What makes this tool so valuable is it allows you to discover specific information your prospects search for online. With this knowledge and some strategic positioning, you can drive traffic to your websites, articles, blogs, press releases, videos and other types of marketing pieces.

And here’s the kicker: The data used to generate this information is compiled by Google’s engineering hotshots.

Few people are aware of this tool because it was originally kept a secret — the search engine giant only made it available to select users.

But you can get access right now without spending a single cent. I show you how in this quick video:

What about a jump or drop in your website’s placement on different days?

Here’s one possible reason for the variations:

Late last year, Google began personalizing results for anyone who uses its search engine. Previously, this feature was only available for signed-in users who had the “Web History” option enabled on their Google accounts.

This change means Google now customizes your search results based on your previous 180 days of search activity. You’ll know when your results are personalized when you see “View customizations” on the top right of your search results page.

If you don’t want to receive customized results, you can click the link and turn off the search customization. Once the page opens, click the sentence that reads, “If you’re curious, you can see what a search for [your searched term] looks like without these improvements.” A new window will then open with adjusted search results.

By clicking the “View customizations” link, you can also see if other criteria were used in your original search results. In some cases, your search results are personalized according to your location.

If you’re signed into a Google account, you can also turn off the personalized search setting by going into your Web History and selecting the “Remove items” option.

Here’s a post on Google’s blog with more information about personalized search.

We’ll call him “Bob.”

Bob explained he just dropped a small fortune on a new company website. Although he understood the importance of being online, Bob said he had no idea how to ensure his website generated leads. So he relied on a programmer to come up with the content and a strategy … while creating the website.

Anticipating his new website would immediately bring in leads, Bob began paying for a monthly service that allowed visitors to get instant online quotes. Also, at the suggestion of his programmer, he started a Google AdWords campaign.

When Bob called, he was frustrated. Although his website had been online for several weeks, he hadn’t received a single lead — or even any traffic. And since he was paying for the online quote program and pay-per-click advertising, he was losing money every day.

When I went to Bob’s website, several problems were immediately noticeable …

This is one of two similar calls I received last week (the other was from a lady who spent $10,000 for a website and eBook she won’t ever use). I’m sharing Bob’s story with you because his situation is not unique — far too many business owners needlessly throw away money for websites (and other types of marketing materials) that never have a chance to generate leads.

What makes Bob’s situation so frustrating is he’s now left with no budget to correct basic mistakes that could have easily been avoided.

I don’t want to direct negative attention toward Bob’s business, so I’m keeping his URL private. But here is an explanation of several places where his website went wrong (you’ll notice these are the same mistakes I mentioned repeatedly in previous posts):

• The title tags are blank. For search engine optimization purposes, keywords used by your target audience must be incorporated into the area that displays in the blue bar at the top of any web browser.

• The content doesn’t have headers. In addition to breaking long blocks of text and making the content easier to comprehend, search engines “read” headers to help determine the topics on a web page.

• The content doesn’t have anchor text. Another major factor for search engine optimization, key phrases within your content should link to other pages on your website.

• The website doesn’t have incoming links. The number of other relevant websites linking to your website is another significant factor when it comes to your search engine ranking.

• The content is self-centered. Every sentence on Bob’s home page begins with one of the following words: We, Our or __________ Insurance Agency. How is a prospect supposed to feel like his/her needs are being addressed?

• The content doesn’t have a call to action. Prospects always need direction on what action to take after reading your website — or any other type of marketing piece.

• The website does nothing to set Bob’s company apart from his competition. For example, his tagline reads “Providing Professional Insurance Services.” How is that different from any other insurance company?

• The website doesn’t have a lead-capture tool. Bob is trying to lure prospects to his home page with Google AdWords. But if anyone makes it to his website, there’s no way to collect that prospect’s contact information.

In Bob’s case, any keywords used for the search engine purposes should include geographic terms because he only provides insurance services in and around Phoenix.

The one place his programmer included keywords was in the website’s meta keyword tags (which are now a minimal factor in search engine ranking). However, the terms are so broad (e.g., car insurance quotes, car insurance rates, automobile insurance, car insurance agency, etc.) that Bob is fighting for search engine space with industry giants. And there’s no way he can win that battle with a brand new website.

If you have a website, learn from Bob’s costly mistakes and make the changes necessary to attract prospects and generate leads.

According to their new “User View Wave VII” report, nearly all consumers use online media for shopping decisions. More specifically, 97% of consumers research products and services online. And of these Internet users, a whopping 90% use search engines first when researching nearby businesses.

If you target local consumers, these figures prove the importance of having an effective online presence. But they also bring up a crucial question …

What are you currently doing on your website to target your local market?

If you’re serious about attracting a local audience online, then your website must make it easy for your prospects to find you using search engines such as Google.

That means having keywords your prospects use in search engines incorporated into your website’s content. These keywords must be in your title tags (the area displayed in the blue bar at the top of your browser), your headers (the larger text that breaks up your content and explains the big benefit of doing business with you) and your anchor text (clickable content that links to other pages on your site).

Keywords in your URL will also help your cause.

If you need help determining which keywords people use to find businesses like yours, try Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool.

And don’t forget about building your incoming links. You want as many relevant and reputable websites as possible linking to your online home. This will help drive traffic to your website and give you virtual “votes” from Google.

Article marketing using EzineArticles.com is one way to start building your backlinks.

Once your website begins getting local search engine traffic, the absolute easiest way to collect targeted prospects (and I will write this advice until my fingers can no longer type on a keyword) is to give away a special report/guide and saturate it with valuable content. Of course, you want to collect any prospect’s e-mail address before you deliver your free report/guide.

This simple step allows you to begin creating your own list of targeted prospects. Because here’s the honest truth:

Unless your website is building your customer list right now, it’s totally useless to you as a marketing tool.

The above statement might sound harsh, but I promise you it’s the truth.

Of course, you may not know what to include in your free report to attract prospects. If that’s the case, here are two easy topics:

(Insert Number) Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Buying (Your Product or Service)

(Insert Number) Critical Questions to Ask When Hiring (Your Type of Company)

All you have to do is reveal the mistakes or question your prospects need to know when shopping for your product or service. Of course, your information can tie right into your company’s strengths.

The added bonus is you instantly become an industry expert — regardless of how long you’ve been in business. As well, you now have a lead-generating marketing piece you can promote online and offline.

If you’ve read this far, then you know these prospect-gathering tips will make a major difference in the number of leads you collect off your website. The only mistake you can make now is waiting to incorporate them.

I recently heard this statement from a prospect after suggesting he start a permission-based e-mail campaign to complement his search engine optimization efforts on his website.

The prospect’s response caught me by surprise because his website was supposedly a source for numerous leads. Since many clients discovered his company while searching the Internet, I figured the chances of them using e-mail as a communication tool were pretty good.

Seems logical, right?

Well, eventually the prospect acknowledged his clients’ indifference toward e-mail was never verified. Instead, he assumed they didn’t read e-mails because he didn’t like reading e-mails.

These types of unwarranted beliefs result in many missed marketing opportunities. How often have you heard statements similar to these …

Direct mail doesn’t work anymore.

You must spend big bucks to get your website at the top of the search engines.

If you e-mail too often, people will label you a “spammer.”

Social media is a fad only popular with teens and twenty-somethings.

Because each marketing situation is unique, the only way you can make an accurate statement about any strategy is to test it yourself. Also, keep in mind, if your first attempt isn’t as successful as you imagined, that doesn’t mean the strategy won’t work.

For example, let’s go back to e-mail as a marketing tool, since it’s a common target for naysayers. One way you can get started in e-mail marketing is to buy a list and then blast out an announcement. You could also send that same announcement to a list you developed yourself using a permission-based approach.

Both tactics include elements of e-mail marketing. But one would likely get a much better response than the other.

In June, ExactTarget , a provider of software for e-mail communication, published its 2009 Channel Preferences Survey. One finding worth noting is that Internet users’ fondness for e-mail is rising.

In fact, consumers choose e-mail at a rate of 3-to-1 over any other channel for marketing communications, including text messaging, phone, instant messaging, social media and direct mail.

The key, however, is getting permission. One-half of consumers said unsolicited messages were unacceptable, even from companies they did business with regularly — an increase of 26% over 2008.

(You can get a copy of ExactTarget’s 2009 Channel Preferences Survey here: http://pages.exacttarget.com/channel.)

In many cases, confusion can lead to websites packed with corporate babble and unproven claims few people care about.

Regardless of your industry, your prospects use the Internet to find information that addresses their problems. The challenge is creating solution-driven content that deals with these problems, while still demonstrating a need for your product or service.

Here are four tools to help you tackle this task:

1. Wordtracker Labs’ Keyword Question: Enter a keyword or short phrase related to your industry and Wordtracker Labs’ Keyword Question tool delivers a list of questions people are currently asking. The inquiries are sorted by the number of times they were typed into search engines during the past year.

For example, here are some popular questions for the search term “debt”:

How does debt consolidation work?

How to get out of debt?

How can I get someone to pay off my debt?

If your target audience is dealing with debt, these questions are potential topics for at least three website pages. Best of all, you know there’s already an audience searching for these subjects.

2. Twitter: If you’re not already on Twitter, you’re probably confused about how it can help your business. Well, here’s one big benefit that might provide some clarity:

Because Twitter is essentially a worldwide online conversation that never stops, you can always see what topics people are talking about in your industry. Just enter a term related to your product or service in Twitter’s search box and then read the posts. (For a more detailed search, click the “Advanced Search” link at http://search.twitter.com.)

Once you find a hot topic, create a page or two on your website about the subject - and join the conversation on Twitter.

3. Amazon.com: At first thought, you might view Amazon.com as an unusual tool for helping write your website content, but stay with me on this suggestion.

Think back to the last time a book caught your attention at the bookstore. Where did you look after reading the cover? Most likely, you turned to the table of contents to see if the topics listed were worthy of a more detailed read.

You can bet authors and publishers understand reader habits and position topics with the greatest appeal in the table of contents. Use their research to your advantage by pulling topics from the table of contents in books from your industry.

Simply look for the “Search inside this book” link under the cover images of books on Amazon.com.

4. Usage Statistics: If you already have a website, your usage statistics will reveal loads of valuable insight, such as how many visitors come to your website, where they come from and what pages get the most views.

You’ll also see the exact terms people use when they land on any of your website pages. If you notice a subject with several searches, write more content about that topic.

If you don’t have access to your website’s usage statistics, request it from your designer/developer. You can also get usage statistics by adding Google Analytics to your website.

Keeping your content fresh is essential for driving search engine traffic to your website. The more solution-driven content you post, the greater your opportunity to attract more online visitors, multiply incoming links to your website and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

Earlier this month, I used information from that interview to write an article for the Flagstaff Business News. In addition to Andy’s insight, I added some great tips from Jason Baer. A social media and e-mail consultant, as well as the founder of Convince & Convert, Jason has provided digital marketing advice to some of America’s largest companies since 1994.

You can access the article by clicking the link below.

Are You Making These Mistakes with Your Business Website?

I have to say, I was a bit surprised by the response.

I knew Andy provided some great information, but the reaction was even more positive than I expected. So much so that I knew Andy and I had to connect again for a follow-up interview.

As fate would have it, I stumbled across a blog post from Andy that was impossible to ignore. One look at the title and I knew we had a topic for our second interview.

“10 Reasons Your Biz Website Just Might Totally Suck”

See what I mean?

Andy didn’t pull any punches with that post.

Sure, you might have a website that could use a little work, but one that “sucks” takes bad to a whole other level.

During this interview, you’ll discover …

• The strategic foundation you must lay before even considering content or the design of your website. (Skip this step and confusion will cause visitors to race off your website.)
• A $250,000 mistake you can avoid by simply not relying on the “experts.”
• 9 items you must have on your website if you expect to get traffic from the search engines.
• The fundamental question all websites must answer from the opening headline on the home page to the post-order thank-you e-mail.
• How to determine if you’re neglecting your website and squandering your online investment.
• A cheap and easy way to get your website evaluated — using audio and video — by unbiased reviewers from your target market.
• And much more.

Get this exclusive interview by clicking or downloading the
following MP3 link: http://www.writewaysolutions.com/mp3/renkweb.mp3

You can also read the transcript here: http://www.writewaysolutions.com/pdf/renktranscript.pdf

At the end of the interview, Andy explains how you can access his course, How to Build a Kick-Ass Biz Website in 59 Minutes, for FREE. You could have no knowledge of HTML, graphic design or even the “Internets” and have a website online in minutes using this step-by-step tutorial. After listening to the interview, be sure to click on the following link to watch the video: http://www.clickforclients.com/fjieskk/.

If you missed the first interview with Andy, you can access it here:

http://www.writewaysolutions.com/mp3/andyweb.mp3 (Part 1)

http://www.writewaysolutions.com/mp3/andyweb2.mp3 (Part 2)

http://www.writewaysolutions.com/pdf/andytranscript.pdf (Transcript)

Check out this video: http://www.screencast.com/t/doJlKOWA9

If you move fast, you could even incorporate this method by the end of the day. (Hint: All you have to do is make a simple change to your website.)

http://www.screencast.com/t/doJlKOWA9

Enjoy!

Andy is the co-founder of Click for Clients, a training company focused on teaching entrepreneurs how to build web-based marketing systems at minimal cost.

He began playing with the Internet in 1993 while working as a corporate graphic designer. In 1995, Andy saw the potential for doing business online, so he built an e-commerce site — ProjectorSuperStore.com — selling audio/visual hardware.

Not long after the site was up and running, and a few crude search engine optimization techniques later, requests started coming in from all over the world. In only three years, and with just three employees, the company grew from $0 to $15 million in sales.

Since then, Andy has started several other Internet businesses, including Max Podcasting, a site for real estate video podcasts. He has also consulted with scores of small business owners across the country.

During this 44-minute interview, you’ll discover do-it-yourself secrets for creating a profitable website or blog, as well as …

· A simple way to convert “ugly” URLs into web addresses with keywords or phrases that search engines love.

· 3 ways you can stay on top of the latest trends in website design and functionality without spending hours scouring the Internet.

· How to automate the blog writing process and receive content targeted toward your key phrases.

· A f r e e tool that rewrites text so you eliminate the risk of duplicate content on your website or blog.

· 2 online tools that help you identify lucrative keywords with low competition, making it easy for you to optimize your website for the top position in the search engines.

· A quick and easy technique for generating back links that will help push your website up the search engines.

· 4 resources you can start using today to instantly generate traffic and build back links to your website — at absolutely no cost.

· How you can quickly get started using social media to network, distribute your own content and receive cutting-edge information about your industry before anyone else.

· And much more.

Get this exclusive interview by clicking or downloading thefollowing MP3 link:
http://www.writewaysolutions.com/mp3/andyweb.mp3 (Part 1)
http://www.writewaysolutions.com/mp3/andyweb2.mp3 (Part 2)

You can also read the transcript here: http://www.writewaysolutions.com/pdf/andytranscript.pdf

Enjoy!

Also, Andy’s social media website, Social Orange, allows you to connect and learn from small business owners worldwide — and it’s absolutely f r e e. Check it out at http://www.socialorange.com.

One other thing … If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to my interview with brandologist Lisa Barnard. She explains how you can use branding to capture prospects and create customers at http://tomtrush.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-use-branding-to-capture.html.