In 1982 Inc. Magazine, a monthly magazine for small business owners and entrepreneurs, began releasing a list of the fastest growing privately owned companies in the U.S. The list began as the Inc. 100 but expanded to include the top 500 fastest growing companies only two years later. Since the inception of the internet, Inc. Magazine has expanded the list on their website to honor 5000 of the top fastest growing companies.

Companies that make the Inc. 5000 are entitled to a series of privileges on Inc. Magazine’s private business networking website, IncBizNet. Privately owned business can get registered on IncBizNet for free. Once on the site, entrepreneurs get a slew of web marketing services - a corporate profile, a blog, press release distribution, and a community of other like-minded successful business executives to network with and share ideas.

The real estate industry has always had a special relationship with the Inc. 5000 list. Due to the nature of having many “self-starters” in real estate, several agencies have seen their successes recognized by the leading small business publication. In the 2008 Inc. 5000, the top 50 real estate companies cover a wide variety of topics in the industry.

States that were strongest during the housing boom of previous years were well represented in the real estate vertical of the 2008 Inc. 500. Eight real estate related companies are located in the Sunshine State - Florida. Illinois has more than every state except Florida, with five. Nevada and Texas each contain four of the top 50.

The list of the top 50 fastest growing real estate companies actually includes a wide variety of real estate related businesses. This year’s list included 21 real estate brokerages and 15 that involved some kind of building and construction. Real estate investment companies were also recognized, with 8 of them making this year’s list.

Surprisingly, GetMyHomesValue also made the list as the 16th fastest growing real estate company in America. The Lancaster, PA based business is actually an internet marketing and lead generation company geared toward real estate agents. With a 786% growth in revenue since 2004, GetMyHomesValue expanded their business offerings to more than just leads - they provide agents with education, CRM tools, websites and much more.

Along with the reputation and great PR that comes with making the Inc. 5000, owners are also invited to a conference and awards ceremony. Inc. Magazine holds the ceremony each year to bring executives together to recognize their achievements. With past appearances by former President Bill Clinton, Marshall Goldsmith and Thomas Friedman, it is an amazing opportunity for education and networking for business owners.

If you want your website found on the web, keyword research is the first step. Well, actually, the first step is deciding what products and services your website will sell and then actually building a website, but in between those two, keyword research has to be conducted. It means finding out what your potential clients are searching for online.

The more terms people use to search, the better you can target your Internet marketing straight to them. It will also help you to better target your search engine optimization techniques. The more general your topic, the longer your keyword research will be. For instance, if you’re only selling fishing rods, your keyword list will be shorter than if you sell the whole shebang: rods, tackle, bait, etc.

To start your keyword research, just brainstorm a bit and get into your target audience’s head. What might they search for in the search engines to find your service? From there you can generate short list of broad terms. From there you can take your research in one of two directions.

Most people will use online tools and programs to conduct keyword research. There are programs that will search several keyword tools on the net. You can also use the individual tools yourself and figure out which works best. Google’s Keyword Tool generates a list of related keywords as well as suggested terms, also giving you an idea of how often they’re searched for.

If the purpose of your keyword research is for your pay per click ads in Google or Yahoo, there’s a better way to conduct your research. How is that you ask? Just a bit of experimentation involving your pay per click program.

If you have a bit of extra cash to spend, you can do your keyword research in a whole different way. Take your original list of several terms and begin building a campaign around them (this works for both Google, Yahoo and other search marketing affiliates). Most search marketing programs have the option of using a “broad” keyword match - meaning whatever combination of search terms somebody types in, as long as it contains your keyword, your ad will pop up for them.

By running a test campaign for a week or two and spending a little bit of cash, you can cut your keyword research time in half and actually raise your marketing results as well. As people search and click your ads, you can tell exactly what SPECIFIC keyword terms (long-tail or short) will attract you the most business for the least amount of money. Once you let the campaign run a while, you can start building a more detailed campaign, and eventually get rid of the “broad” match option and instead spend your ad money on a long list of exact keywords.

It’s really that simple - a great way to better-target your keywords to your audience and save a ton of time and energy on keyword research. (Not to mention your eyesight - if you’ve ever had to go through a spreadsheet 1000 words long to clean it up, you know what I mean!) This should help you have higher conversion rates as well, leading to more sales generated. Go ahead, give it a shot, and see if it works for you!

Don’t you think any customer you have should be a LIFE LONG customer? Customer loyalty building should be a strong part of any business’s marketing plan. If a consumer used your service once, why shouldn’t they come back again and again?

It seems as though few companies bother with past companies. They don’t develop any kind of customer loyalty building campaign. The funny thing is, it’s a lot like prospect cultivation in that follow-up is a necessity. Of course, first you better make sure your product or service is truly worth coming back to.

Customer loyalty building means providing a truly valuable product or service. Never let your customers forget you. Don’t cut contact after the sale - the transaction has only begun! There’s really no reason not to remain in contact with the customer until they die to keep them coming back to you.

There is value in customer loyalty building - whether you see it or not. Don’t be scared to try it out and see how easy it might be for you to keep past clients coming back. Any customer or bought once can buy again, so takes steps to build your customer loyalty plan today.

As with all marketing, in customer loyalty building you must consider your target audience first - take each and every customer, list what they bought and when they bought it. Usually it will be best to break them up into the time frame in which they bought the product. The shelf life of your product will determine how long it will be before they want to buy again. For example, someone who purchased light bulbs will probably be ready to buy again before someone who just bought a home.

Next, brainstorm reasons to contact past clients, whether it is informative products, product updates or free gifts. Customer loyalty building often involves free giveaways. Sending holiday and birthday cards are also great for building top of mind awareness. Once you’ve got content, you have to figure out a way to get it to your prospects.

Of course, the more systematic your approach to customer loyalty building, the more efficient you’re likely to be. It’s important to map out a system of follow-up for your past clients, including direct mail, email and phone contact. A CRM (customer relationship management) program for your computer systems is a must for this process, and saves time and money.

Customer loyalty building involves many of the same steps as prospect cultivation and follow-up, just with different topics and content. Both are used to turn leads into paying clients. Except of course, a customer who has used your product once should be quick conversion!