Creating an Online Personal Brand By: Carmin Wills

If you are over the age of 5 years old,you more than likely have an online presence. Have you ever done a Google search on yourself to see what was out there about you ? Is the Idea of that even a little scary? Well, I have done just that and what I found was some things that I never knew would even show up about me. But anything we do or say can and evidently be used against us. Well mine was not that bad but I could see where it could cause some concern.  Have you ever thought about managing your online presence? I would like to give you some ideas that would help keep control of what gets online about you. Some things you should always do and some things that you should always keep in mind when you are online,  because whether we like it or not, what we do online is building our reputation. 

Building our online presence is building our own personal brand of who we are and what we stand for and in a business setting that is very important. To make business connections is even more important. We need to make sure we stand out from the crowd in a positive manner. Social Media is more important than ever these days.

http://get-susan.com/social-media-sites-for-small-business

Susan Tucker, a social media consultant says

                Facebook has 800 million users

                 Twitter has 300 million users

               LinkedIn has 135 million users

 Those are not the only social sites that help promote business, but these are the top three. With these numbers it is important to think

about what we put on line. Social Media is a great way to make us stand out from the crowd, in a good, positive way. That is what we want, to be different in some small way so that people will              remember us.                                                                                           

                                                              

As I said before, social media is an important part of our lives, it has become the way people communicate, stay in contact, and a   great way to build a business.                                                        

Let's go over some do's and don'ts of these sites and possibly even introduce you to some tools that that could help you build your online brand.

The don'ts of social media sites are basically the same don't put things on there that you will regret later. things like being mad at your coworkers/boss, don't post anything inappropriate including pictures.

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Remember first impressions are lasting ones, so make sure that first impression is a good one even online.It is easy to do if you are careful of what you say, or should I say how you say it. There are going to be times that you find things that you  don't agree with and you feel the need to voice your opinion which is fine, you just need to find a tactful way of saying it. Since most of the things you shouldn't do online are common sense, let's move on to some good ways to build your personal brand online. 

 Let's assume everyone belong to these social media sites, now comes the important part, what do we do with them to improve our personal brand. First things first, take the time to dust off these sites and make your site more appealing. 

What I mean by this is , go into each of your sites and make sure there is nothing that paints you in a negative way. You never know who will be searching for you, or when they will b e searching. Monitoring these sites every once in awhile is an important step of building your brand. LinkedIn is the site that tops a person's Google search, so keeping this site professional is the best advice I can offer you. LinkedIn is also one of the best sites to build professional connections, Make sure that your LinkedIn page is kept up at all times and paints you in the best light possible. 

Okay, so now we go to our sites more often to dust off those cobwebs and we see somethings that we wish were NOT there what do we do ?

Let me introduce you to Search Engine Optimization this is a process of improving what we see on a website when included in a search engine results. There are free sites out there to help with the process of getting you out there for people to see and see also what people are saying about you.

http://brandyourself.com

such as Brand Yourself this site does a great job of scanning your name online and help boost you to the top of the search engine pages. With this free tool you can submit up to 3 links to track and boost. This will allow you to be confident that when people search for your name online they will find    positive results that will make that good first impression that I was talking about earlier. If you would like to link more than 3, you would have to pay, but for a free tool this will help get your name in the best light possible. This site has 3 packages, the price range is $8.00 per month all the way up to $399.00 per month, which seems like a lot of money but they help you

get a plan together to better your personal brand online.

Besides dusting off the cobwebs, actively using LinkedIn and using a Search Engine Optimization site to boost your online presence, you also need to treat your social sites like a resume by keeping your work and education up to date at all times. Keep your bio's consistent on all social platforms, and maintain a balance online. Creating a personal website or blog is a perfect way to paint a positive image of yourself. Stay balanced, stay consistent, and stay current to create your own brand online, after all you never know who will be looking for you and for what reason.