It seems that most people I’ve been talking to within my network agree on at least one thing : the potential opportunity which this global economic recession provides in regard of establishing online brand.

The fact that businesses anticipate a hard time in the near future is illustrated by some already cutting in their budgets for internet marketing.  That said, social media marketing (SMM), with it’s potential value for building brand on the web not fully recognized yet,  could very well be one of the first things to be scrapped.

With established businesses having to cut costs and maybe choosing to do this in the area of internet marketing, it would mean that, if you have the possibility, now is the time to start working hard and try to build online brand through social media channels.

This theory is of course based on speculation (and anticipation), but nonetheless, If  you are a small business trying to get into a market or a starting web entrepreneur with enough time,  it might be a good idea to set up a strategy, make a plan, start focusing on social media marketing and see where it goes.

It could be one of the best things to do in 2009 …

Popularity: 9% [?]

Improving Search Engine Ranking by implementing basic seo techniques has always been fairly easy, so I’m not surprised that Google announced an SEO Starter Guide on November 12th. (Thanks to Michaela Lica for bringing that to my attention.)

In this downloadable .pdf file, Google provides the reader with information about the most basic Search Engine Ranking Factors which are easy to implement.

The guide for instance explains how to correctly use tags which are known to be important, such as the  TITLE & “Description”- META tags while also emphasizing some SEO best practices, including correct URL structuring, using a Site map and designing clean navigation.  Aside from these, there also are several tips about web site promotion which include social media, blogging and some links to Google’s own web master tools.

In my opinion, the information that Google has provided in this SEO Starters Guide is quite useful. However SEO doesn’t stop there. It actually starts here :

An effective long term Search Engine Optimization strategy has correlations with a number of other things, including as keyword research, competitor’s tactics and marketing strategy to name a few.  Also, in order to keep Search Engine Rankings High, continuous evaluation and adjustment is needed.

So, unless you’re a SEO newbie and have been ignoring Google optimization completely up untill now, I wouldn’t expect a drastic improvement in Search Engine Placement after reading this guide.  On the other hand, this is only a starters guide, and only time will tell if Google is planning to release a follow-up on it …

Popularity: 14% [?]

One of the most surprising mistakes that I see web site owners and sometimes even experienced web masters make is not checking domain name availability and grabbing their brand real estate when they have the chance.  What I am talking about are not only top level domain names (f.e. problogger.com and problogger.net etc.), but free sub domain names as well.

Whether you are starting a blog, web site or any web project for that matter, the first thing that you should do before registering your domain name check for availability across sites that offer free sub domains.  Some of these are blogger.com (yourdomainname.blogspot.com), wordpress.com (yourdomainname.wordpress.com) and StumbleUpon.com (yourdomainname.stumbleupon.com) amongst others.

If you don’t do this, you can end up loosing a piece of your brand real estate. Imagine how you would feel if you are the web master of new company web site or blog and you find out that after your registered a great domain name, most sub domains across free sites have been taken already ?

In the worst case, you’ll have to buy a domain name from the parents of a 12 year old who has been playing with the GoDaddy domain name search and used his Mommy’s credit card to register your brand name.

Now, the example above is just that, a colorful example, but it’s very possible. I have seen many annoying situations regarding domain names during my time as a freelancer.  Most of the headache is avoidable, this is an extremely simple tip.

Where do You Grab Brand Real Estate ?

I’ve only mentioned 3 examples where brand real estate can be grabbed.  Of course there are more.  The point of this blog entry is to build a comprehensive list together. So, where do you go in order to grab your online brand real estate ?

Popularity: 17% [?]