Opportunity is knocking. Opportunity is knocking all the time. All the time. Listen.
Sometimes you may not hear the knocking. Or you may hear, see, or sense it and then ignore or discount it. You may, for example, be preoccupied with the absence of the opportunity you desire. You may think that you are giving your attention to the opportunity you desire, but if you are complaining or feeling sad that it is not present, then you are focused on its absence. Preoccupation with absence, allows absence to expand. Preoccupation with the absence of your heart's desires can be very disempowering.
Desires are an essential part of life. In fact, without desires there is no life. Desires lead you to opportunity and/or help opportunity to find you. When you hold a space for whatever you desire to experience in your life, you invite in the opportunity with your readiness and eagerness. It is helpful that you identify what is an opportunity for you. Remember, what is an opportunity for someone else may not be an opportunity for you. Your own personal empowerment is entirely in your hands.
The more confident and hopeful you are, the more likely you will be able to listen for and hear the knocking of opportunity. Finding ways to be more hopeful about any aspect of life can make you more ready to let in new opportunities.
You might consider preparing yourself and your space in the same way you would prepare your physical space for an honored guest. You can clean your living space and clear your thinking so that you can feel good about opportunity's presence. If you want to hear the opportunity when it knocks, fine-tune your hearing and other senses. The very best way to recognize the opportunity is to be happy. Happiness is the key to resonating with the opportunity that you have defined as one of your heart's desires.
So, consider, what opportunity are you ready for in your life? Do you know? Is it joy? Is it Peace? Is it Abundance? Is it Friendship? Is it Celebration? Is it livelihood? Is it all of the above? There's no need to limit yourself. Listen for the knocking of opportunity.
Invite in the Peace and Joy and Friendship and anything else you want to experience. Be specific or be general. Be clear about the essence of what you desire, relax, and let it in. Listen, open and receive.
Today is an opportunity. In my view, each moment, each situation, each second, is an opportunity. Listen for the knocking of opportunity.
Cant You Hear Me Knocking
From a branding perspective, Google has much in common with the Kleenex's, Xerox's and Rollerblades of the world. It's a brand name that has become the name for a category'a far cry from the time, not that long ago, when only the urban hipsters with Tony the Tiger shirts knew what Google was.
The Yellow Pages may not be gone, but their star is fading quickly as more and more people turn to Google (or other search engines) when they need to find a product or service. Why? Better, more complete and up-to-date information. No contest. When someone looks up a company in the phonebook, they get their address, phone number and maybe some flashy ad graphics; depending on how much money they spent on the ad. On a Google search, they get a link to the company's website, where you can find as much information on a company and its offerings as you need.
For things like books, tickets and music, Googling will often lead to an instant purchase if the price is right. But even for more ?considered purchases,? where one competes on more than just price; Googling is often the first research step buyers take to arrive at a decision. They search keywords and combinations of keywords, comparing each set of results to the next, looking for the most relevant information.
In a perfect world, people would systematically study three to five competitors in a selection set, write down the pros and cons of each and come to a calculated decision. But a perfect world isn't the real world. Here's what happens: if a search result looks promising, the buyer will click through to the company's website and investigate the possibilities of a match further. If it looks like a fit, case closed. Customer won. No
further research required?even if someone's out there with a better deal waiting.
This is why being on this ?short list? of high-ranking search results is imperative in this day and age?the higher the better. Top rankings give you the chance of having prospective customers knock on your virtual door, knowledgeable about your offerings and eager to buy before you ever say a single word to them.
Don't be ashamed of self-Googling
Come on, you know you've done it: typed your name into an Internet search engine such as Yahoo or MSN. Don't feel embarrassed. We all do it. It is, after all, interesting to see what others are saying about you.
In a business context, it's not narcissistic at all. It's smart, especially when you're trying to build your brand online. But besides looking for your specific name, try looking for your category. For instance, if you're a Denver widget maker, look up ?Denver widget? or any other combination of keywords or phrases relevant to your business. Where do you rank? Top two? Top 10? Top 1000? It doesn't take a genius to figure out the top five results will get a lot more clicks than Numbers 75-80. Are you where you want to be?
How top-ranked websites get their positions
Especially for the most competitive keyword searches, companies must engage in a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, which encompasses strategic smarts, hard work and clean code.
How search engines rank your websites
Computer programs called ?spiders? are responsible for visiting, indexing and ranking web sites. Each search engine has its own spiders with somewhat differing methods for ranking the websites it finds, and there are strategies you can use to make yours more appealing?and also mistakes that can negatively affect your rankings.
4 SEO Urban Legends
Legend #1: You can muscle your way into top rankings. Maybe in 1999, but not anymore. Simply repeating a bunch of hidden keywords on your page or in your META tags no longer fools the search engine spiders into giving you high rankings. Algorithms that power the software behind these spiders have become much more advanced, and employing tactics like this will more likely hurt your rankings than help them.
Legend #2: It starts and ends with traffic. Many people will click themselves repeatedly in the hopes of boosting their search rankings. However, this is a futile effort because spiders don't care one bit about traffic.
Legend #3: I can get rankings cheap from those nice folks sending me all those emails. If you fall for one of those spammer schemes, you deserve to be ripped off! Seriously though, you'd be paying good money for a clerical job you could easily do yourself. But even if you did do it yourself, you would run the risk of getting even worse rankings. It's like membership at Augusta National'if you say you want it, you won't get it. Search engines regard repetitive submissions as desperation, which they reject wholeheartedly.
Legend #4: A Search Engine Optimization service guaranteed a Top 10 position on Google. In short, nobody can legitimately do that. Such guarantees are a telltale sign of snake-oil salesmanship. Here's how the scam works: technically, they live up to their end by getting you top billing on a search term of their choosing, which is so specific to you that only your mom would likely search on it.
Smarty-pants spiders
Search engine optimization is far more complex than it's ever been. The obvious shortcuts to great search engine rankings have long since been identified and shut down by the search engine companies. These days, high rankings have much more to do with the structure of your HTML code, your acumen at avoiding ?trip wires? that send spiders away, where certain keywords appear on a page, how you use JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets and where your formatting instructions appear in relation to your website copy. If you used a WYSIWYG code-writing program?such as Front Page, GoLive or Dreamweaver?you almost certainly will get a much lower score from the
spiders.
It really does take a team of people, like the kind we have at Brand Identity Guru, dedicated to monitoring the everyday changes on the battlefield to maintain a high-ranking web presence. And it does change frequently?search engines are notorious for changing their search algorithms often.
What about pay-per-click?
Organic (?free? or ?natural?) rankings are completely different from sponsored (?pay-per-click? or PPC) links. PPC can be an effective part of a brand's overall online marketing strategy, and a lot professional SEO companies work with clients to design PPC campaigns that are both cost-effective and eye-catching. But PPC won't substitute for SEO. High positioning on a relevant keyword search on Google, with its reputation for returning highly relevant results, bodes well for your brand in a way that sponsored links just can't. However, neither is it wise to engage in an all-SEO, no-PPC strategy. Serious online brand marketers get the best results with a comprehensive strategy run by professionals with both the branding and technical know-how to determine the right mix of the two.
Yes, it's complicated.
But you get back a lot in return for your investment of time and money. A more ?Googleable? online branding strategy will quickly yield improved sales and a more visible brand on the web, which, in turn, will also positively affect your bottom line.
Both Jeanie Marshall & Scott White are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jeanie Marshall has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pregnancy Problems, Finances and Children. Jeanie Marshall, Empowerment Consultant and Coach with Marshall House, produces Guided Meditations on CD albums and MP3 downloads and writes extensively on subjects related to personal development and empowerment.Voice of Jeanie Marshall,. Jeanie Marshall's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.
