Personal Branding – 5 Tips for Branding Yourself Online

Question: When you type “piano” into Google, why does www.frontiernet.net come up as a result before www.piano.com?

Answer: Because FrontierNet.com has stronger Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in place than www.piano.com.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of making certain pages rank higher in Google for specific search terms. When I type “piano” into Google, the page that is most search engine optimized for the word piano will come up first, even if it’s not www.piano.com.

Since winning career opportunities today requires a compelling and positive web presence, you’re going to want relevant sites to show up about you when someone searches for your name in Google. That means using principles of SEO to make sure that people can actually find you on the web.

SEO is no longer just for product promotion in the corporate world.

Google your name right now. How many total results come up? That number is the amount of pages you need to elevate yourself above to end up on the first page of Google results.

Think about where you already “exist” online. Most likely, you have a profile on social networks like Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn. Perhaps you’ve commented on blogs or forums and left your name with your posts. These are all digital “bread crumbs” you’ve left behind, all of which can be found in search engines.

Managing your reputation online means making sure all the bread crumbs you leave are consistent, credible, and visible. They make up your personal brand on the web.

So how do you start making your best digital bread crumbs rise to the top of Google?

Here are 5 tips:

• Figure out what exists about you online, right now. Search for yourself in Google to see what’s already out there. Is there an ex-convict with your exact name who comes up in the first page of the results? Are there 10, or 10 million search results returned for your name? How unique is your name, and are other people already dominating the search results for it?
• Based on your search, strategically choose the specific search term you want to be found under. If there are hundreds of thousands of search results for your name, it’s going to be hard to elevate yourself to the first page of Google results. That’s why you need to choose a unique name to use consistently across the web that doesn’t have too much competition. If your name is John Smith, you probably won’t make it to the first page of search results for “John Smith” (searching for that name brings up about six million results). But if you include your middle initial, you can start separating yourself from the competition. “John G Smith” returns less than seven thousand results. And if you include your full middle name, you start becoming much more unique. “John George Smith” returns less than three thousand search results. Name competition is your first obstacle, and is becoming such a problem that people actually pay consultants to create unique baby names for their children. That way, they ensure that their kids can be found on Google in future years. That’s how important search engines are becoming: the web is making the Yellow Pages obsolete. (It’s  interesting to note that parents are now buying domain names for their children who haven’t even been born yet. So don’t be surprised if your cousin – who might only be a fetus – already has his name staked out on the Internet).
• Use the same name everywhere on the web with unwavering consistency. If you’re optimizing for “John George Smith,” then you should always use that name on the web wherever you go, whether on your Facebook profile, your LinkedIn profile, blog comments you make, or anywhere else. You should also put consistent information about yourself on all your profiles, so that the same key words are always surrounding your name. This associates certain phrases, like “graphic designer” or “musician” with your name. The end goal is to provide content about yourself in a variety of places that a search engine will see, each place building a consistent and widespread message about you. That message will then be strongly linked to search results for your name.
• Link from yourself to yourself. Create a link from your Linkedin page to your Facebook profile and everywhere else you exist on the web. First, this helps people find you when they are on one of your profile pages. Second, and more importantly, Google counts a link from one site to another as a “vote” for that site. Sites with the most votes end up highest in search results. So the more places you link to the places you exist, the higher they will show up in results when someone Googles your name. Also, instead of just putting the link as http://facebook.com/59446372, make the text of the link be your name (when possible), like John George Smith’s Facebook Profile. This tells search engines that the link with the text John George Smith is related to you, and increases your rank in results. Many times people use links that say: For more information, click here. This is bad because based on the link text, search engines have no idea about the context of what you are linking to. Instead, say: More info about John George Smith.
• Grow your web presence You probably have the standard social networking sites, but it is important to get out and start to gain a presence on lesser known sites as well as networking systems that may pertain to your specific niche. Look forward to future posts with specifics about the best social networks, directories and social bookmarks you need to know about.

Next: How to Interlink Your Web Presence (And Why You Should) >