As an online marketer, you’ve worked hard to create a personal brand.  But, no matter how big or small your brand is, if your targeted audience has no way of finding you, you simply don’t exist.  In this article, I will cover an Online Branding Tip that will help to improve visibility in your target market.

The internet has fundamentally changed the speed with which people can uncover the solutions to their problems.  Since you are in business to offer solutions to those problems, they have to be able to locate you when in need.

Think of it this way… what happens if you loved a particular brand of ice cream, but it was only sold at a grocery store that was located 45 miles away from your home. Would you drive the 45 miles to get that specific product or would you try to find something comparable at your local grocery store?

Most likely you would opt for a different brand that was available at a location closer to your home.  This is the very reason why different stores carry virtually the same exact brand.  They know that their ideal customers shop at different places…some may frequent Wal*Mart, while others prefer Target.  So, consequently, they must have a presence in both stores.

In like manner, your brand must be available in all ‘online stores’.

So, where is your brand currently positioned?  Are you everywhere or do you just hang out at one certain location…like on Facebook?  Or, maybe on Twitter?

If your ultimate objective is to create a sustainable online brand and be findable on the web, it is critical that you are omnipresent – being everywhere at all times.  You begin by protecting your name – your business name, your brand name…your name – on all of the social media sites.

The following are two awesome tools at your disposal that can make your life a lot easier when registering your brand name.  These tools assist you in your Online Branding initiatives.

Namechk:  Namechk helps you quickly check the availability of your brand’s name across more than 80 popular websites. All it needs from you is the name so that it can check for it on all those sites and give you a report like the one below.

Knowem: This site allows you to check if your brand’s name is available on 400 popular and social media sites.  Their websites claims to “not only help you secure your name across the vast social media landscape but we can also show you how to contact each site in order to have the name released and returned to you.”

The Main Point:  You need to be everywhere that your target market hangs out.  In case you have not claimed your brand’s name on any of the websites listed, you want to make sure that you do so immediately.  Though it’s almost impossible actively participate on all of the sites listed, it’s important that you claim your territory.

Also, remember that you never know which one of these sites will be the next Facebook or Twitter.

Seriously, with all this value in this blog post, be sure to take ACTION and help your friends by sharing on Facebook and Twitter. You’ll be doing them a huge favor and they’ll be more than grateful you took action instead of keeping it to yourself .  Also, don’t forget to leave a comment below.

Preparing a marketing plan is a key element of your online business planning process, but for some it can prove to be a daunting task. You’ll want to fully understand where you stand in the market right now, what you want to achieve, and how you are going to get there.  One powerful tool that can help with this process is a Mind Map.

Developed in the 70′s, mind maps are diagrams used to represent words, ideas or tasks arranged around one central keyword.  They allow for greater creativity when recording ideas and information, as well as allowing you to associate words with visual representations.  In addition, it can help people to “see” a problem, it’s solution and how best to organize them.

Below is a list of 4 FREE mind mapping software  that you can be used not only to create your marketing plan, but other business tasks as well.   

1. Mindomo

Mindomo – is a great tool used for mindmapping. They offer both a free and paid version and you have the choice of downloading it to your desktop or you can take advantage of the web-based version. In my opinion, the free version will get the job done, so no need to invest in the paid version.

2. Free Mind

FreeMind – is actually one of my favorite mind mapping tool to use, because it is very simple and doesn’t require any specialized knowledge. All you have to do is download it to your desktop and the rest is a piece of cake. Did I mention that it was F.R.E.E?

3. Bubble.us

Bubbl.us –is another great choice when it comes to mind mapping. The main cool feature of this tool lies in the fact that you create mind maps in a bubble format. I also like the fact that it is webbased, therefore, no need to download anything to your computer. This, too, is free of cost.

4. Mind42

Mind42 – this tool is browser based and therefore doesn’t need to be download to your computer. It, too, is a great choice and is rather simple to use.

These are only 4 of the many free mind mapping software on the market.  If you are looking for a more comprehensive listing, I would suggest that you do a Google search.

Whether or not you choose to use one of the four mentioned in my blog post, I would love to hear about your experience with using mind mapping tools.   So, please leave a comment below, sharing your experience and/or your tool of choice.  Also, please share this information to your following, by retweeting or sharing on Facebook.

Sooner or later you’ll experience a crisis in your life, and how you meet it will determine your future happiness and success.  Since the beginning of time, everyone has been called upon to meet such a crisis.

A closer look will show you that most “crisis situations” are opportunities to either advance or stay where you are.  In fact, most changes in your life will take place out of either “inspiration” or “desperation.”

Whatever comes your way, give it meaning and transform it into something of value.  Your personal growth is the process of responding positively to change.

A precious stone cannot be polished without friction, nor humanity perfected without trials.

Creating your Personal Brand is required for your survival in today’s business world. Your own personal brand is really a distinctive promise of value in which potential customers have confidence in; it’s the thing that you’re know for.

The 3 most significant characteristics associated with strong brands are:

– Your Brand is established by building trust in a one-of-a-kind promise regarding who you are, what you represent, as well as what unique and substantial benefits you deliver to your target audience.

– You construct your brand by simply living up to your promise each and every time individuals come into contact with your name, your message, or your enterprise.

– You strengthen your brand by continuously reinforcing your brand’s promise.

Failure to remain consistent with your brand’s promise can prove to be detrimental. If encounters with your brand are inconsistent or not in accordance with what people expected they could rely on, you pretty much break your promise, breaking your brand and risking your reputation and perhaps even your business.

In a recent write-up in 24/7 Wall St., they released their newest version of 10 brands that are very likely to fade away by the coming year, 2011. It’s anticipated that each brand will die, or for its parent to be sold or go into chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Are you listed as one of the brands that’s expected to be gone in 2011? Continue Reading To Find Out.

As online entrepreneurs, it’s vital that we publish valuable information that offers the solution to our ideal client’s problems.  But what good are our solutions if no one knows about them?
You get people in front of your content, by driving traffic to your website or blog.

Alexa Ranking system is one tool that you can use to estimate the amount of traffic that comes to your site.

photo credit: stequoianie

What exactly is Alexa?
In case you don’t already know, Alexa is a website, owned by Amazon, that is used to rank website traffic.  As an example, a site with an Alexa ranking of 500,000 simple means that it is the 500,000 most visited website on the Internet.

Historical data gathered from those who have the Alexa Toolbar installed is used to assign a ranking to your site.  Among the sites with the top  Alexa.com ranking are:

Google - #1
Facebook - #2
YouTube - #3
Yahoo - #4
Windows Live - #5

You can access the entire Top 500 listing to see if your blog or website is among the most popular.

Though it is not the most accurate ranking system to gauge the amount of  traffic flowing to your website, it is one of the tools used by blogger, advertisers and a whole host of others to determine if a site is successful or not.  So, if you want to win the popularity contest, you must play the game.

The following are 10 ways in which you can positively influence your site’s Alexa ranking.

#1 – Install Alexa toolbar on your browser

• This the key component of increasing your ranking – installing the toolbar and getting your followers to do the same.
• It is also the reason why this ranking system is not the most accurate, since not everyone has it installed on their computer.

#2- Visit your blog often

• By visiting your site daily,  this will inherently improve your ranking
• set your website as the default homepage of your browser.

#3- Claim your site

• Encourage others to do the same

#4- Write frequent blog posts

• remember, the goal is to get visitors to your website.  In order to accomplish this, you have to provide value that keeps your audience hungry, where they are always looking for more.
• frequent content publication helps to brand you as a expert in your area.

#5- Participate in Social Media Communities

• Make sure that you have a profile on the BIG 3 – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Once you build up a social media following, encourage them to share your content with others.

#6- Comment on other people’s blogs

• the more generous you are with leaving intelligent comments on other’s blogs, the more they will comment on yours – reciprocity is the name of the game.
• this is also another way for you to showcase your expertise to the market.

#7- Get others to install the Alexa Toolbar

• Create content, such as a blog post or video, around the benefits of utilizing the toolbar
• No only will they help to increase your rank, they too can reap the same results.

#8- Utilize Social Bookmarking Sites

• syndicate your content to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg
• this will help to increase the traffic to your website and overtime, your rank will increase

#9- Submit Blog Reviews

• ask your blog’s readers to post reviews on Alexa.

#10- Include Alexa widget on your site

• This will encourage others to submit reviews related to your site.

So, there you have it, how to boost your Alexa Ranking in jut 10 easy steps.  Though I choose to focus on 10 factors, there are many more steps that you can take to increase your score.  Perhaps you may even have some ideas that you want to share.  I welcome them and encourage you to leave a comment.