Branding your Professional Image

With all the hype on having a presence on the internet, how does one build a professional image without resorting to a personal website or MySpace.com? Through a little bit of trial and surfing, I found a few free options that can help you get "a presence" on the web without too much pain. These steps can potentially improve your connectivity to your professional and business associations who may want to "check you out" for potential business teaming and or other opportunities. There's probably several different freebies you can choose from. For an easy approach to create presence, follow the steps below to create the two that work for me.

Steps: (Create a BLOG account)

1. Go to Google: sign up for a free blog by joining blogger.com
2. Follow the prompts to set up your blog template
3. Click on the "Post" to establish the RSS feed for your computer.
4. Create your first blog. You're in business !
5. Tip: you will find Google won't pick your blog up at first till you get some usage going. See below for steps to get the search engine thing going.

Steps (Create a Professional Profile site)

1. Browse to http://www.linkedin.com/ and create an account.

2. Follow instructions to build your profile

Now with these two applications done, the last step is to create a nice looking signature block you can use in your email that directs people to these two sites as well as your company or personal website if you have one.

Inside LinkedIn, look for "email signature" available when the My profile tab is clicked on.
There are several galleries to choose from. One way to customize it is to copy and paste it into a word document. You can add your phone numbers, address, etc. The Key part is to create the hyperlinks for your LinkedIn profile and your blog. You can add your website too if you have one.

Once completed it should look something like this:







You now have a pretty powerful brand signature block with links to your company, email, your LinkedIn profile (lots of professional details) and your professional blog. By creating your professional brand, you will be in a great position to grow your business network for the future. Good luck!



Note: You should use the Blog you've linked in the signature block for professional material only. Posting personal stuff is at your own risk! Use your professional blog to post links to YouTube videos, write articles (like this one), etc. Have fun with it!



Tips for getting your blog search engine recognition (see credit to blogger who provided this at end the para).

You have some work to do - you won't get listed by Google (or any other search engine), automatically. You have to do some work, let them know that you're there, that you want to be listed, and that you are worthy of being listed.

1) Get your friends to link to your blog, where your blog is relevant.
2) Participate in forums, where your blog is relevant, and include the URL.
3) Comment on other blogs, in relevant comments, and include the URL.
4) Put relevant and useful content in your blog.
5) Some search engines may index your blog using the site feed. Be sure to activate the feed.
6) When you have done all of the above, your blog will have some weight.
Submit your blog to the search engines, for indexing. http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2006/07/publicising-your-blog.html
Remember though, none of this happens overnight. Search engines can take months to index your blog fully. And even when indexed, don't expect for a search to some key element in your blog to give you an entry on the first page of the search hits. http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2006/08/patience.html
Chuck [Blog*Star 2006 - 2007] Real Blogger Status: http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/