly increase their revenue by placing more emphasis on their online business.  This week’s blog series on real estate is a perfect example of that affliction.  :)

I will be sharing these thoughts and ideas here on my blog, and eventually on my YouTube Channel.  If you have a business and you’ve been trying to figure out how to make it fly online, or even if you simply have an idea for an online business, I want to help.  Although my obsession with constantly thinking of ways companies can kill it online will probably guide the majority of the content I create, I’d LOVE to have you guide it!  Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email on any topics you’d like my feedback on.

Also, if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the box over on the upper right hand corner and you’ll receive my latest blog posts right in your inbox. Thanks for allowing me to share my entrepreneurial view of Internet Marketing with you.  I look forward to getting to know you and your business better!

The last couple days I’ve been writing about how real estate professionals can use technology to create a much more pleasant buying or selling experience for their clients.  If you know me you’re probably aware that I’m not a real estate agent, nor am I a consultant for the real estate industry.

This series of posts was inspired by a conversation I had with a gentleman WHO IS closely related to the real estate industry, and despite our differing industries, we share the same opinions on what true professionals could be doing to improve the overall experience.

Although I’ve been referring to the real estate industry, these thoughts and tactics could just as easily be applied to any industry you may be involved in.

I’ve been primarily focused so far on what you should do once you’ve already begun a relationship with a home seller.  That’s actually the easy part.  I think it’s even more important to focus on how you can utilize technology to gain credibility by delivering valuable content before acquiring a client.

Yesterday I exchanged comments with Steve Volkers of the Steve Volkers Group about how to hire a real estate agent with the correct skills.  He pointed out that simply possessing good Internet marketing skills shouldn’t  be the only criteria you use in finding a successful agent.

I couldn’t agree more!  The best agents are great at negotiation, pricing a home properly, educating their clients  on the process, organization, and a number of other skills.  The more an agent works on honing these skills, the more value they bring to the relationship with their clients.

How does someone who is selling or buying a home know if an agent has the necessary skills to avoid the nightmares we’ve all heard about?  Traditionally we’ve counted on “word of mouth” referrals from friends.  These days those referrals are much easier to receive with the advent of social media.

If you completely depend on referrals to build your business, I believe you’re choosing a lazy way to build your company.  Sitting in your office by your phone waiting for it to ring doesn’t allow you to control the growth of your business, it puts you in the position of simply taking what you get.

Don’t get me wrong … I’m not saying I’m perfect, or that referrals are bad.  In fact, the first 6 years of Mindscape simply “happened” due to word of mouth.

The minute we realized the opportunity that existed in the marketplace to educate companies on what it takes to be successful online, was the exact time that we began to take control of our business and we began to actually BUILD a successful company.

We realized if we developed content and put it out there for anyone to consume, we’d run the risk of teaching companies how to do things so they wouldn’t have to hire us, or worse yet we’d be providing a road map for our competition to duplicate.  There were many people who thought we were nuts for doing things this way, but we stuck to our guns and moved forward.

I believe by creating valuable content showcasing your knowledge, you’ll quickly gain credibility in the marketplace.  You’ll also gain fans because you’re providing value without asking for anything in return.

According to the US Census, the average American moves 11.7 times in their lifetime.  By the time they are 19 they have 9.2 moves left, and by the time they are 44 they only have 3.1 moves left on average.  The bottom line is there is a very small period of time when people are thinking of moving.  As a real estate professional, you’ll need to make sure you’ve proven yourself over time, to ensure you’ll be the agent this average American is thinking about when that time comes.

I’d encourage you to take control of your business and don’t let it just “happen to you.”  Commit today to creating valuable content to showcase your knowledge and skills and give it away online.  Whether it’s a free eBook or a YouTube video series on how to organize your home to make a move less painful, or a white paper on how to lessen the negative affects your child could experience by moving away from their friends.

You don’t have to be a Pulitzer prize winning author to create this type of content.   Just put your thoughts out there in  a conversational way.

People are looking for valuable content and they “like” people who are helping them without any obvious expectations of reciprocation.  You’ll be amazed at how much better you become at your craft, through educating the marketplace.  You can’t possibly fail to learn when you are teaching others.

What have you done in the past to bring value to your customers or prospects?  Do you currently use value as the cornerstone for your marketing efforts?  Leave a comment and let me know things that have worked for you.

If not, I challenge you to do it immediately.  I promise that You’ll be happy you did.

Have you ever found yourself driving through a neighborhood that you’d love to live in and passed a house with a “FOR SALE” sign in the front yard?  If you’re like me I get a little excited when I see the little canister stuck to the sign because I know I can immediately get the information I am looking for!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled over, got out of the car, walked up to the sign and detached the cover on the end, only find out there are no more sheets left!  Uggggghhhh!  That’s so frustrating!

The other thing that drives me crazy is when, by some miracle, there is information inside but it just happens to be 6:00pm on a Sunday and there isn’t another open house scheduled for another 7 days!

I seriously doubt I am alone with experiencing these frustrations!  I also don’t think I am alone in seeing how these “non-buyer friendly” issues can be solved forever with a little extra work.

Yesterday I wrote about what every marketer needs to be aware of … Buyers don’t care about what a great company you work for, how wonderful you are on the golf course, or even how many homes you’ve sold in the last 12 months.

Your prospective buyers, and every person on the face of the earth for that matter, cares most about WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM!

The day we begin to understand that fact,  is the day our businesses increase the amount of potential they can experience.  The day we take action to show our buyers that we truly care about them and want to cater our business to serve them, is the day things will change in a very positive way.

Today I’m going to  provide step-by-step instructions on how a real estate agent can provide on demand home tours. I believe that if you follow these steps, you’ll not only eliminate a great deal of frustration for the potential buyers looking at your client’s home, but you’ll also position yourself as an Agent who truly cares.

1. The first thing you’ll want to do is go to a locally owned camera store, or Best Buy (if you must) and purchase an inexpensive video camera.  You can pick up a Flip HD camera for just a little over $100.  You don’t need a super expensive camera, just something that you can easily take video as you walk through the house you are selling.
2. Go to YouTube.com and open up your own channel.  I would recommend taking the time to personalize the background and filling out as much information as possible about how you can help the visitor.  It’s best to have a consistent look across all your web properties, as well as your offline marketing materials.  You want to make sure when someone bumps into your name online, that they know it’s you.  You’ll also want to make sure it looks good so they know you pay attention to the details.
3. Next you’ll want to do a walk through tour of your client’s home with your Flip cam in tow.  When you’re doing this, it’s best to explain the details just like you would if you were walking someone through in person.  You’ll want the visitor to feel as if you are right there with them as they are seeing every important detail of the house.  Don’t leave out any exterior features of the house that a buyer would find valuable, and also don’t forget any unique features of the property the home sits on.
4. Most computers these days come bundled with video editing software that even the most novice of computer users can easily use.  I personally use Windows Movie Maker.  This program will allow you to easily edit the video you’ve shot, add some nice captions, and of course leave a very nice, clear, call to action providing information on how the visitor can get in touch with you.  You can also add some nice soft background music to the video to help set the mood and break up any awkward silence.
5. Once you’re finished editing your video you can upload it to your YouTube channel.  When you are uploading it, make sure you use very descriptive text in the title and include the address, any special neighborhood that it’s in, and any characteristics that you feel someone searching for a home would be interested in.  You’ll also want to include a very robust, textual description of the home and property.  This will help to optimize your video, and increase the likelihood that someone searching for a property with those characteristics, will find your home!
6. When you’re finished uploading your video you’ll need to click on the “Share” button beneath it and copy the URL of that specific video.
7. The last step is to visit http://http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ .  Now you just need to paste the URL of the video you just uploaded into the URL box and click “Generate.”  This will generate a QR code.   If someone uses the camera feature in their smart phone it will read the QR code, and direct the person to the YouTube video.  If you post this QR code on the “FOR SALE” sign, those people passing by their dream home will have the ability to tour that house right now, and they won’t have to wait until their agent gets something scheduled, or until the next open house.

I understand this may sound confusing or highly technical, but I can assure you it’s not.  I believe this may add between 60 – 90 minutes up front to each home you list, but it will help save you a significant amount of time by weeding out the people who are truly not interested or qualified.

I am excited for the day this becomes common practice and we can all tour homes when we’d like to instead of having to wait.  After all, we’re the customer right?  Shouldn’t it be easy for us?  :)

Have you used QR codes before?  What are other ways you’ve used technology to empower your “buyers?”

I was having a conversation the other day with someone about what we felt was a lack of Internet prowess amongst Real Estate agents in our local area.  I’ve personally lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan for my entire life, but if you were to ask me to name 5 or 6 of the top Real Estate professionals in the area, I don’t think I could do it.

Personally I find that disturbing.  Buying a home is the largest purchase most of us will make in our lives.  When it comes time to sell that home, you’ll want to make sure  it is marketed properly so you don’t end up in a never ending limbo or unable to secure that new “home of your dreams” that you can’t close on until…

Now, I know that I am online a bit more than the average person, but that doesn’t change the fact that over 90% of the people looking for a new home turn to the Internet ( that number was mentioned in a 2009 article by the National Association of Realtors).

If that’s the case, don’t you think real estate agents need to get with the program when it comes to marketing on the Internet?

Top of mind awareness is something every business strives for and it’s definitely something that’s not easy to achieve.  A professional however, is willing to put in the work necessary to not only gain top of mind awareness, but also showcase their skills and prove they are a credible choice when evaluating a marketing partner for your home.

The following are three things to think about when evaluating a real estate agent.

1. Do they have a presence in the social networks? People are spending an incredible amount of time every day on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and an ever increasing amount of new social media sites.  There are conversations happening every second of every day on almost every topic.  You shouldn’t even consider interviewing a real estate agent if they don’t have an active profile on these social networks.  I’m not saying they have to be on all of them, I’m just saying they need to be participating in conversations relevant to real  estate on at least the major sites.  I recently read an article which stated people are 76% more likely to act on a recommendation from a friend over the messaging of a brand.  Your real estate agent needs to understand that and take advantage of the opportunity.
2. Who is you real estate agent focused on? I understand that to be a successful real estate agent, you need to be good at self promotion.  That doesn’t mean that you need to talk about what a great family you have and how you’re an excellent golfer, and that your kids are amazing world class athletes.  I’ve found there are too many people in general who spend all their time talking about themselves and their companies, yet they never take two seconds to talk about the most important topic … the topic that’s most important to their “buyers!”  People could care less what your handicap is on the golf course.  The only thing they care about is “What’s in it for them.”  If your real estate agent isn’t bringing value to the interview and educating you on the most effective way to market your home … it’s probably because they don’t know.  Make sure your prospective agent is focused on value and not just themselves.
3. Do they have a digital marketing plan? If you met with a real estate agent 15 years ago and they told you they weren’t going to put your house in the news paper, you wouldn’t have even considered hiring them.  You should have the exact same feeling now when it comes to the Internet, but you should look a bit deeper.  It’s crazy to believe that if you simply put your house on the online listing services that it’s being marketed properly.  You need to find a real estate professional that not only lists your home, but also has a targeted marketing process to drive the appropriate “buyers” to those listings, and make it easy for them to see what your home has to offer.  True professionals will have an established, proven, repeatable process, and they’ll have the ability to rattle off numbers as to how much traffic their average listing receives each week. They’ll also be able to prove it with analytics data if they are a TRUE professional.

My next post will talk about the tools a buyer focused, real estate professional should be using to make it easy to showcase your property.  Remember, the only thing that person that’s going to buy your house cares about is, “What’s in it for them.”  You’ll want to make sure your real estate agent understands that and utilizes technology to make it incredibly easy for those buyers to identify the answer to that question quickly and easily.

If you have any experiences that are similar or contrary to mine, please let me know by leaving a comment below.  If you happen to be a real estate professional, let us know things that you’ve done to embrace technology and create solid relationships with your clients.

If you’re at all like me, you’ve probably found yourself attending workshops or seminars in the past where you have serious regrets about spending the money to attend.

You know what I’m talking about … The organizers run up one speaker after the next and they spew out a bunch of information for 45 minutes, take a few minutes of questions, and then head for the doors so the next speaker can come up and do the same thing.

Of course there are the other “free seminars” where someone will come in and pontificate on their theories of how things should work and the information is superficial and pretty much just a regurgitation of something they’ve read from someone else.  Don’t get me wrong, some of their information is useful, but mostly they give you just enough so they can get your interest and then sell you something.

I could go on and on about all the other scenarios that I’ve come across, but I’ll save you the pain of remembering those dollars you seemingly threw out the window, or more importantly the time you’ve lost.

When we were brainstorming about the Mindscape Internet Marketing Academy we wanted to make sure we set clear objectives to ensure our workshop was different than the rest.  I feel the most important thing we did was to set those objectives based on what we believed would be most important to our attendees.  The following are the three objectives we set:

1. Teach the exact  processes we’ve used over the past 10 years that have led to millions of dollars of increased revenue for our clients. Along with exposing our attendees to the processes we’ll also work with them to get “hands on” experience with the tools we use to go through these processes, but more importantly the thinking behind the process.  We are 100% positive that tools without knowledge are useless.
2. Develop a follow up program to ensure the attendees have the support necessary to implement what they’ve learned. I understand there may be some seminars / workshops that do offer follow up support, but they also probably come along with a price tag. We wanted to make sure we built it into the cost of the workshop.   We believe that by doing this we would eliminate any extra barriers that might prevent a smaller company from maximizing the impact of what they learn.  We also realize some people may be attending who might be looking for a new career path due to so many declining industries.
3. Lastly, although we opened our Internet Marketing Academy nationally, we wanted to make sure we have the available resources to deliver on our follow up plan.   This caused us to limit the size of the class.

The bottom line is we actually care about the value our attendees will receive and we want to make sure we are equipping you with all the tools and knowledge necessary to be successful online. This isn’t your   basic  ”social media” seminar that seems to be popping up all over the place.  Our Internet Marketing Academy is focused on providing everyone who attends with a baseline knowledge of Internet marketing fundamentals.

We believe the most important ingredient that makes a workshop / seminar valuable is not only how focused the organizers are on delivering that value, but also how things are structured to make it as easy as possible for the attendees to take that learning and turn it into success.  We believe we have taken everything into consideration and we WILL deliver on our promise.

If you’d like more information on how you can become an Internet Marketing Ninja, click this link!

If you have the most amazing company in existence, a product that can fix everything short of bringing world peace, and you are offering those solutions for FREE … it does you absolutely no good if nobody knows you exist.

When I look back over the 12 years I’ve been involved in the online space I can think of many times that companies have approached us and wanted to “create a new website.”  The challenge with an emerging industry is the lack of knowledge on exactly what it takes to be successful.  We’ve done our best to let clients know once the website is created, there are far more things that need to happen to make that website a successful online entity.  This blog post will clearly lay out some tactics, that if applied, will help dramatically increase the likelihood that your website will bee seen, and your wonderful solutions discovered.

Foundation

Once you’ve determined exactly what you’d like to accomplish with your online presence, the first step is to utilize the vast amount of information online to get to know your “buyers” very well. I’m not simply talking about identifying demographic information, I’m talking about truly getting into their heads to determine what they truly want, what barriers stand between them and your product, what influencing factors exist, and most importantly the exact language they speak.

Your goal should be to find people and companies who are experiencing a certain set of problems of which your company can provide a solution.  If a company knows the name of your company already, they’ll most likely be able to find you online. Since this is the case you should put your focus on not only identifying the set of problems that would lead someone to search for you, but most importantly identifying the way these seekers speak and will refer to the solution they are looking for.

It’s important to spend some time doing some keyword research with a tool like the Google Keyword Tool or any other keyword research tool, to determine the problems that are searched for the most, and how the seekers refer to that particular problem.  If you take this time, you’ll have the ability to strategically position your content in the search results on multiple platforms.  Although it is much easier to simply fire up the computer and hack away at your keyboard, if you are looking to show measurable results, it’s necessary to spend the few minutes it takes to ensure you are creating relevant, compelling content that is highly sought after.

Once you’ve identified those high value keywords, you can then begin to engage in the following 22 tactics to make sure you are seen online.

1. Search Engine Optimization

The first and most powerful tactic you should employ is search engine optimization (SEO).  The majority of the tactics that I’ll be covering here are all tied back to good SEO.  If you don’t feel confident in what it takes to get your website found near the top of the search engine results pages, you can find out by reading 8 Key Elements to Get to the Top of Google.

Search engine optimization, although very complex, has some very basic, foundational elements which if followed, will put you in a pretty good position.  The most important piece of advice I can give you is to create content that appeals to your visitors and don’t try to manipulate your content to be appealing to the search engines.  You should be looking for a successful connection with your visitors, not to simply trick them into landing on your page.

2. Google Adwords

SEO can take quite some time to begin to take effect, so if you need to have your content be seen right away you may consider running a Google Adwords campaign.  You can get something setup easily and begin receiving traffic in a matter of minutes.  Keyword research is critical to a successful campaign as well as writing compelling ad copy.

Many companies simply setup campaigns which direct the visitor to their homepage.  I’d encourage you to have a very focused action you’d like the searcher to take once they click your ad, and send them to a targeted page related to the search term they were using.  If you don’t, you’ll be wasting a good deal of money and who the heck can afford to do that these days.  :)

3. Yahoo! / Bing Search Marketing

Although Google has a significant share of the search volume , Yahoo! / Bing search marketing still provides a good value, and similar to Google Adwords, you can get a campaign setup and begin receiving traffic quickly.  The same principles apply as far as keyword research and where you send the visitors.  Protect your money by taking the time to conduct the proper research.

4. LinkedIn PPC Ads

If you are a B2B company, if you have identified the specific position within a company who would be the decision maker, or if you are looking to reach a company within a specific industry, LinkedIn paid ads could work very well for you.  This is a relatively new option and can be fairly expensive compared to some of the other paid search offerings, but I’ve talked with people who’ve experienced some excellent results with this tactic.

5. Facebook Advertising

If you are a B2C company, if you are trying to reach a certain demographic with very specific interests, or someone who lives in a very targeted geographic area, this is an excellent way to make sure your content is seen.  Facebook has over 500,000,000 users on their platform and collects very specific data regarding their lives.  This data can be used to reach the exact person you are looking to reach and it’s currently pretty affordable.

6. Banner Advertising

This particular tactic seems to be making a pretty solid comeback and can be very effective for branding.  There are many ad networks (ie. www.Adtegrity.com) which exist that can provide you with opportunities to reach very specific audiences which are likely to have a high concentration of your target audience.

7. Facebook Participation

Creating a solid community by participating in conversations and providing value on Facebook creates a very powerful channel to be used when publicizing new content.  It’s important to not fall into the trap of just pushing new content similar to the traditional “one way” communication methods, but as long as you focused on providing value and engaging your community, you should be ok.

8. Twitter Participation

Twitter has become the “go-to” source for people doing research and finding relevant articles and opinions on their areas of interest.  This is also an excellent way to have your content found by creating “tweets” which include the high value keywords you discover in your keyword research.  The more you participate in discussions and position yourself as a subject matter expert, the more followers you’ll gain and the more effective your reach will be.

9. LinkedIn Participation

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn can also be an excellent platform to participate in and drive people to your content.  This platform also provides you with an opportunity to answer questions which helps showcase your expertise.

10. Directory Submissions

The Internet is full of directory sites that focus on niches, of niches, within niches.  :)  Typically the best, highest value, directory sites dominate the top of the search results due to many SEO factors.  The directories that have a high Page Rank are the directories you’ll want to make sure you submit your site to.  This will help you significantly with your SEO and most importantly will give you many opportunities to be found by visitors who may be searching within any of these directories.

11. Affiliate Programs

Offering an affiliate program through your organization can be a great way to ensure you are seen by your target audience.  Basically it will give you the opportunity to connect with marketers who are marketing to your target audience and by offering a solid commission program, they’ll be compelled to send their database to your offer to gain those commissions.  There are a few different types of affiliate programs but I’ll leave that description for another post.  :)

12. Video Marketing

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and there are still amazing opportunities to leverage keywords within most industries to gain traffic to your site.  A good example would be if you found the a search term like “Las Vegas Dentists” didn’t have any specific videos related to it in YouTube you could create a video and optimize the title and description and have a video showcasing your unique selling proposition and embed a link to your website.

If you happen to have the only video optimized for that keyword, you’re video will most likely show up in the top ten Google results and will stand out due to the presence of the video and not just text.  The great thing about this is if you do it properly you can gain visibility very rapidly (in some cases the same day).

13. Trade Organization Site Submission

Almost every industry has a list of trade organizations who would love to have you, or your company join.  Most of these organizations, if not all, offer opportunities for you to provide links to your website which will ultimately deliver visitors to your site.

14. Email Marketing

If you aren’t building an email database, you need to start immediately.  When a visitor “opts-in” to receive information from you, it’s a perfect opportunity for you to let them know of new content on your website, and the best thing is … they’ve asked to be kept up to speed!  Doing so is delivering on a promise you’ve made and they’ll be happy to receive it.

15. Blogging

I believe every company should be blogging to showcase their expertise in their own little corner of the Internet.  Once you become good at it you will create opportunities to do some “guest blogging” on other relevant blogger’s sites.  This will create opportunities to expose your site and your expertise to their sphere of influence which can help provide significant increases in your site’s traffic numbers.

16. Blog Commenting

Leaving thoughtful comments after reading a blog post is a great way to share your point of view on a topic, but it’s also a great way to gain the attention of a prominent blogger who will likely appreciate the valuable insight you have left for his audience.

17. Article Submission

Writing articles on topics that are of interest to your audience can help increase your site’s visibility if you submit those articles to free article directory sites like www.EZineArticles.com , www.SearchWrap.com , and www.ArticlesBase.com .  People who visit these directory sites have the option of using your content any way they wish, but they need to include your signature and a link to your website.

18. Forum Posting

There is a forum for any interest or industry that exists today, and probably many more.  Spending time monitoring the questions that pop up or giving your insight on a topic which is being discussed, is a great way to help ensure you and your website is seen.  The more value you provide in your forum posts, the better the chance is that people will want to find out more about you and the company you represent.

19. Digg.com

There are many stories of companies who have exploded from one single front page mention on Digg.com.  Although it may not be as effective as it once was, if you have a story or content that is compelling enough, you can certainly gain a tremendous amount of traffic from being mentioned.  Make it easy for people to “Digg” your content!

20. Del.icio.us

Social bookmarking sites are an excellent way to peak inside the minds of relevant and respected influencers to see what they find interesting.  If it’s easy for visitors to bookmark the content in your site, you can help them share your content with people whom they influence.

21. Online News Releases

The old days of needing to wine and dine all the local or industry journalists just to get a tiny article in that paper are over.  You have the ability to create your own press releases and submit them through firms like www.PRWeb.com for a small fee, and the world can see that release in less than 24 hours.  No more hoops and a much larger circulation can equal a HUGE win for your company.

22. Promote in Corporate ID

The last and most overlooked way to ensure your website is seen is to use it in your corporate ID materials.  Whether it is in the signature line of your email, your business cards, letterhead, or in advertising efforts … Don’t forget to include your website address.

Make sure you take the time to address each of these 22 ways to ensure your company is seen online, even if you only add one of these each month.  I promise you’ll begin to receive more and more visitors to your website.  Let me know if you have any other ways that you have successfully used for promoting your website.

I’ve lived in Grand Rapids my entire life and have grown to love the city and the people who call it home.  I’ve done a considerable amount of traveling and although I have some areas of the country that have caught my attention, none of those places seem to have what Grand Rapids has.

I love the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in Grand Rapids.  Although I know the economy will ebb and flow, I believe the strength and creativity that exists among my fellow Grand Rapidians will always keep us on top and on the path to becoming a better, stronger City as the years go on.

The philanthropic nature of our community is also something that amazes me!  I’ve heard from many people that Grand Rapids is among the top two cities in America when it comes to philanthropy.  I have watched this philanthropy continue to grow our City through public-private partnerships over the years and more importantly I’ve enjoyed watching the incredible personality and creativity of the residents move Grand Rapids closer and closer to a destination city.

I must admit, although I’ve spent the majority of my time, over the past 20 years, focusing on building my own business.  I’ve felt kinda bad (perhaps my Catholic guilt) not getting involved as the City evolved.  I also realized that although our City has come a long way, there are still many improvements that can be made and many people who could use our assistance.  Heck, if you take education alone and see that the graduation rate among the Grand Rapids Public Schools is approximately 52% and South Africa’s graduation rate is 40% … It’s kinda disturbing that we are that close to a third world country!

When George Aquino asked me to be a part of the Heart of West Michigan United Way Campaign, I felt as though this was my opportunity to finally get “off the bench” and do something that could make a difference.  Since Grand Rapids is such a philanthropic place there is no shortage of opportunities to get involved.  The thing that was most attractive to me was they are affiliated with over 50 organizations that are focused on strengthening the community and providing for those who are in need.

I am not just imagining how important the United Way is for the community, I have personal experience.

When I was in my early 20′s I was one of those in need, and the United Way was there for me.  I remember as if it was yesterday when I was working a third shift job just so I could elevate my pay from $5 to $6 an hour so I could support my new wife and my brand new baby boy.  I had a extremely difficult time handling the responsibility of trying to keep our heads above water.  There was a time where my situation seemed very bleak and I needed to talk with someone.  I called the United Way’s 211 phone number and there was someone on the other line who cared enough to listen.  That conversation helped me incredibly and I believe helped turn me in the right direction.

I am not sharing that part of my life to be melodramatic, I just feel as though this opportunity to get involved presented itself for a reason.  I didn’t even realize the 211 service was a part of the United Way’s offering until after I told George that I was in.

I know there are many people out there who are in a similar position as I was in back then who could definitely use that same support … and it might just be the support that helps turn things in a positive direction for them.

I love Grand Rapids as I know a large majority of the residents here in this City do.  I am here for the long haul and I believe it is my responsibility to do my part to contribute to the well being of Grand Rapids and every person who calls it home.  I personally believe the Heart of West Michigan United Way is the perfect organization for me to get behind.  It may not be the right one for you, but that’s ok.

I encourage you to “get off the bench” and make whatever contribution you are comfortable with. Just make sure you invest yourself in what you believe in and don’t find yourself in a position where you wished you did, but the timing was never right.  Thank you for taking the time to check this post out.  :)

When I first heard about Facebook moving away from the “Become a Fan” option and over to the “I Like”  option I didn’t know what to think.

I had conversations with several people within the Internet Marketing community and found multiple opinions on how it would impact the normal Facebook user.

Some people thought it would be detrimental to the value and that it would negatively impact the companies since they’d no longer be able to brag about how many “fans” they had on their “fan page.”

There were others who didn’t think it would have much of an impact, and yet others who thought it was a good thing.

I personally think that beyond giving Facebook an incredible amount of unique profile information of its user base, which is going to make them even more powerful, it’s also going to help businesses numbers increase instead of decrease.

How you ask?  Well I think this simple change in terminology lowers the barrier to entry and will make the decision to join much easier.

I’ve historically received many suggestions to become a fan of (insert name of company, interest, or celebrity here) every single day.  When I go through the decision making process of whether I want to click either “confirm” or “ignore,” I ask myself whether I truly am a “Fan” of that page.  Most of the time I don’t have any idea what it is and simply click “ignore.”

If a page doesn’t fall in the “unknown” category … I then look at the name of the person who sent the request and see if they fall in the category of someone who joins everything and simply suggests that all their friends follow them.

I know I may put too much thought into what I join and what I don’t, but why shouldn’t I?

It’s my news stream and I have the right to keep it full of relevant information that I am interested in. I also feel as though my social networking profiles are valuable and if I am truly being authentic and transparent, why the heck would I profess to my network that I am a “fan” of something when I’m truly not.

Fast forward to Monday, April 19th when Facebook implemented the change.

Now if someone suggests you join a page you simply click a button that says, “I like.”

This simple change in verbiage psychologically makes the decision much easier for me.  The word “fan” is short for fanatic.  I can certainly “like” something without being a fanatic. 

Beyond lowering the psychological barrier there are a couple other things that Facebook has in store for us.

There is a new tool Facebook has created that will allow you to place a snippet of code on your website, blog, or any other piece of content which will display a “like” button.  When someone clicks on that button they’ll become a “liker” of your site. 

I think this will drive the numbers on your pages because someone may simply read an article or blog post you’ve created and click the “like” button because you wrote a nice article.  This simply action will tie them to you and you to their news stream.

I read an article about this functionality and the author pointed out how there is currently a flaw in the way this works which could potentially allow spammers to exploit it to build large fan counts.

The problem is when you are creating your snippet of code using the Facebook tool, you have the option to enter in the address of what the person is “liking,” and that displays within your stream as you take the action.

If you happened to simply click the button and didn’t pay attention, you may find that although you clicked a “like” button on a Mixed Martial Arts page, you’ve unknowingly said you “liked” the Hanna Montana show. 

I am sure there will be other flaws that pop up and even functionality modifications as time goes by, but I believe Facebook has the right people on the job, and they seem to pay attention to the user behavior as they make enhancements.

Facebook is also creating community pages.

This is something which isn’t fully rolled out yet, but from what I can tell, community pages are going to be the answer to people identifying their hobbies and interests like  “cooking,” “sleeping,” “walking in the rain,” etc.

They have elevated the prominence of the things you “like” and also the other data in your profile.  A perfect example  is I noticed that Grand Rapids Michigan, which is the city I live in, has a link to it from my profile to a community page.

The community page has a bunch of information about Grand Rapids which comes directly from Wikipedia, and it also contains status updates which contain “Grand Rapids Michigan” in them.  They offer updates that have been posted by my friends, and also globally.

I think it’s too early to tell how community pages are going to develop, but I think it is going to be exciting to watch them morph and see how people begin to use them.

I’d love to hear what you think about the new Facebook like button, or any uses you’ve found in the short time since it’s been implemented onto the Facebook platform.  If you’ve got something to say … leave a comment! 

I have been consistently referring to myself as, “The least social person in social media” for quite some time.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not some anti-social hermit who stays locked up in their basement ranting and raving online … but I am also not some socialite who jumps around to all the “hot spots” in town either.

I am perfectly content with going to work in the morning, hanging out with the amazing people I work with at Mindscape at Hanon McKendry, and heading home to enjoy my family.

That is until recently….

No … I am not sick of my co-workers or Amanda and the kids.  I’ve just recently become intrigued by all the amazing events I’ve been seeing and reading about in our amazing city of Grand Rapids.

Before Facebook and Twitter arrived on the scene I wasn’t aware of the social events that were occurring around town, nor most of the people.  Social Media has opened up an entire new world to me and I decided, as the new decade emerged, that I was going to get out and enjoy some of this stuff.

Well I can tell you it has been absolutely amazing and I have an entirely different view of not only this City, but also have realized it is full of some pretty cool people!  People who I never would have had the opportunity to connect with had it not been for social media.

It’s quite a fun thing to go from seeing everyone in profile sized image, and then running into them in real life.  The beauty of social media is that you can identify what you have in common with someone from simply having conversations on Twitter or Facebook, or by just “creeping” on their profile. 

When Facebook and Myspace first arrived on the scene I remember thinking that it could possibly kill the personal aspects of our lives.  I actually thought people would climb into their little cocoons at home and never come out.  Heck … why would they need to come out.  They can keep in touch with anyone they want to right from the comfort of their homes.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was!  Social Media transcends the online world, and in my opinion, creates stronger, more vibrant connections between people.  Since I made the choice to abandon my “less-than-social” lifestyle, I’ve been able to truly FEEL what social media is instead of just being able to carry on a conversation about it.

… and it feels awesome!

I’d love to know what your thoughts and experiences have been with social media.  If you find yourself in the position I was in, give it a shot!  If you happen to live in Grand Rapids, Michigan … you are lucky and you’ll get the chance to meet some amazing people through your social media participation!

Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.