As Parents, We Want To Give Our Child Every Advantage…

As parents, we all want to give our children the advantages they need to succeed. For the parents of current high school and college students, the need to help extends to the internet. Giving your child top line priority is more important than ever, as we’ll explain.

The internet, and especially the search engines led by Google, have changed the way in which we do business and look for information. There has also been a large change in both what can be found – and how much credence it carries with those who find it. As Money Magazine said “You’re Only As Good As Google Says You Are!”

While many students are aware of the inherent dangers of posting compromising photos or immature comments on their Facebook profiles, many times they aren’t attentive to the converse – being sure they actually make a great impression online. Yes, a picture of your child covered in Sharpie and shaving cream after a party would be a huge detriment and should be avoided. But, the chances of that occurring are actually drastically less than an admissions officer, or a recruiter or HR hiring manager Googling your child for more information.

Think about it. There’s an 87% chance your child will be searched – and not necessarily to find the bad things – but simply to compare and contrast against a similar candidate. Google (and the other major search engines) are being used to distinguish your child from others competing for the same admission, the same job. Don’t you want to be sure they are represented as well as they can be? It can make the difference between them gaining admission to the school they covet or the job the cherish – or not. Being found right away, in the right way – is more important than ever.

Starting early is helpful – say in 9^th grade – to allow them to “build a profile” online – which can later turn into their brand in a professional career. However, thanks to services like QAlias, you can place your child at the top of the list, beginning today. You can help them highlight the things they have done that are positive and set them apart from the crowd.

One good piece of news – once people find what they were looking for – they stop looking. In the case of admissions officers and recruiters, they are searching certain items about your child. QAlias profiles and bios provide a chance for a “one-stop” dispersal of all the information about your child in one place – which is found on page one of Google and Yahoo.

As one parent said to us, “It’s less than $1000 to keep my child on QAlias for the next 8 years, from 9^th grade in High School through the year they graduate college. I can’t see why I would protect my child, my family name and my investment.” Indeed. Go to www.qalias.com and sign up today.

How to Make a Positive and Memorable Networking Appearance

Sometimes, when we’re at a networking event, we end up with a large stack of cards – and a blurry memory (even when there aren’t drinks!) We feel as if we wasted our time. We don’t come away with leads or meetings worthy of the time we spent. And often, the people we met feel the same way about us.

While it is very difficult for most people to process the amount of input they receive in a networking atmosphere – especially larger mixers – there are steps you can take to maximize the experience and outcome for you and those you meet.

Here are some tips on how to “stand out in the crowd” (while you are there) and then how to stand out “from the crowd” (in your follow up and your follow through.)

While you’re at the event:

1. Be sure to take a card of theirs before you offer your own. It is common courtesy – and I always take notes while I ask the other person to talk about what they do. That way, I know what they do and how I might be able to help them. Also, when I hand them my card, I write a person I think they should know on the back. I ask them to connect with me (even though I have the same info on the back of their card) so that I know they want the introduction.

2. I use a “rating system” – and keep cards in an order in the meeting. There are (a) people I am glad to have met, (b) people I know I can help, (c) people I want to meet with further, and (d) people who I made a business connection with – they need my product(s) – or I need theirs. This allows me to follow up properly and promptly.

3. Be sure to keep eye contact with those you meet. We’re all been told how this is polite – but I never realized how much it can separate you from the pack. Keeping eye contact also increases your focus on the other person and what they are saying. They feel like you are tuned into them. I have had both new clients and great networking friends comment on how this made me stand out.

4. In every meeting, small or large, I try to use a trick I learned from Jackie Robinson via Jack Petrash. They both speak of how, when a batter goes to the plate, the batter is entitled to 3 good pitches. I keep the same thing in mind – only in networking, it is 3 good minutes. One minute to understand the person in front of me, one to listen harder and ask a good question or two – and then one to share my own insight or value I could bring to them.

5. In larger groups I try to keep in mind the people I met who are in the “spheres of influence” for those I am meeting. That way, I can ask “do you know Sam Jones – he does trash removal – and you’re a landlord with lots of turning properties.” I also can keep this in mind the next time I attend – and bring along people with coinciding interests.

6. Ask distinguishing questions to set yourself apart. Be sure to go deeper than surface level – asking them not just what they do – but what things they need to take next steps for success in their business? or who they get best leads from? or what else they have done or do outside of work? In that minute or so – asking them for this type of information allows you to gain a more intimate understanding of how you can help them and who else you know with similar interests. Again, keep track of these small things for the follow up, on the back of that person’s card.

7. Give them a way to find you that is unique and different. Sure, connecting with them on LinkedIn and for other social and business networking sites can be a way to expand your relations – but being able to say “Google Me” – is a really great tool – it helps with “your ‘bility.”

8. Finally, I try to take note of what type of networker and person I am meeting, using Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” trio to distinguish people as either a maven, connector or salesperson. This helps me know how to introduce them (article on page 20) when I begin networking introductions – one of the five followup rules. If you haven’t read “Tipping Point” – I very highly recommend it.

Be sure to check out our article on “How to Make Positive and Memorable Networking Followup.”

Gaining Every Single Advantage in Today’s Sales World

The economy has slowed down, the competition has become more intense and the battle is becoming one of commoditization for many sales professionals.  How do you rise above the industry standards?  How do you gain a competitive advantage over your competition?  What can you do to make yourself more credible, findable and referrable?

Simply put, you need to do something bold, something forceful, something with class and with value.  You could spend a lot of money on a campaign that promotes your company.  You could cold call all day.  You could go to networking events and gain a few leads from those who take your card.

However, there is a way to gain instant credibility with prospects, instant referability from those in your growing network and even a way you can simultaneously promote your company, and the cost is often recouped in even one extra sale. 

Think about it – what if someone could find you just by Googling your name?  What if all it took to refer you was the simple phrase “Google her” instead of “let me find her card, or send a three way email, or set up a lunch, or find time to do a call.” 

What if there was a way you could leverage this new top position to make yourself look like an expert in your field?  To show off all you do that matters to you?

Thanks to the fastest growing new personal branding optimization service, QAlias, there is a way to do all this and more.  With subscriber training included, as well as private label branding options, this is a surefire way to bring yourself to the top of the search engines, represent the company you work for in a new way, and ensure quick and easy referrals.

Be sure to learn more today – and sign up if you like what you see.

One Thing That NEVER Changes in Sales

With the huge shakeups in the financial world last week, there was a lot of talk about the hundreds of thousands of financial analysts and representatives who are now seeking work.  Yet, there is one thing they still have going for them, one thing they each retained no matter who let them go.  Its the one thing their customers know about them, too.

Really, in an unstable world, there is only one given, one standard, one thing that never changes (on its own) in sales, no matter the economy, the company you work for, the state of the dollar, price of gas or anything else.  Do you know what it is?  You know it – you have since you were very little.  People say it to you all the time and it gets a reaction almost every time.  Getting there?

Ok, we’ll tell you.  It’s your name.  Your name is the one thing that never changes in sales.  That’s a great thing, because people do business with people – not companies.  Sales are built on trust and relationships, although they can be driven by price.  The best sales people, however, will not succumb to that type of pressure, because they will know how to be found.  By name.

Let’s take the opening example – there are now north of 100,000 former representatives of financial institutions looking for work – and trying to reconnect with clients – or hope those clients can reconnect with them.  But those business cards the person had?  Irrelevant.  The number they had?  Disconnected.  The security they felt?  Dwindling.

However, if you were findable by simply saying “Google Me” – you’d still have contact with your clients.  This is true no matter your profession, but in sales and personal sales and care (hair and nail, massage, real estate) – it is paramount to success.  You need to be found and for your clients to be able to find you.  Begin to establish your online presence today.  Sign up now.  And tell them to Google you as early as tomorrow.

The Keys to Google’s Kingdom, Part III

Click Throughs – help them find what they were looking for – if you are that “thing” – you win!

Just like any great tool – QAlias functions best when applied and used.  Be sure to tell people to Google you – and when you demo the service yourself to a friend, be sure to click through on your ad we’ve created. 

Since we buy your name as an AdWord, there are two or three criterion Google uses to assess your position – both the “quality score” and your “click-through-ratio.”  Having both in a medium to high place ensures your top left placement and your appearance on top of Google.  This is what we call the “penthouse” view – from there – those links you’ll learn more about in the next post and the content you have optimized from the previous post’s tip on content, will help create “the elevator” to bring all other items to the top. 

In addition, click throughs help in your bio – when people follow the links you provide there, after finding your page.  By clicking on those links, it establishes a link between your name and the item they clicked on as well – especially if those items are “interconnected” – but that’s to be held for tomorrow’s blog entry. 

Three Tips on Leapfrogging the Big Names

Remember playing leapfrog as a kid?  Remember how fun it was to catapult past the other person – now, if there is someone famous, imfamous or downright popular in front of you in Google search – you can regain the top spot by leapfrogging them.  Here are three tips on how to do this:

 

(1)   Begin to publish articles, information and blog posts.  Use your name in each one – and link to sites you have established online.

(2)   Be sure to sign up for QAlias – and gain top page ranking – often simply catapulting overtop of the other people with the same name as you.

(3)   Position all you do to point back to your QAlias profile and tell people to Google you to find out information about you.

 

Soon, you’ll not only have the top spot on page 1, but you’ll also have an elevator to bring all the other good things you do to the top with you.  If you’re “the other” Brad Pitt or Hilary Clinton, well, it may take awhile, but you, too, can slowly chip away at the relevance for them and gain your own spot and road marker along the cyber highway..

 

Happy LeapFrogging the Big Names!

Andy “Google Me” Greider is a marketing consultant and radio show host of business growth solutions show, Uniqueness is Power. Andy is also Brand Manager with qAlias, plus he is a Self Promotion maven, serial entrepreneur, author, blogger, and inventor of the Gorelephant, first eImpressions and networthing.  He’d love to help you grow your business or develop and deploy your online personal brand.

The Most Cost Efficient Marketing – Let’s Break It Down

 

When you begin to look at the marketing you can do, especially during hard economic times, there are a couple of things you need to take into account.

 

(1)   What will this tool or service or plan do for me?

(2)   How much of my time will it take to set up?  Maintain?

(3)   How much does it cost?

(4)   What do I need to gain to recover my cost – and to profit?

(5)   If it is a service, can I do it cost efficiently myself?

(6)   How will this support my business plan?

(7)   How does this mesh with the other tools and services I use?

 

How is working on your personal brand the most cost effective, unified and ROI efficient move?  When you use QAlias – you really gain…let’s take it through the steps:

 

(1)   This service gets you page one presence on Google and Yahoo.  It also allows you to set up a communications tools, and allows you to become the easiest person on the planet to find.

(2)   Signup takes 10 minutes – adding your photo, bio and some bulletin content should take between 1-3 hours.  Maintaining the site is easy – if you’re ok with Word, you should be ok with this.

(3)   Sit down….wait for it…..this service is $9.95 a month or $119.40 a year.

(4)   For a real estate agent – sell one extra property.  For a network marketer – gain one new downline.  For a lawyer – bill one extra hour.  For an insurance agent – sell one more policy.  For almost anyone – gain one more referral.  This cost is amazingly inexpensive.

(5)   In this case, at $120 a year, if you charge $40 an hour, and work on your own Google AdWords campaign for more than 3 hours, or designing your site for the same time if you try to go that direction – this is now made more cost effective – plus it covers the click costs.  You really can’t do it this price efficiently.

(6)   If one of your goals is to grow your business long term, QAlias is there for you – giving you page one priority in a professional, ad free setting where you will be found time and again – and are able to become more memorable, more referable and more findable.

(7)   How does it mesh?  Well, it depends, but it works really well with anything else you have going online.  Heck, it has given me a boost in reconnecting with some old clients – and recently, it brought in inquiries from the press.  That works pretty well.  Also, remember, people do business with you – no matter what business you are with.  Your own name stays with you forever, no matter what business you are running.

 

Andy “Google Me” Greider is a marketing consultant and radio show host of business growth solutions show, Uniqueness is Power. Andy is also Brand Manager with qAlias, plus he is a Self Promotion maven, serial entrepreneur, author, blogger, and inventor of the Gorelephant, first eImpressions and networthing.  He’d love to help you grow your business or develop and deploy your online personal brand.

It’s All About “Bility!”

Stability.  Findability.  Referability.  Credibility   – they all stem from having a great image online.  Being found consistently on page one makes you someone people can easily send clients to – and helps your actual standing with those clients and others who find you.

 

So, how’s your “bility?”  Have you checked lately?  Do you think it matters?  Do you want to have more success and expert status?  Do you know you need to become someone online? Do you know how important it is to position for the new ways in which people are both being searched for, found and judged?  (often without them even knowing it happened)

 

If this worries you or scares you, good – you’re grasping the depth and breadth of the situation!  (ever since I had to take depth and breadth classes at Penn State, I have yearned to use those words together in a sentence – at last!)  Seriously, though, there is so much risk to having old information, or bad information or no information out there about you that you have to be sure to lead with the best you can.

 

Most of the time, people simply assume they are not being looked for, unless perhaps they are looking for a job.  But simply, stop and ask yourself – “How do I find information when I am coveting new knowledge or old connections?”  Once you realize the answer is likely “Googling it.” your next questions almost has to be:  “What is my Google-ability?”  See, it really is all about “bility!”

Netweaving Tips For Professionals

Knowing how to network – but going beyond it to making sure your referrals are all to the most incredible people possible – makes you into a netweaver.  Knowing how to grow your netweaving database takes practice, and some help perhaps from guru Bob Littell.

 

Being found online properly is perhaps the most important thing to be able to make your networking easy and your refer-ability simple.  What if the next time a contact or client wants to refer you, if all they have to say is “Google her”?  How much does that help you out?  How easy does that make it for the person referring you?  They no longer have to type in details about what you do – your online profile tells them.  The other day I told two friends to “just Google each other” and then in two sentences, told them how I saw them helping each other.  They loved the intro, I loved the ease – and a business deal is brewing between them, as I type.

 

Knowing the best people is a large part of the netweaving battle – but having them make themselves easy to find, easy to refer to, and easy to work with – is almost as important.  If you do a lot of business of a partner, suggest to them they get to page one of Google.  They will become easier for your to refer, easier for their clients to find – and they will gain new traction to help pull the information they want to share onto page one with them.

How Do Gas Prices Affect Your Online Personal Brand?

The pumps keep going up – and the signs are that it won’t stop anytime soon.  Plus, now that we’re past $4 a gallon – the chances of things going back below the $4 mark seem slim.  Until we find and begin to use alternate energy sources, we’re going to see people cutting back more and more on travel, conventions, face to face meetings and more.  With that decrease in one on one interactions, more people will be turning to the internet to learn about you and what you offer to them.

 

It is an imperative, now more than ever before, that you are being found online the way you want to be found.  Being found on page one of the search engine(s) of choice is key, as is conveying the information you want them to find.  Making sure your personal brand is created, portrayed and projected as you’d intend can make the difference right now in this economy – where a “first impression” becomes a first e-Impression.

 

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to tell all your clients who need to be in contact with you – “Just Google Me!” – and make it so your presence is a professional, ad free and clean space you control?  Wouldn’t it be amazing if, over time, your name being input in the search engines brought up a whole page or two or three of results – the accolades and the information you want to share with the clients you have, or the ones seeking you out?  What if your clients could refer you by simply saying “Google her?”

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Andy “Google Me” Greider is a marketing consultant, personal branding expert and radio show host of business growth solutions show, Uniqueness is Power.  Andy is also Brand Manager with qAlias, plus he is a Self Promotion maven, serial entrepreneur, author, blogger, and inventor of the Gorelephant, first eImpressions and networthing.  He’d love to speak with you about how to grow your business and improve your brand.