The number of people who use search engines such as Google or Yahoo! as their number one source for purchase decisions has increased drastically over the past few years. Next inline is the opinion of other people (blogs and social media for example). Wrapping up the top three is the retail store.
To stay competitive in this new environment, you must constantly (and aggressively) nurture your online footprint. Your online footprint is everything your organization does online that is available to the public. For example; your Web site, blogs, social media, etc. As your footprint grows so will your ranking in search engines, resulting in a competitive advantage.
