If you're an advisor looking to build a high-net-worth client base, identifying qualified leads is a core component of your success. But don't resort to buying expensive and potentially inaccurate lists. There are ways to find and/or build lists using free web tools-if you know how and where to look.

Most people start their list search in Google. But a search for terms like "small business owners Minneapolis," or "list of CEOs," will turn up thousands of results that are either incomplete or are companies trying to sell you something.

There is, however, a Google search secret to develop a quality list. There are literally billions of files-including Excel documents, PDF files, PowerPoint documents and Microsoft Word documents-"floating" on the Web. They get there when people post a file to a web server so it can be downloaded by others. Many of these files were meant for the recipients only, but if they were posted online in an open environment-versus secured by a username and password-Google can find the file and index it.

Think of Google indexing like a big vacuum cleaner. When Google finds a web page, it vacuums up every word on the page and stores them in its database. When you type words into Google, it looks returns results from web pages that it has vacuumed up where those words appear. When Google vacuums up or indexes a file like an Excel spreadsheet, it not only indexes the document title, but also every word within the document! Thus, you can use Google to locate names and words within documents, and if Google has indexed files that contain your search terms, you can instantly download the files, many of which contain valuable lists of names and contact information.

SEARCHING BY FILETYPE

To find these files use the Google filetype: (filetype colon) search. Enter your search terms followed by "filetype:" and then the type of file you want to locate. For excel spreadsheets, use xls or xlsx. Word documents would be doc or docx. Powerpoint documents would be ppt or pptx. And pdf files would be pdf. For example, a search for "chamber of commerce" + list + filetype:xls returned more than 3,400 results with the phrase "chamber of commerce" and the word "list." Note: when searching for a phrase, encapsulate the phrase in quotation marks, as in, "chamber of commerce." Putting the words in quotation marks tells the search engine that those words must be in that exact order, every time.

You can click on the result to download and open the spreadsheet. In my search above, many of the results included membership lists, program attendee lists and more. You may also want to try similar searches using the filetype extension PDF, since membership lists and directories are often converted to Adobe PDF files. The same search above looking for PDF files, "chamber of commerce" + list + filetype:pdf, delivered more than 2.4 million results!

Another approach for doing list searches online is to seek the names of people or terms that might appear on the list. For example, entering "brad smith" + "john anderson" filetype:xls will deliver a number of Excel spreadsheets containing those names. If you don't know any names, enter other terms that might appear on a list, such as phone number, address, etc. For example, "chamber of commerce" + name + phone + address filetype:xls delivered more than 5,500 results. Important: Do not use this technique to send a mass email. Remember, this is NOT your list. Thus, if you email the people on the list you could be accused of being a spammer with consequences ranging from having your email address blocked, to getting in trouble with the law.

Besides Google, there are several other online ways to search for people and build lists. Two extremely helpful sources are linked in and your local library.

LinkedIn. This social networking site helps you create connections with people you know and the people they know. Once you're registered, invite people into your network, which can grow quickly because as people accept your invitations, and as you accept theirs, everyone's network is shared. Once you've built up a good sized network, you can use LinkedIn's Advanced Search (the small link next to the main search button) to build valuable lists.

Looking for someone at a specific company? Enter the company name in the appropriate field and use the pull-down menu to choose if you want only current employees or if you want to include past employees. Want people with job titles within a specific geographic area? Enter the appropriate job titles in the Title field and the Location field and specify a mile radius around a ZIP code.