Improve Your Professional Presence Online in Five Steps

Being a professional means so much more than behaving accordingly at work or in front of clients. You need your digital presence to match up. There is nothing wrong with having a private life online, but you need to work to keep that part private and ensure that, when someone (a client, or perhaps another business) searches for you, they get all the reasons they should work with you. If you have a problematic digital presence, you could put your career at risk.

Improve it and make your digital footprint work for your career. It’s very easy to do and can be done by following these five steps:

 

Complete a Full Audit

First thing’s first, you are going to want to search for your name. Find all the old accounts you once had and close them if you no longer use them (this is more for security reasons than for anything else). If you are still using them, go through your content to make sure that everything that is posted and intended to be seen by the public is acceptable by today’s standards. An old joke that made sense at the time could land you in trouble, especially if you were sarcastic or using irony, as this rarely translates in text.

 

Set Your Private Accounts to Private

If your accounts don’t need to be public, set them to private. You could go a step extra and alter your name so that those searching for you cannot find you unless they know the right name to search for. It’s an easy way to separate your private and professional lives.

 

Improve Your Email Correspondence

Your email is very important. At the very least, you should ensure that the email you are using is professional, even if you are using a free email service rather than your own custom version. Old email names that are embarrassing or don’t make sense need to go. That, however, is just the start. To put yourself as a professional, you will want to use Rocketseed to create custom email signatures that suit every type of email you send. You can engage clients far better this way and showcase your brand and marketing skillset in one simple action.

 

Create a Professional Site

If you are gearing up to start your own company or otherwise set off on your own, then a personal, professional website is an absolute must. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but a digital portfolio that is beautiful and striking can do a lot to improve your efforts. If you want to build your own brand, this site will be essential, so consider adding a blog and newsletter to engage your followers and showcase your expertise.

 

Build Your Brand

To build your brand, you need to put your name out there. Do this through social media marketing and by contributing content and your expertise to podcasts, newsletters, and magazines online. You want your name to frequently show up when people search for information in your field.