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Get Visible.
If your name, contact information and professional biography aren't among the first results when prospects Google you, you're invisible.
Check out these tips to get visible on search engines:

LinkedIn
is a free business-networking site used by 13 million professionals. Post a detailed profile of your business or professional experience and link with your colleagues and new business acquaintances to create a network that grows exponentially. That visibility spreads to search engines: Whenever someone searches for your name or your company, your LinkedIn profile comes up. For best results, fill out your profile completely. (www.linkedin.com)

Wikipedia
is the biggest free-content encyclopedia on the Internet, with more than 7 million articles in over 200 languages. If Wikipedia includes an entry directly related to your specialty, try to link your Web site under the "External Links" section at the end of that category. This is especially useful for people who have written books related to specific Wikipedia topics. (www.wikipedia.org)

ZoomInfo
is a "people search" engine that hosts millions of free and focused summaries of professionals and companies. By creating your own profile, you increase your visibility online...as well as the likelihood of being found by Google and other search engines when prospects look for you. (www.zoominfo.com)

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Priceless.
Thats how valuable your email addresses are. Email address lists have replaced the database as businesses most important marketing tool, and they are the most critical component of your marketing plan. An up-to-date email list allows you to implement an instant, sophisticated and effective e-marketing campaign.

To create a list that can be utilized by email marketing companies like Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) and PatronMail (www.patrontechnology.com), create an Excel spreadsheet listing the first and last names and email addresses of your contacts. Initiate your campaign as soon as it is complete, and add to your list religiously.

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Too Busy to Market?
Think again. The most important time to market your business is when you think you don't need to. Here are four marketing steps to take now:

Announce.
Launch a monthly e-letter or e-postcard targeting your VIP contact list. In addition to an update from your company, include a helpful tip – such as a recommended industry resource – to make it genuinely useful to your recipients.

Inform.
Plan one-year's worth of quarterly e-newsletters. Write the first one, have it professionally edited and use a professional e-marketing company to release it to your newly updated marketing list.

Publish.
Identify five trade magazines that reach your biggest prospect groups. Contact the editor of each one to pitch an article that you will write. Address issues that will most interest their readers. Keep your initial query short – one or two paragraphs. Follow up by phone within two weeks. (For exposure in the most prestigious publications, try submitting a letter to the editor...and make sure to include your title and company name.)

Write...and Post.
Write a position paper addressing hot issues in your industry. Post it on your Web site and email a summary to your contact list. Try distributing your paper as an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. Visit www.press-feed.com to learn about setting up RSS feeds.

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Don't Wait.
Marketers are winners - and your prospects want to do business with winners. Winners are visible, proactive and accessible. They are up to speed with tech-savvy marketing, maintain appealing Web sites with timely content and, not coincidentally, attract streams of new business inquiries. Winners make it look easy...because they don't make excuses not to market.

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P.S.
Remember: if it looks like it's not important, it won't get read. Up to 70% of snail mailings get discarded in seconds...and nuisance emails are obliterated at warp speed. So, whatever you do, make it look important.