Google is among the best of the best when it comes to search engines. In fact, Google receives over 300 million visitors and well over 2 billion search queries on any given day. Sadly, the average people performing these searches are not using the search engine to its fullest extent.

There are a countless number of ways that you can target your search more effectively and increase your search experience. Below are a few tips to get you started.

Quotes

Use quotes around words that you are looking for together. Otherwise, you will get results that would randomly contain any or all of the keywords you list. Example: “Independence Day”.

Minus Sign (-)

Place a minus sign preceding any words you wish to exclude from your search. Example: “Michael Jackson” -“Jackson 5”. This will only display results for Michael Jackson, unrelated to the Jackson 5.

Plus Sign (+)

Place the plus sign before any words that you want to include in your search. Example: “Michael Jackson” +“Jackson 5”. Now, search results that appear will only showcase topics related to both Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5.

Site

Include the website in your search query when you are looking for something specific on any given site. Example: “Link Building” site:ProspectMX.com. The hits are only related to the topic of choice for the site that’s submitted to the operator. This can also be reversed if you’re trying to get results when you want to exclude a site from your results. Example: “Fashion News” -site:FashionNews.com.

Fail

When you’re searching for negative product reviews or even epic sports fails, consider placing the word “fail” immediately following your initial query. Example: “sports” fail.

InTitle

Starting your search with “InTitle” tells the search engine to limit your hits by containing only those terms in the text of the title. Example: InTitle: “Top 10 Vacation Spots”.

InText

Including “InText” in your search query restricts Google to contain all the words you inquired to appear on the text of the page. Example: InText: “Top 10 Vacation Spots”.

InURL

By placing “InURL” in your search, you are telling the operator to place the words as they appear in the website URL of the search results. Example: InURL: “Top 10 Vacation Spots”.

Happy Googling!

Press releases are the best and most formal way to make the media aware of your company announcing something of newsworthy value. This could include launching a new product or service, or making the public aware of a new CEO leading the pack.

The most important aspects to keep in mind when crafting a press release is to:

Engage the Reader

Keep your target audience in mind through the entire writing process. Press releases are intended for the PRESS. Just think of the amount of press releases that a reporter receives each and every day. Make the content interesting and engaging. Another way to spruce things up is to include photos, business logos, and even charts. Anything that catches the eye will do the trick!

Optimize Content

There are several online press release distribution sites that allow you to reach your media contacts as well as push your press release on the web. To get the most out of online submissions, make your press release stand out with keyword rich content. This will help potential customers find your website on the top pages of Google search results when performing a specialized search related to your product or service.

Verify that Objectives are Met

Keep your eyes on the prize. Read your press release over and over again to confirm that your objectives have been met. Are you portraying your company in the highest regards? Are you including all the details upfront; who, what, where, when, why and how? Are you promoting what you intended? These are all valid questions to make sure you’re on topic.

Include a Call to Action

Toward the end of your press release include a call to action. This can be leading back to your website talking specifically about the product or service being promoted or even to your blog. Don’t hesitate to also include your social media sites as well to gain more exposure.

Not Exceed in Length

Don’t over kill it. A good rule of thumb is sticking between 300 and 500 words for a good press release. If you’re including great detail, an acceptable press release can be up to 800 words in length.

Check for Grammar

Take time to read your press release—and then read it again, checking for any grammar or punctuation mistakes. It’s always wise to have a second pair of eyes. No matter how often you might read over something, you might be missing the fine details.

We are proud to announce that Steve Young, our co-founder and CFO, has been named a top finalist in the “Growth Specialist” category of the 2011 CFO of the Year Awards held by Central Penn Business Journal.

This recognition is the first of its kind in Central Pennsylvania to celebrate the financial executives whose work is vital to the success and stability of businesses and organizations, as well as the region’s overall economic growth.

The nominations were carefully reviewed by an independent panel of judges, some including Jeff Druce of the Community First Fund, Jeffrey Masch with The Hershey Company, and Tina Weyant from the World Trade Center of Central Pennsylvania.

Young helped spearhead our company’s significant growth in revenues. The highlight of our success fell at the end of fiscal year 2010, increasing revenue six times of that earned in 2009.

Young will be publicly recognized at an awards event to be held on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, from 6pm to 9:30pm at York College of Pennsylvania. He will also be profiled in a special publication to be inserted in the June 10, 2011, issue of the Central Penn Business Journal.

Way to go Steve!

To learn more about the CFO of the Year program or to register to attend the awards reception, visit www.CentralPennBusiness.com/Events.

The web is a huge marketplace for promoting and selling your products and services. If you’re not already utilizing the internet to its fullest extent in regards to sales and marketing, you’re missing out and in a huge way! Just having a website can increase sales, grow your customer base, service your current customer base and increase your brand presence and awareness.

Whether or not you’re ready to engage in an in depth internet marketing strategy, there are plenty of free tools available that you can start using today to set goals and plan growth strategies for your site.

The following tools can help you be found on top search engines like Google and Google Maps, especially for local searches that relate to your company. You are able to identify and track specific search trends for relevant keyword or phrases over several months or even years. You can also track and analyze your web traffic, but more importantly, where the traffic comes from and to see what pages are visited the most. You are also able to discover what keywords people are searching for online related to your business while analyzing how many backlinks you obtain. Lastly, you can monitor mentions of your company and how people are talking about your company, both positively and negatively.

So the free tools you ask? Check them out below:

Google Places

With the great emphasis that Google has put on local search, you want to create a free business listing on Google Places so you can engage customers with photos, offers, testimonials, etc.

Google Insights

This tool is a great way to determine if there’s a hot keyword out there that seems to be getting more and more searches. You can compare search volume patterns for keywords related to your business across specific regions, time frames, categories, etc.

Google Analytics

You are able to analyze direct traffic, organic keyword traffic, most popular pages of your site, track goals, and more for free. This is one tool you can’t live without. If you don’t have some sort of analytics tracking installed in your site, how are you able to monitor what’s working and what’s not?

SEMRush

Determine out how much search volume a relevant keyword is getting – or spy on the competition and see what keywords they’re ranking for!

MajesticSEO

Get a cumulative look at how many sites are linking back to yours month over month – or check the same for a competitor! Backlinks are one of the major factors in getting your site ranking for a ton of keywords in the search engines.

Google/Yahoo Alerts

You can sign up to receive weekly, daily or “as it happens” emails from Google and Yahoo whenever someone mentions your brand or products online.

Many of the tools have both free and paid versions. If you’re a beginner, sign up for a free account and determine for yourself if it’s worth paying for the full monty!

We all know that LinkedIn is a great networking tool used to get connected with past and present colleagues and classmates. The outlet is often referred to as “Facebook for professionals” because business leaders can power their career and obtain inside connections for job searches or new business ventures as well as having the ability to share and obtain advice from other industry leading experts.

What most professionals fail to recognize, however, is that you are 40 times more likely to turn up in search results if your profile is a 100% complete. Having a 100% completed profile is easy, with a few basic additions to your profile:

•    Upload a Photo
•    Add Current Position
•    Add Past Positions (2)
•    Include Education
•    Provide a Profile Summary
•    Describe Specialties
•    Get Recommended (3)

Once you have a completed profile, you may also want to continue searching for contacts within your network and become more involved in groups and associations. Updating status updates and integrating web based applications adds greater value to your profile. The more activity you present as a professional employee of your company, the better you and your company appears, since after all, your company profile on LinkedIn is comprised of all employee statistics.

Another helpful tip, from an SEO perspective, is optimizing your website listings on your profile for the keyword you wish to rank for in search engines. To do so, “Edit” your website and select “Other.”

For “Website Title” include the title of your website, category or keyword you wish to rank for. From there, simply enter your URL string.

It’s that simple! Now get out there and stir up some industry leading conversation.