Before Internet marketing came in to vogue, the best way to get customers coming to you was to have an extensive public profile and strong media presence. In other words, becoming an authority in your field or industry was the name of the game.

With new websites popping up every day, and competition for search engine spots and online ads getting fiercer than ever, being seen as a recognized expert and source of information is taking on new importance once again. The more known you are – online or off – the more sales you get, the higher prices you can charge, and the more respected your opinions become.

With that in mind, here are seven quick ways to become an authority so you have customers coming to you online and asking for your help, instead of the other way around:

1. Issue an online press release. Press releases are great for alerting the media to potential stories, not to mention drawing interest from other bloggers, webmasters, and industry observers. If you have something newsworthy to announce to the world, consider sharing it with a simple press release.

2. Get quoted in the media. There are a number of sites (like Prof Net) where you can register as a contact for media members when they need a source for a story. Or, you could simply reach out to publications and websites in your industry and let them know you’re available.

3. Write a white paper or e-book. Being an author has always been a quick way to gain credibility, and that’s still true in the Internet age. Although publishing your work might not make you huge profits from the sale of your e-book, it’s a great way to show new customers that you know what you’re talking about.

4. Guest blog on popular sites. In order to become an authority in your field, you have to have a following first. One of the easiest ways to build one is to go where people are already at. Find a handful of popular blogs or websites in your industry and offer to write a few guest posts. You might discover there’s a market for your opinions and grow your e-mail, social media, and contact lists a hurry.

5. Comment on other posts. Another way to take advantage of the same dynamic is by adding interesting and insightful comments to other people’s posts and articles. Just be aware that you need to have a strong, unique opinion before most people will take notice.

6. Tweet analysis of breaking news. If there are exciting things happening in your business or industry, why not tweet about them with a quick explanation? If you can’t fit what you have to say in a tweet, you can always tweet a link to your blog, press release, or website.

7. Make the right connections on Facebook and LinkedIn. As with everything else in your life, becoming an authority is a lot easier when you know the right people. Social media sites make it easier than ever to form the right relationships, so get busy making the right connections today.

Do you wish you were getting more from social media marketing? Why not talk to a member of our team about a free consultation today?

There are a lot of reasons you might be anxious to start a brand-new search engine optimization campaign. Perhaps you recently launched a new website, or even a whole new company, and want to see visitors start coming in. Or, it could be that you’ve been in business for a while, but are tired of watching Google, Yahoo, and Bing deliver hundreds or thousands of buyers to your competitors every month.

Either way, you’re probably feeling eager to get started. After all, who wouldn’t want to get all of the great business benefits that come from a working SEO campaign as fast as possible?

Even though you’re probably anxious to see results, it’s best not to rush into a new search engine optimization campaign without taking a few preliminary steps first. Here are three things you have to do before beginning your climb up Google’s rankings:

1. Audit your current site for positions. If you have an existing website, now is the perfect time to have your online marketing team take a good look under the hood. See where you currently rank for your most important keywords, how your pages appear to search engines, where your current traffic is coming from, and what kinds of links you have pointing to your site.

Note that you shouldn’t skip this step, even if you don’t have an existing site, since you can learn a lot from running the same kind of analysis on your competitors.

2. Research keywords for your plan. One of the classic search engine optimization mistakes is to simply assume that you know what your best potential customers are searching for. Just because a keyword seems obvious, however, or even gets lots of traffic, doesn’t make it the best one to concentrate on. A good online marketing partner can spend some time researching different keywords, ensuring that you get the biggest payoff for your time, effort, and money.

3. Experiment with pay-per-click Internet advertising. Given the effort it takes to reach one of the prime positions on Google and other major search engines, there’s really no excuse for not testing your landing pages, marketing messages, and other elements before you start showing up on the first page. By taking advantage of pay-per-click ads, you can get valuable feedback in a matter of days, not weeks or months.

Another advantage of PPC campaigns is that they’ll allow you to test negative keywords, which can be filtered out to help you avoid wasting time and money later.

Even though it can be exciting to rush into a new search engine optimization plan, following these three steps first is likely to make your campaign more efficient, and more profitable. Why not talk to a member of our team today about a free search engine optimization consultation for your business?