Whether you work for yourself or someone else, it’s important to establish and maintain both a strong personal and professional online presence. Given the uncertain economic times, you should be actively engaged in how you present yourself to the world (wide web). When prospective employers or clients Google your name, what do they find? If it’s nothing or next to nothing, then you have a great opportunity. If there’s a lot of junk, then you also have an opportunity to turn that around to your advantage! Either way, you have some work to do. Get out the calendar and resolve to tackle one of these items every couple weeks as you polish your image.
- Register Your Own Domain Name
- Start a Blog
- Hire a Professional Photographer
- Write a Professional Bio
- Improve your LinkedIn Profile
- Launch (Or Clean Up) Your Facebook Page
- Learn and Apply Best Practices for Search Engine Optimization
- Twitter Your Way To The Top
- Hire A Professional Image Consultant
- Your physical appearance
- Your behavior
- Your communication skills
- Get A Real Life
When branding yourself on the web, there’s no better place to start than registering your own domain name. If your name is somewhat unique, chances are it’s available. If you have a more common name, then try lots of variations. For example, johnasmith.com is taken, but john-a-smith.com is available. If it weren’t, you could try more combinations or see if any of your top choices are open as a .net, .info, or .tv address.
Use a domain registrar like GoDaddy to find out what’s available. When you’ve made your selection, buy it for several years at a minimum. Search engines will sometimes take the registration period into account in factoring how valid an address is.
If you don’t already have a personal website, using a blogging platform is a quick, inexpensive and flexible way to make one. You could opt not to take advantage of the actual blogging features of a blog, but that would defeat the purpose. If you can commit to posting interesting and intelligent observations or articles on a regular basis (ideally at least one of week), then a blog will go a long way toward helping you establish a “voice” on the web.
I recommend using WordPress. Read previous articles about setting up and using WordPress.
I also highly recommend using Feedburner once your URL and blog are ready and working. It will help you maximize your RSS feed, which is essential for getting well indexed by search engines and blogging directories like Technorati.
If you’re a business owner, instead of (or in addition to) a personal blog, you might also consider a professional blog for your company. I’ve heard some businesses argue, “Customers in my industry don’t find [our type of business] online (or on blogs).” To which I say, are you nuts? If that were actually the case for any given industry, it would make an even more compelling case for using blogging and other online resources to your advantage. The fact is, many companies in “boring” B2B and B2C niches have realized how effective blogs are at establishing thought leadership and credibility. A favorite example of mine recently is a commercial and residential fencing company in Raleigh, NC, that installs fencing. The are effectively using a blog to spotlight jobs, discuss challenges and educate consumers on things like how to get permits. The strategy is a good one, especially since it lands their blog on page one of Google’s natural results for raleigh fencing.
You know a picture is worth a thousands words. So why settle for using your own cheap, red-eye riddled, poorly lit and badly composed photos on your website and other places on the web? Pay money and sit down for a professional photo shoot, with someone who can make you look like a million bucks. Be sure to get the rights to use your photos anywhere, and obtain digital files.
Spend time sprucing up your biography. If words don’t come naturally, sit down with a friend and a tape recorder and talk about the things that make you unique. Or hire a copywriter to craft the story for you.
When you have it ready, paste it (along with one of your sharp new photos) to sites like VisualCV and LinkedIn.
Speaking of LinkedIn (you are on LinkedIn, right?), now’s the time to fully complete your profile. Replace your photo. Flesh out every job description you have. Connect with former co-workers and clients. Search for and join groups related to your professional interests. Seek references from former co-workers, clients, teachers and friends. Better yet, write references for others first; they will likely return the favor. Use LinkedIn Answers to search for topics you’re well versed in, and post well-written responses.
It’s not just for the college kids anymore. This was the year Facebook really took off, hitting 100 million users in August 2008. So if you’ve been sitting on the fence (my apologies to the above-mentioned Raleigh company), get on it!
If you’re starting with a blank slate, treat it with respect and build your profile carefully using your professional quality photos and bio. Listen and learn before you start posting a whole lot of nothing. Remember this crucial point: anything you post there can help you or hurt you. Several public school teachers in my hometown of Charlotte were fired or reprimanded this year for inappropriate posts on Facebook. Take this and other social networking channels very seriously, unless you don’t care about the possible consequences.
If you’re already on Facebook and have embarrassing information, get rid of it. Lose any bad language, drunken or half-naked photos, rambling diatribes and anything else that paints you in a negative light. The same goes for information on any other social networks you actively use, like MySpace or Bebo.
A common misperception is that search engine optimization, or SEO, is out of the realm of non-techical mortals. Actually, some essential best practices can be learned fast, and are surprisingly easy to implement.
One of the best books I read this year was Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online
If you’re in the Charlotte area, my friend and SEO specialist Corey Creed of Hippo Internet Marketing teaches outstanding classes on SEO as well as pay-per-click advertising (which you can use to more quickly direct links to your personal or professional sites). Another excellence learning resource (courtesy of Corey) is Michael Campbell’s Internet Marketing Secrets. Michael’s free podcast interviews of SEO experts are packed with useful tips. Yet another fantastic resource is Aaron Wall’s SEO Book.
Twitter is service that took off like wildfire this year. Millions of people are now sending short text messages or “tweets” of 140 characters or less. More importantly, they are using Twitter to learn about news and trends instantaneously (often before mainstream media reports on it, like during the Mumbai tragedy), get fast customer support, seek advice and connect in unprecedented ways with others.
For many (myself included), Twitter is initially puzzling and frustrating. A common question early on is, What’s the point? However, if you stick with it, Twitter can lead to amazing things like meeting fascinating people where you live or who work in your industry, creating lightning fast business contacts and uncovering resources you never knew existed.
I suggest following power Twitter users (some of my favorites are Chris Brogan, Wayne Sutton and Lisa Hoffmann) to learn the secrets of this powerful tool. Hint: it’s about giving information freely and acknowledging others, before tooting your own horn.
There are now dozens of third-party sites that tap the power of Twitter for various purposes. Use sites like Twitter Search and TweetBeep to look for keywords important to you, Twubble to find people to “follow,” and Monitter or TweetGrid to watch “real time conversations” happening on Twitter. Get hip to the strange Twitter lingo and keep exploring!
Chances are the image you think you’re portraying is not what is coming across to others. Are you unknowingly hurting your chances in business and personal settings due to deficiencies in your visual appearance, your verbal or nonverbal communications? Believe it or not, these shortcomings also manifest themselves online, through poor language skills and other ways.
It might be time to engage with a professional image consultant. He or she is trained to help you present yourself to your best advantage and to express your highest potential. An image consultant can teach you how to polish your professional image in three areas:
To learn more about the benefits of working with an image consultant and to locate one near you, visit the Association of Image Consultants International.
Face(book) it, you can—and should—focus just so much of your attention on your online profile and your virtual life. You also need to make a concerted effort to unplug and engage with living, breathing people in the Real World 1.0. Your virtual life should compliment your physical one, not the other way around.
If you’re starting or already have your own business, join your local chamber of commerce or an association specific to your industry. Can’t find a chapter in your area? Then start one! Or use Meetup.com to invite small groups of like-minded people to informal gatherings. Even on Twitter, lots of users are fond of starting nearly spontaneous “Tweetups,” where people get together for events. Another emerging concept, especially in larger cities, is the concept of casual co-working, or more affectionately known as Jelly. There are lots of opportunities to mingle with and develop great relationships with others, especially if you work alone.
Do you have other ideas to improve your personal and professional brand, both on and off the web? Leave your comments below. Happy branding!
Photo credit: Cogdogblog
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:46 am
Shri, thanks for your comment. You offer some excellent tips on your website.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 am
Great insight, Brandon! Most important of all is #10. Social networking is great, but nothing beats face-to-face networking.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
@Kevin, I agree. That might be the biggest thing to work on in 2009. I've seen some really great things happening where I live, as people simply use online tools to facilitate real-life meetings. Some are suggesting a semi-backlash against social media in favor of "old school" networking next year. We'll see. The pendulum is always swinging.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 am
Some great advice Brandon! Thanks for your praise for Radically Transparent–glad you liked it!
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 am
@Andy, I have told many people about your book. In my mind, it's the best book on the subject I've come across. Keep up the great work!
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Deborah
http://termlifeinsurance2.com
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:59 am
"If you’re already on Facebook and have embarrassing information, get rid of it. Lose any bad language, drunken or half-naked photos, rambling diatribes and anything else that paints you in a negative light. The same goes for information on any other social networks you actively use, like MySpace or Bebo."
Why? Isn't that lying/hiding who you are? If that's the case, the job you get will likely not make you very happy.
Same with the professional photo, why? Corporate life is stuffy enough, now you want to bring that into your corporate life?
Sorry, I ain't buying it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 am
"If you’re already on Facebook and have embarrassing information, get rid of it. Lose any bad language, drunken or half-naked photos, rambling diatribes and anything else that paints you in a negative light. The same goes for information on any other social networks you actively use, like MySpace or Bebo."
Why? Isn't that lying/hiding who you are? If that's the case, the job you get will likely not make you very happy.
Same with the professional photo, why? Corporate life is stuffy enough, now you want to bring that into your private life?
Sorry, I ain't buying it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 am
I'm a bit confused, is personal brand different from "the real person behind the brand"? A lot of this sounds like hiding who you are behind a facade.
Pro photogs, image consultants, etc are fine, but that sounds like inventing an alternate persona to be a brand, not making yourself a brand.
If you were jeans and t-shirt to work, and swear, why put on a front that you are not that person? Wouldn't it make more sense if your brand reflected you, not the person you think others will like?
I can't imagine anything worse than showing up somewhere, "Who're you? you look nothing like the guy in the photo on linkedIn"
I'm a big fan of be yourself, everything else comes from that, vs. be someone else and hope no one ever sees the real you.
I'm with @lordbron, not buying this.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
I think there are some great tips here, and it seems like all of these could be used to enhance your online presence and keep your own personal identity. I agree with some of the other posts that if you are trying to make yourself someone that you're not in your online presence, then face-to-face encounters will be meaningless. However if you take these tips, and modify them to work for you and who you are, then these will definitely help.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:25 am
@Lordbron and @Jwiiler, Facebook is no longer a truly private place (among other sites). But if people want to post whatever they feel like, it's clearly their choice. I'm just saying, the consequences can be high if the content is deemed inappropriate. So take your own advice to "be yourself" online at your own risk. The teachers I mentioned who were fired were just "being themselves," supposedly only to their friends. It's an extreme but real example.
And almost everyone who ever applied for a job in real life showed up in nice clothes, didn't curse and didn't talk about their drinking or sexual prowess or other inappropriate topics. Is that lying, hiding your "real" personality, or simply putting your best foot forward to get hired?
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 am
Good points, it definitely depends on industry. I show up to interviews in a polo, and that's dressy. And the teachers, well they sound like morons. I think a better rule or guideline would be don't post something you don't want people to see or know. I've never treated anything I post/email/twitter, etc to be private, however I do feel it's personal. Should we begin firing people for the things they say while in their homes, watching TV? I know that's a huge tangent, but it illustrates my point, people need to be able to draw a line in what's personal. Else we all just become brand drones trying to put the best/fake face forward.
I think there's a fundamental flaw in our perceptions of business and this type of behavior reinforces it. put on fronts, be some one else, etc. employees do it, employers do it.
If someone doesn't hire me or do business with me because of my t-shirt or my facebook status, I don't want to do business with them.
great conversation by the way. Love hearing differring views especially on reputation and brand and social media.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
@Jwilker, thanks for your additional comments. I appreciate you and others taking time to get the conversation going.
Because you have a lot of valid points. Should we all become sterile just because someone can find out something (gasp) risque about us? I wasn't thinking that in my original post. But I can see how that comes across.
It's an age old challenge, now with new techno twists. It becomes more of a challenge to assert your personality, while still "conforming" to the degree necessary (for example, to get or keep a job). I even think something as innocuous as Steve Jobs always wearing a black turtleneck and jeans can be perceived as "against the grain" in some sectors. Believe it or not, I was recently asked to speak to a Fortune 50 company, and this woman warned me ahead of time that "there will be a lot of important people attending, so don't wear jeans." I thought to myself, you have got to be s**g me. What IF I were Steve Jobs, would she still have said that? But after thinking about telling her to shove it and ask someone else (I mean really–JEANS will offend you??), I remembered the old "When in Rome" advice. Sadly, many companies are ultra-conservative, so if you want to dance with them, you have to play the game. I actually got a kick out of looking around the room feeling sorry for these corporate lemmings. And I can laugh now, as I sit in my jeans running my own business the way I want to.
It'll be really interesting in the new year whether there is more of a swing toward conservative appearance, etc. or whether more people, newly released from cubicle hell, will let their hair down and just be themselves.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 am
I love a good dialog, you're right there's definitely a "when in rome" aspect to life as well. Though I do know my answer to the "don't wear jeans" question. Though I don't see that ever being a problem for me, but one can aspire, kudos to have had the dilemma, that's awesome in and of itself.
I'd pay to see someone tell Jobs, "sorry we're very anti turtle neck here, can you wear a pol?" boy howdy!
Yeah I've had that same thought and see a few other blogs posts about it as well. a lot of cubies have been freed from bondage, what will the market look like with them in the mix? Can't wait to see what cool stuff they come up with!
And thanks for the great conversation starter!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Generally, SEO is whack. I mean, you don't have to try to hide your stuff online but a lot of SEO "experts" are just slimeballs… and, think about it: it's only a matter of time before the search engines simply provide what people need and want. Some SEO is nothing more than an arms race between SEO-people and search engines–like spammers vs. anti-spam.
I'd agree with the pro photog if you have a specific thing you need. Just for the sake of a headshot–I'm not sure. But if you want an image for a specific purpose, then sure.
Cleaning up your facebook… okay, whatever. I guess it depends what you're trying to do. I feel that my goal is only to make sure people know what I provide professionally. I don't use facebook or linkedIn professionally and I don't think it affects my business in any way. Twitter is a big opportunity however, but still, there's a wrong way to do twitter and facebook and linkedIn and that is simply to try to front or try to sell.
I think it really comes down to knowing yourself and painting a picture of what you want to be. Make sure that's what you like. And then never really worry about if that's an "in demand" skill. Do you what you like and do it enthusiastically and you'll be fine.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 am
Phillip, thanks for your comments. Your last paragraph is just dead-on. I keep thinking about Gary Vaynerchuk (http://garyvaynerchuk.com)of WineLibrary.tv. He is a crazy, profane, passionate guy who says and does exactly what he wants and makes an unbelievable amount of money doing it. He's the new poster child in my opinion for someone with the guts to truly "be themselves" and damn the consequences. I admit I personally err on the more conservative side of presenting myself on and off the web.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 am
"I admit I personally err on the more conservative side of presenting myself on and off the web." That statement saddens me. The reason Twitter, Facebook, etc are so successful is because people are themselves finding new friends and old friends. The more we start to "clean up ourselves" on the tools, the less useful the tools become.
I used to be a party animal, but now I'm more conservative. I have been writing poetry for my wife for years at this site. Does this mean I should go back and delete all the poems that reference drinking, partying, whatever? No! It was my life. I met great friends during that time and I'd be lying to myself and others if I pretended they didn't happen.
Be who you are. Life's too short to have to pretend to be someone you're not. If your job doesn't like it or you don't get hired for the job, be thankful. They probably helped you do something you were too scared to do yourself.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Absolutely agree with all the points mentioned. Social media presence is not just for fun or meant for teenagers. Among the many advantages, building a social brand is amazingly easy n fun.
I also recommend reading a post i've written about 25 ways to build brand identity on twitter.
http://smartadvise.info/20-power-tips-to-build-br...
Happy networking,
Shri
December 29th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Thank you for information.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Brandon, Fantastic list. Maybe #11 could be to consolidate all your links in one place and share that place. I started http://www.extendr.comfor this reason. Maybe it could help.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
One of the secrets of successful SEO is to be affiliated with popular and good sites.
December 30th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Joseph, that's an interesting service. Nice clean way to have a quick online resume of sorts that leverages other sites.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:57 am
Interesting post Brandon – thanks for the tips… I was glad to see that I was taking advantage of a good number of them. Now the key is to use them to the best of their ability. Hope you are doing well!
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:07 am
Anne Marie, it's nice to hear you are using some of these tips already! I hope you have a fantastic new year.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for the mention of my fence company and blog! It has been a tremendous amount of work, but is certainly paying off, mostly in the SEO for my website. I have also noticed that my customers (especially because I live in a very high tech area *RTP*) really appreciate the fact that I am leading a generally low tech industry into the blogosphere. Great article!
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Keith, glad to do it! I was impressed. A lot of business people don't take the time to see the possibilities of blogs, Twitter and other online tools. They do take work, as you said, but can really pay big dividends.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Commenting usually isnt my thing, but ive spent an hour on the site, so thanks for the info
March 12th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Thanks, David.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 am
Great Insight , but one should focus on what they want rather than covering all the basics, take it as social sites and bolgs generally contribute less to in terms of ranking in search engine but they do contribute a lot to the brand image compare to rest.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I love your mindmap… http://www.mindmeister.com/11704653/social-medi...
it is concise and helpful. I shared it on facebook. ;-)
October 27th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I love your mindmap… http://www.mindmeister.com/11704653/social-medi...
it is concise and helpful. I shared it on facebook. ;-)