Your online persona is your complete online presence. It is more than your blog and your website. It is more than your linkedIn profile and your MySpace area. It is the sum total of what everybody says about you online. It is your digital reputation. It is what people find when they Google your name.

Out of business cards? Just “Google me.” This works for people as well as businesses. Potential employers not only search for your name and read your blog to see what you write, but how you think. They also follow Trackbacks to see how you handle comments and disagreements. It is important that you manage your online persona and behave professionally online. What you say and do online stays online.

Common Names: If you have a common name you can add your middle initial. Jim Fisher can become James M. Fisher and now you can be easier to be found. This is a good technique if you want to separate your personal from your professional.

Google Alerts: If you would like to track what others are saying about you, consider using Google Alerts. They are easy to set-up and manage. You will be emailed each time your name is found by Google.

Image: You want to carefully craft your image if you are after a key job. Your image is made up of what you say, what others say about you, even the design you choose for your website and blog. It includes your MySpace postings and your political views. It is a natural outcome of personal branding and does affect how employers make their hiring decision.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 4:17 am and is filed under Blog Marketing, Social Media Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.