How Well Do ‘You’ Rank

Let’s try a simple exercise.  I want you to open up a browser window and perform a Google search using your first name followed by your last name as the keyword term.  So in my case, I would be performing the search ‘Zaid Rasid’. Go ahead and do it now.  What were the results returned by Google?  Were they something that you expected?  Was there any content that surprised you?  Have you performed a search like this before?  Understanding the ways that your personal brand is being represented online is becoming increasingly important.  Fortunately, we can control and proactively manage this information.

Power to the People

With the advent of Social Media it’s becoming easier to find information about anyone.  A lot of individuals neglect the importance of monitoring and maintaining their personal brands online. Why should you care about your personal brand online?  Well a simple Google search by a prospective employer could make all the difference in landing that dream gig that you just finished interviewing for. That being said, maintaining your personal brand online is easier to do now than ever before.

Note From Rohan:
You might want to read Why Your Internet Marketing Won’t Make Any Money Without A Brand, to get a better insight into what Zaid is saying

Focus on the Big Four Social Networks For Marketing

There’s a ton of material available online with regards to managing your personal brand.  You can check out author Dan Schawbel’s if you’re serious about creating your own image.  But if you’re looking to make a few changes that make the biggest impact, then I suggest you focus on four key areas online: your own personal domain, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  As of this writing, these sites are significant players online and will contribute and rank the best in the search results.

Master of Your Own Domain

I recommend purchasing your own domain containing both your first and last name.  In my case, the domain I purchased was www.zaidrasid.com.  If the general population knows you by another name, then try to think about what keywords they might use when performing a search and purchase that domain.  If your name is taken, get creative or use hyphens for instance: www.zaid-rasid.com.

Owning your domain is a valuable asset that will allow you to control the content that is associated with your own brand.  Not to mention, Google will rank your personalized domain well when a user performs a search for your name (you should rank first in most cases).  Once you have it setup, at the very least upload a simple web page that briefly describes who you are and what you do.  If you’re more ambitious I suggest starting a blog and in short time you will dominate the search engines. The key is to realize the similarities and differences between marketing your blog and marketing yourself .

The Social Network And Personal Brand Building

Note From Rohan :
Our guest contributor Amit would like to chime in some important points about Image Management And Personal Branding

Facebook is a site that is gaining credibility among professionals.  It has evolved beyond being a site to keep track of friends and is gradually morphing into something that is being considered a serious communication tool.  Make sure you have a good understanding of how your Facebook profile is presented to the public.  This might mean tightening up some security features to ensure your private content remains private.  At the very least, review the Facebook security guidelines so you have a clear understanding of how people view your profile (Account->Privacy Settings).

Twitter For Business

Make sure you take care of the basics of your Twitter profile as well. Twitter is a great medium to connect with people who share similar interests with you. Take caution as you have to realize that each of your Tweets is permanent published content.  This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun on Twitter but make sure to use common sense whenever you write online. Think of yourself as a celebrity and model how celebrities communicate with the press by thinking carefully about what they say.  That being said, you can follow me on Twitter and watch me break even my own advice: @zaidrasid

LinkedIn Marketing

For working professionals, you probably want to work on improving your LinkedIn profile first.  What’s great is LinkedIn provides a measure of the completeness of your profile. I suggest you try to get it as close as possible to 100% complete. This task alone will stand out from the crowd.  There is plenty of information available on optimizing your LinkedIn profile but the main point is to put in some initial effort so that you can rank better in the engines.

Glamor Shots

So now that you’ve ensured that the big four sites are well optimized, I want to leave you with one last tip – get a professional photo taken of yourself.  This doesn’t relate to ranking better but it will improve your brand image.  I’m not saying you need to use a professional picture for all of your sites, but I can ensure you that it will come in handy for a variety of things. Having a quality photograph of yourself will not only stand out, but it will make a great first impression and speak highly of your brand.

Don’t Neglect You

Your personal brand is important.  With social media taking off, your presence online can make a significant impact.

We are in a new era where individuals are the new corporations.  So do what the big brands did and dominate your presence online.

Let me know what tips you might have for further developing your brand.  Do you think it’s important?  Were you surprised by any of the results that Google returned when you performed your search?