Do you know how many people are searching online for the service or product that your business provides? Are you going to be found among the search engine results? What many businesses do not know is that there is money being left on the table when it comes to potential customers looking for their service or product(s).

While it is true that traditional marketing is still alive and kicking for now (newspaper and other printed media, television, radio, etc…), internet marketing is quickly on the rise. And with more and more people “googling” for something that they’re searching for, the minority will soon be those that go to the yellow pages and other printed directories.

So the question is, does Google, Yahoo, Bing, and the many other online business directories that are out there know that your business exists? Will you be found when they come looking for you through the various portals that are on the web?

Generally, there are three answers to these questions.

• No.
  • The “No” group is not on the internet at all. No website or any online presence. This group is relying strictly on advertisements in older media.




• Possibly.
  • The “Possibly” group are companies that have a website, but they are unsure of where they are in the rankings when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). They may have entered themselves into a few online directories – but they don’t know how to incorporate other online networks to help in their marketing efforts.




• Yes.
  • The “Yes” group has someone working in-house or hires out an internet marketing consultant to build and maintain their website, as well as maintain and listen to their business’ online reputation.

    When someone types in the product or service that their company provides, they are easily found in the search pages and their web pages are well optimized to be shown in the results.

    E-Mail capture systems are in place for the company to build their customer lists in order to retain and resell similar products and services to.

    People on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube know about their service because they saw a status update for a deal they are offering, or a “Tweet” that shared interesting information, or a video about what their service provides.

So what category do you fall in? Which would you like to be in? If your business falls in the “Yes” group now, that’s great. You have a head start in the marketing game and are where you should be.

If you’re in the “No” group – you may have thought about it but don’t know where to start. Our company can definitely help you not only to get set up on the web, but we can take you further by getting leads and making sure your business stays up in the rankings where you will be found.

The “Possibly” group is almost there- and we can help this group as well. Perhaps you’re not ranked as high as you want to be in the search engines, or you have yet to figure out how to use the social networks to your advantage. Maybe you need autoresponders set up for an email campaign or your web pages could be better optimized for the keywords people are using to search for your service.

But whichever group you fall into, we can help you in every case – even if it’s setting you up from scratch or finding out who is talking about you. Being online and on the social networks is the first step in the strategy for grabbing your potential customer’s attention.

Contact us today for a free hour of consultation!

In Part 2 of this post we will talk more about how to grab their attention and what to do when we get it!