Wouldn’t it be great to crack the first page of Google results for a search of your name?  Or, if your links already appear on the first page, wouldn’t you like to add yet another result?  Your Google Profile is the simplest, most sure-fire way to add another opportunity for searchers to find you.

Once published, a preview link to your Google Profile will appear at the very bottom of Page 1 search results for your name – which can be extremely beneficial if you have a common name (and others have not yet claimed this space).  Here is an example:

To create a Google Profile, navigate to http://www.google.com/profiles, and come armed with a Google account (Gmail, Google Wave, etc).  From there, updating your profile is an absolute snap.  Follow these 7 steps to create the perfect Google profile that describes you well and encourages searchers to find and contact you elsewhere on the web.

1.  Display your full name and allow others to contact you.

Your Google Profile exists solely so searchers can find you and contact you -  checking these 2 boxes makes perfect sense.  All reward, no risk.

2.  Upload a picture.

Keep in mind that most folks searching for you via Google will likely know something about you, but not everything.  Maybe they met you at a conference, and only remember your name and face?   Including a close-up shot is the easiest way to set you apart from others that share your name.

3.  Include a detailed history.

Same philosophy as above – those searching for you will likely recognize you by a single defining trait.  Did they grow up with you in Omaha, Nebraska?  Do they know you from college or from prior work experience?  Take the time to fill out your past history in full detail, so anyone from your past will recognize that you are you.

4.  Write a killer “What I Do” section.

In the “What I Do” section, Google provides the examples of  “Actor, Engineer, Scientist”.  Boring!  Instead, amp this section up by including a few provocative titles that really describe what you do.  For an excellent example, see the snapshot below from Meg Guiseppi’s profile.

5.  Write a brief, but informative, bio.

Your Google Profile is not a final destination, it is merely a portal.  So, keep your bio brief and to the point.  Include enough information to identify yourself, and to encourage searchers to contact you elsewhere (embedded links work great mixed in with your text).  Note: Others might debate my point about keeping your bio brief, as many have an extremely long description.  Ultimately, it is up to you.

6.  Link, link, link.

Google allows you the opportunity to link to anywhere and everywhere you’d like.  This is your opportunity to send searchers to the real places you want them to connect with you.  Take a look at the Google profile of Robert Scoble, who has linked to over 40 places you can find him on the web.  Wow!  Here is a screen-shot of the pages I’ve linked to.  How many web destinations of your own can you think to link to?

7.  Include common misspellings of your name.

Google realizes that not all web searchers are prolific spellers.  You can include all the potential misspellings of your name so that your Google Profile will appear for all queries.  (Brett Favre, this is your lucky day).

What do you all think?  Do you have a Google Profile?  Share your link in the comments, let’s see those shiny profiles!

Ryan Rancatore can also be found at Personal Branding 101, discussing the tools and tactics that will help you build a killer personal brand in 2010 and beyond.

Ryan would love to connect with you on Twitter at @RyanRancatore, or on Linkedin, Facebook, or Brazen Careerist.

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One of the most important steps in figuring out how to build a personal brand is determining what name you will create a strategy around.

For most people this is a daunting place to start.  Perhaps you have gone by a name for your whole life and now suddenly you have figured out that when you try to create an online strategy around it there is also a famous indie movie actor with the same name.  Don’t let this discourage you as it is an obstacle that is easy to overcome if you follow these steps.

Here are 4 simple step to help you choose a name to SEO for:

1. Type the name you currently use into Google
2. Look at the first page of results for the following items:
   1. Number of results
   2. Someone else with your name as their domain name
   3. Wikipedia (if there is a Wikipedia page with your name and the page is not about you, it will be very hard to compete with.)
   4. Images that appear (if Google populates the results with some images, that means that there are a few big figure heads with that same name)
3. After you have looked at those results, try typing in your name with the following variations:
   1. Full first name Full last name
   2. Full first name Middle Initial Full Last name
   3. Full first name Full middle name Full last name
4. With each name, repeat step two and analyze your results.

Understanding the competition around your name will help you greatly with figuring out which name to try to SEO for.  You do not want to be going up against a name with a lot of competition as you will not be able to compete initially.  Also be warned that changing your strategy from one name to another is a very difficult task and I suggest against it.

After you have narrowed down to the name that you want to build a personal brand around online, now you need to go and determine if the domain name with your name is taken.  You can sign up for a free account at Brand-Yourself.com and check your domain name’s availability when you login and look to purchase a domain name.

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Creating and managing your own online reputation can be as simple or as intricate as you choose. If you’re currently on the job-hunt, then you should be putting your professional strengths and experiences out there for people to see. If you’re currently employed, focus on maintaining that professional image that is associated with your position.

So, where do you start Creating Your Online Reputation?

The first thing that you should do: GOOGLE YOURSELF. What kinds of links appear on the first few pages? Are these links representing you in a professional manner? Would this be something you would be proud to show a recruiter or employer?

Once you have figured out what is currently available, assess what is appropriate for you to develop into a professional source. How do you want to brand yourself? How do you want to show off your experience or skills? Below are a few suggestions that can get your professional online reputation started.

• LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that allows you to share your professional experience, connect with fellow colleagues and search for jobs within your networks. This site is search engine optimized- so when someone Googles your name, your LinkedIn profile will be one of the first sites to appear in the results.

• Personal Blog. A blog can show off your strengths and areas of interest. By frequently updating, you also demonstrate consistency within your work. Blogging can be a great way to share your interests with new readers that are not familiar with you. Wordpress is a great platform that hosts free blog accounts.

• Personal Web site. Show off some of your work. Put your resume on there. Share a unique story about yourself, what you enjoy doing in your spare time, what are your strengths? How are YOU different from others? While this may be a bit more work, it allows for interactivity within your audience- allowing you complete control of what you want to brand to others.

• Twitter Account. This is a great way to announce a new blog post that you have written. Drive others to your personal Web site you have developed. Follow many professionals in the same business field you are currently or trying to get into. Tweet about relevant information that people will find valuable in order to keep an increasing amount of followers. Throw in a few “personal” tweets every so often- it will give your tweets some personality.

To bring multiple platforms together, make sure that you have included links to your other accounts (so someone can access your Twitter account through your blog or through your LinkedIn account, etc). The important key in all of these online reputation sites is that you maintain consistency. Use the same writing style, images and information in all of these different pieces. Once you’ve started consistent pieces, your name in GOOGLE will be a completely different appearance than before.

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Jeff Bobick recently graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Advertising (management). He is very passionate about seeking work in a digital agency. Jeff has had experience working on CRM, web site design, email marketing, SEO, blogging, competitive research pitches and presentations, and account management within three separate internships (McCann Erickson, Ingenex Digital Marketing, and AFLAC). He can be reached at jeffrey.bobick@gmail.com or http://jeffbobick.wordpress.com

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About a year ago, when I re-entered the job market, a friend said he Googled my name and all the results were 10 years old. He gave me some ideas about how to change that, and thus began my personal branding journey.

I have to confess, though, that every time I hear the term “personal branding,” I get a little nauseous. That’s pretty much the same reaction I had earlier in my career when recent college grads started talking at nauseum about branding this and branding that. It’s probably genetic; I also get prissy when somebody talks about prioritizing things.

Hey, do you really think this is something new? As we used to say in New York, fuggedaboutit.

How about this, you five-dollar word mongers: in author Rhys Bowen’s fanciful town of Llanfair in North Wales, people are known by their first name and their profession. So there’s Evans-the-Meat (butcher), Evans-the-Law (the constable), Barry-the-Bucket (excavator), Evans-the-Post (letter carrier), and more.

Looks like these old-fashioned Welsh country folk knew about personal branding before Web 2.0 was born.

I talk a lot about personal branding, and I teach it. In fact, I even bought the brandingme.com domain (which points to my old website until I can think of something clever to put there). And I use my picture frequently not because I think I’m good looking, but because I want people to associate my mug with what I say and write. That’s my personal brand.

It’s natural for a prospective partner to want to know something about their new partner, whether the other person is your boss, a job candidate, or a consultant – it doesn’t really matter. That’s why people look you up on Google before offering you a job or trying to sell you something.

We once referred to this as your reputation. Now it’s called your personal brand.

Web 2.0 has brought back the notion of community for many of us. At one time, everyone in a community knew everyone else. Where I grew up, I knew everyone that lived on my street, and I’d been in almost every house. Today, that’s uncommon.

Five years ago, when you applied for a job, it was hard for a hiring manager or an HR person to learn much about you. Resumes were relatively more important then, because they were the only screening mechanism companies had – except for networking, which has always been important.

Today, for most of us – at least in technology-rich areas like the San Francisco Bay Area – that’s no longer true. If you have the right keywords on your resume, you may make the first (usually) electronic cut. But before you get called for an interview, somebody is going to look you up on Google, or perhaps go even deeper.

That’s why managing your reputation is important, and that’s why somebody had to rename it personal branding, so we could get your attention.

Whatever you call it, this is real, and it affects you. You can be a victim, or you can thrive – the choice is yours.

Stay tuned for some simple – and some not-so-simple – ways you can change your Google rank. I call it Personal Search Engine Optimization. You can do many of the same things the big corporations do, often at no expense.

© 2009 Walter Feigenson

Walter Feigenson has spent his career in Marketing and Sales, starting with the earliest microcomputer software products. He ran marketing for WordStar, SuperCalc, MultiMate, and dBASE before he moved to the Internet’s first commercial content site, the ClariNet newspaper, in 1995. Following that, he jumped to the wireless world with Kivera, an early location-based services provider financed partly by AAA of Southern California and Sun Microsystems. Most recently, he ran a company that provides websites and Internet marketing services for over 2,000 financial professionals. For the past few months, Walter has been speaking on the subject of personal branding. You can see more about him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/wfeigenson, and http://feigenson.us. Or check out his blog at http://feigenson.us/blog.

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