Small business owners are always searching for ways to increase their visibility online. Problem is — finding, catching, and keeping customers. And once you have done this, fostering a continuing relationship with these visitors can prove difficult.

Our featured guest in this episode of Small Business Trends Radio is Brent Leary, Partner of CRM Essentials. Brent provides tips on how to get customers to find you.

For instance, did you know that:

• Commenting online drives traffic – Commenting on sites such as Linked In, Fast Pitch Networking and Amazon have power to drive a significant amount of traffic to your site by building a reputation and credibility for yourself online.

• Participation in Wikis can help – Find a wiki that is related to your industry and begin to participate and network. This is a great way to also build credibility online and network with others in your industry and bring new opportunities to yourself and your business.

• Make use of free blogging services – Blogs continue to be a great way to gain exposure in your industry online. Many people and business owners are making use of free blogging services to do so.

• Customer service is king – CRM online programs help to increase customer service by allowing companies to centralize valuable customer information in one location that is easy to access. This alleviates time delays and helps you to foster a continuing relationship with your customers.

• Bookmarking sites highlight small businesses –Sites such as JumpUp allow bookmarking features of web pages for others to view. They highlight small businesses and if yours is chosen, you will be placed on the homepage spotlight. This placement can drive a significant amount of potential customers to your site.

With his knowledge and expertise, Brent Leary has many more tips for small business owners that can increase visibility online and serve to build credibility. We couldn’t list them all here, but Brent has much, much more to offer.

Gain access to Brent’s valuable insights by clicking the player below to listen to the full interview.

Listen Now:

 How To Get Customers To Find YOU [53:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | | Permalink

1. Brent provides a lot of useful tips in this particular show. I would suggest that anyone interested in driving traffic to their site or blog have a listen, there’s something everyone can use here and apply to their business.

   Comment by Chris — 4/30/2007 @ 10:11 am

2. Brent, great information on the show. This is the kind of information that I have been looking for. What do you think about Franklin Covey entering the CRM space with www.planplusonline.com Thanks Mike

   Comment by Mike — 4/30/2007 @ 10:58 pm

3. Thanks for the info on Wikis. I am a member of the Jump-up community and do find there services useful. Very nice show.

   Comment by EJMalyn — 5/10/2007 @ 7:21 pm

4. So true about Google, Brent! Recently I have realized how important SEO really is. I had an old ecommerce site that was not SEO friendly. I switched in January to a new site & really worked on my Google ranking & SEO. It really makes a difference! I am now getting 4 times as many unique hits as I did before! Bookmarking really brings in hits too. I love that these shows point out new sites that I would normally never find myself. I’m going to check out linkedin.com now!

   Comment by Amanda — 5/11/2007 @ 1:02 pm

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