Orange E-Business Advocate
Try this quick experiment: use Google to search for the name of your business. Hopefully, if you have a website, it comes up in the first few results. But what else shows up? Are there any similarly named businesses out there? What products and services do they offer? Could someone searching online for your business accidentally mistake their website for yours?
OCEA Group actually has a few clients who use the same word in their business name as some of their competitors (for example, where the name of the town or the name of the product is used). We've logged hits to their website coming from searches on their competitor's name. What a great win!
Having your own website for your business is becoming more and more important, as Internet use (and especially Internet search) is now so widespread. Millions of websites are competing with each other for consumers' attention, and without your own website, you can't even begin to have your voice heard. This is especially relevant for businesses who depend on the name recognition of their owner: insurance brokers, lawyers, doctors, consultants, real estate agents, and any other workers in the professional services field. Check out this article in the Boston Globe about researching people using Google. If your personal reputation is tantamount to the success of your business, I strongly suggest putting together a personal website that details your work experience, offers a bio, and lists any affiliations you may have. This way, YOU can be the authority on your business, when people come searching.
Posted by joseph at January 12, 2005 05:25 PM