Can customers find you on Google?
Here's a test: type your name into Google and press search. Does it find you? Are you on the first page?
If, like me, you have an unusual surname, you are at an advantage here, so let's make it fairer and try a slightly revised test. Type your name and profession – journalist, actor, musician or whatever more specialist job description you like to use – into the Google search bar. Does Google find you? Are you on the first page?
Online presence
Adding a web presence is becoming increasingly important. No matter what we do for a living, we need to make sure the people who might want to buy our services can find us easily online.
There are a whole host of things you can do to boost your web presence. You certainly need your own website, you probably ought to blog, and you need to make sure all your online profiles are up to date and, wherever possible, linked together. That means making sure your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, WordPress, Blogger and other profiles are up to date and linked together.
Google Profile
Perhaps the first profile you need to update is your Google profile. Google is the most popular search engine so it makes sense to start by getting your profile within its sprawling empire is correct. If you have not already done so, register your Google account and complete your profile. Provide as much detail as you can and make sure you make your profile public.
You will have the opportunity to link your profile to your YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and many others. You can also add your own blogs and websites. Consider linking direct to pages that are about you or contain your CV. Separately, you can add links to relevant websites. These may be clients or other examples of your work.
All of this means having up-to-date accounts on social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. We'll look at all of those next.