What does it take for your business to get recognized these days? The average person comes in contact with or hears about your company at least seven times before you’re hired.

It used to be that people would hear about your company through the newspaper, billboards, yellow pages, direct mail, and if you’re budget was big enough, the television.

That was then. This is now. Today, the most powerful marketing tool for ANY business is the internet. Search engines like Google.com make it simple for companies to be listed in a local geographical area. Yahoo and MSN do this to. Often times, these local listings will show up before the regular search results for any given keyword.

Not only search engines but online yellow pages and online directories and even social media such as Facebook have become mainstream marketing techniques for any size business, from the individual promoting their network marketing opportunity to globally-recognized companies like Pepsico that launch billion dollar social media campaigns. Your company fits into this realm of targeted online marketing which means that if you don’t have an online presence then you’re missing out of a lot of potential customers and businesses.

Since this article is all about creating an easily recognizable brand for your company. Online marketing plays a crucial part of this process. But before we go that far, let’s consider whether or not your company is easily recognizable. We need to look at several factors and variables to determine whether your company’s brand needs to be updated.

Step 1. Identify your market. Plain and simple. What type of market does your company represent?

Step 2. Identify your service or product. What type of service or product does your company provide? Does your service or product solve a current problem that is present?

Step 3. Identify your targeted audience. Who is your ideal customer?

Step 4. What is your USP? UPS stands for “Unique Selling Proposition”. It is what sets your company apart from your competitors.

Step 5. Easy to spell. Easy to pronounce. Easy to remember. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If your business name is easy to remember it will stick with people.

Step 7. Does your business name explain what you do? Hammocks ‘R Us, for example describes exactly what the company deals with.

Step 8. Is your domain name related to your business? .com .net .biz .us are the best domain name extensions to use for your business. For example, if your business name is Dave’s Cleaning Supply then the most ideal domain name for your business would be www.davescleaningsupply.com.What’s