When developing your online presence, it is important to be professional if you want to be taken seriously. Here are a few tips ensure you are putting your best foot forward.
  1. When you create your online ID make sure they are the same on all sites. It’s easier to find you and establishes a stronger presence. Use similar colors and publicity picture on every site. This creates a cohesiveness for your brand.
  2. Update all profiles for all social media sites you are on. DO NOT leave them blank. Put contact information into each one. You are leaving bread trail for people to follow back to you.
  3. Have your pictures taken professionally. If a friend takes your pictures, make sure they are professional quality.
  4. Be active if you are on social media sites. An inactive site is worse than not having an account on that site. So, don’t bite off more than you can chew. You don’t have to post, share or Tweet every hour, as long as you post regularly. You can schedule your posts if you choose. There are various sites you can use for this.
  5. Keep it simple. An uncluttered website is more inviting to linger on.
  6. Write an interesting bio. Make sure it shows your personality while remaining professional. Write it in 3rd person to give it a more professional tone. If you like, you can write two with one more casual.
  7. If you use pictures on your blog posts, give the appropriate attribution. Just as you wouldn’t want someone to use your writing without permission, don’t use someone’s photo without permission. You can’t just grab any picture you see out there and use it. Check the rules of the sight you go to for permissions necessary.
  8. Have a way for people to keep up with you. Make it easy to find the links on your website. At the very least, you need to have a newsletter for people to sign up for. But many people would rather just follow you on Facebook or Twitter.
  9. Make your blog stand out. Templates are great for beginners, but if are able, upload your own picture. Some of the pictures provided with the templates get used in multiple places and start looking like worn out repeats. If you upload your own picture, google the size necessary for the particular social media site. Otherwise, the pictures may look stretched out or out of proportion. Fotoflexer is on online editor that is easy to use without downloading any software.
  10. As you post, remember how you want people to see you. For instance, I care a lot about politics, but rarely post about them, because that is not my “banner”.  Represent yourself intentionally the way you want people to see your brand. Some things I will post to my personal Facebook profile, but not to my fan page.
In everything you do to build your platform, do it right. Don’t just make do. Google it. Ask a friend. Watch a tutorial. Pay someone to do it for you. At the end of the day, you may just attract someone’s attention because your presence stands out from the rest.
What have you seen other bloggers do that scream 
“unprofessional” to you?

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