In some cases, searching well for specific keywords might not be easy for you but, chances are, you have plenty of space to actively target (and achieve) Google top ten ranking on your own name or business’ trade name.

It’s easy to do once you find the right keywords to target. And, in Lisa Barone’s blog on SmallBizTrends.com, she outlines seven easy steps to help you own your top ten spots on Google. Read Barone’s tips about search engine marketing.

I’ll briefly summarize the article and build on it here:

In her first action step, she recommends that you buy your own .com. I’d suggest that you might also consider buying your own .net and .org and creating different content there. (For example, many companies use their .com website as their business website and their .net site as a separate site talking about their company.) Or, use .com for your business and .net for your blog.

In her second and third action step, she recommends that you sign up for various professional directories and social sites, including LinkedIn, Naymz, Twitter, and more. I’d suggest that you might consider going to this Wikipedia list of social networking sites and hitting all of the ones that are important to you. She also recommends that you keep these profiles active, which can take a lot of time. Fortunately, we’re seeing an increasing number of places where you can consolidate this work, including PeoplePond.

Her third, fourth, fifth, and sixth recommendations are sound ideas and things I would have recommended as well. (Read them here.) Her seventh recommendation – to find local speaking opportunities because they often come with a bio – surprised me. I think it’s an interesting take and I like the local search engine marketing aspect of it, of course. I think there might be other local opportunities, as well, including local forums. So if you’re an Maryland business looking for specific Maryland search engine marketing, you can take advantage of this opportunity by bringing in local keywords.

Barone’s article is good, and a must read for any business that has wondered how to achieve a Google top ten ranking. Barone says: “own them all!”