If a potential client “googles” you, either before they contact you, or for example, after a CMA appointment, what will they find out about you versus your competition? Will they even find you on internet?

What if you have changed firms recently and a past client calls your old company and is told you are no longer there? Can your past client locate you, your new firm, and your new contact information on internet? Your old firm isn’t going to refer your past client to you!

It doesn't matter if you have an internet presence with your own website. You may be listed on other web sites. Nor do you need to start your own website or spend a lot of money to be found on internet.

This article isn’t on internet marketing to solicit business. The purpose is making sure your potential clients, looking for you in particular, find you on internet. It is about credibility. This is guerilla marketing and you want to improve your situation with only two hours of effort and little or no money.

1. The first step is to see your current baseline on internet. There are hundreds of search engines, but we are only interested in major search engines ranked below. Search for yourself on these sites to see how you stand; first with your name; then your name and profession; your name and your company name, and then your name, profession and/or company, town, and state.

For example: Jane Doe; Jane Doe real estate or John Doe financial planner; Jane Doe real estate, any town, any state, and then Jane Doe ABC Realty, any town, any state, etc.

Were results positive or negative? Was there a hit on you being named Realtor of Year? Or a hit on a newspaper article about you being sued? Were you even able to find yourself? If it were your potential client “googling” you, how would you feel about results your potential client received? Did you have credibility?

If you have a common name for your ethnic group, such as James McDonald or Mohamed Mahmood, you are doubtlessly lost in millions of web pages from around world.

Your clients have same problem locating relevant information about you and will normally narrow their search by adding your company name, and/or location. Did you get a hit on your company website that doesn’t mention your name and not on personal web page.

2. Google, Yahoo, and MSN, have recently added local search tools to help users find businesses they are actually searching for, out of huge and overwhelming world wide web. When you searched your name, business, and location information, these local results appeared at top of search results page. Compared to normal search engine results (that are determined by secret/proprietary search algorithms to rank web pages that match requested search words), local search is powered by yellow page directories and other directories of businesses at that physical location.

For example, you search internet for an Italian restaurant you heard of in Federal Hill section of Providence, RI. Yet, your search results include a pasta manufacturer in Southern France and sites on history of Federal architecture. Local search would search for that restaurant listing in Providence, RI, and or all restaurants listed in Providence, RI.