Build your brand by building your Google index. One of my favorite futurists, Faith Popcorn, predicted a trend in 2003 she called “Persona Propaganda.” She said “Google has created the concept of the ‘Public Resume’ – a new kind of pervasive, email-able DigiTruth. Now, everybody can know everything about almost anyone.”
We are using the Web to learn about potential job candidates, customers, consultants, and business partners, and they are using the Web to learn about you.
When was the last time you Googled yourself? Go to Google, type your name into the window in quotes. What did you find? If you are like most of us, you didn’t’ find much.
Personal branding guru William Arruda (http://www.reachcc.com) says, “Building an on-line identity is as easy as it is essential. It starts with just one post, one article, or a one-page Web site.” Here are six of his suggestions on how to get started:
- Write articles for on-line portals that relate to your area of expertise or your passions. HR.com, MarketingProfs.com, selfgrowth.com are three of thousands of options.
- Submit content to article banks. They will make your articles (along with proper attribution) available to others who are seeking content for their newsletters or Web sites.
- Build your own Web site or career portfolio. Yahoo is offering small business owners free, customizable, three-page Web sites. Companies like Brandego will build you a custom career portfolio. Remember, one quality page is going to do a lot more for your brand than ten poorly executed ones.
- Create a blog. Blogging gives you an opportunity to express your opinions and will not take up much of your time since posting can be just two or three lines long. But get in now; according to Seth Godin, there’s a new blog every six seconds.
- Participate in on-line forums and information exchanges. Share your expertise or passion and increase your visibility at the same time.
- Review books at amazon.com and other on-line bookstores and link back to your Web site or blog.
