Marketing Yourself: Google

If anyone out there has been keeping up with the About Us page describing the HerCampus staff, you may have seen my photo and bio, but on our home page you’ll find a disturbing lack of stories bearing my name.  As a senior I’ve had to become adept at marketing myself so that I can land a job when that fateful day in May finally comes. So where to begin? Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking about a few different ways of marketing yourself: Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, résumés and portfolios. Today, however, let’s start with Google.

 

What happens when you Google yourself? My results are fairy lackluster (its never as fun alone, right?), with the second result being a link to my photography website, and then five more until you get to my Google+ profile. My personal website (blog and portfolio) are nowhere to be seen and neither is my twitter account. Worse though is that instead of showing my LinkedIn page, Google has decided to highlight some random bloke from Florida. My only excuse is that “Will(iam) Vaughan” is a fairly common name and there are plenty others out there trying to beat me to the top. That said, my website and all of my information should be available when searching my name.

 

If you’re already the top result on Google, then good work, but if you’re like me and want to improve, or don’t show up at all, how should you start? The key is to create your own brand. Just as McDonald’s has the same presence throughout the world, online, and in media, you should market yourself in a unified way across as many services as possible. Pick a username you can use in public and that somehow relates to who you are, what you do, or what you love.  I’ve adopted “willvaughan” as my public username on twitter and for my website (www.willvaughan.me), so that if you know one of my usernames, you can easily figure out the others. An easy way to get started with some sort of landing page, a place where people can find out about you online, is to set up a Google+ Profile or an About.Me profile. Each of these services allows you to create a simple contact page that can be searched for on Google and will help people find out how to contact you or follow you online. As you start adding more services to your online brand, this will serve as a hub and be your online business card.

 

So that’s it for the first week. Set up a profile and start helping people find you. Next week I’ll write about using Twitter to follow the subjects and people you care about, and help share your story with everyone else. Feel free to leave comments, ask questions or leave tips below!

If anyone out there has been keeping up with the About Us page describing the HerCampus staff, you may have seen my photo and bio, but on our home page you’ll find a disturbing lack of stories bearing my name.  As a senior I’ve had to become adept at marketing myself so that I can land a job when that fateful day in May finally comes. So where to begin? Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking about a few different ways of marketing yourself: Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, résumés and portfolios. Today, however, let’s start with Google.

 

What happens when you Google yourself? My results are fairy lackluster (its never as fun alone, right?), with the second result being a link to my photography website, and then five more until you get to my Google+ profile. My personal website (blog and portfolio) are nowhere to be seen and neither is my twitter account. Worse though is that instead of showing my LinkedIn page, Google has decided to highlight some random bloke from Florida. My only excuse is that “Will(iam) Vaughan” is a fairly common name and there are plenty others out there trying to beat me to the top. That said, my website and all of my information should be available when searching my name.

 

If you’re already the top result on Google, then good work, but if you’re like me and want to improve, or don’t show up at all, how should you start? The key is to create your own brand. Just as McDonald’s has the same presence throughout the world, online, and in media, you should market yourself in a unified way across as many services as possible. Pick a username you can use in public and that somehow relates to who you are, what you do, or what you love.  I’ve adopted “willvaughan” as my public username on twitter and for my website (www.willvaughan.me), so that if you know one of my usernames, you can easily figure out the others. An easy way to get started with some sort of landing page, a place where people can find out about you online, is to set up a Google+ Profile or an About.Me profile. Each of these services allows you to create a simple contact page that can be searched for on Google and will help people find out how to contact you or follow you online. As you start adding more services to your online brand, this will serve as a hub and be your online business card.

 

So that’s it for the first week. Set up a profile and start helping people find you. Next week I’ll write about using Twitter to follow the subjects and people you care about, and help share your story with everyone else. Feel free to leave comments, ask questions or leave tips below!

If anyone out there has been keeping up with the About Us page describing the HerCampus staff, you may have seen my photo and bio, but on our home page you’ll find a disturbing lack of stories bearing my name.  As a senior I’ve had to become adept at marketing myself so that I can land a job when that fateful day in May finally comes. So where to begin? Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking about a few different ways of marketing yourself: Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, résumés and portfolios. Today, however, let’s start with Google.

 

What happens when you Google yourself? My results are fairy lackluster (its never as fun alone, right?), with the second result being a link to my photography website, and then five more until you get to my Google+ profile. My personal website (blog and portfolio) are nowhere to be seen and neither is my twitter account. Worse though is that instead of showing my LinkedIn page, Google has decided to highlight some random bloke from Florida. My only excuse is that “Will(iam) Vaughan” is a fairly common name and there are plenty others out there trying to beat me to the top. That said, my website and all of my information should be available when searching my name.

 

If you’re already the top result on Google, then good work, but if you’re like me and want to improve, or don’t show up at all, how should you start? The key is to create your own brand. Just as McDonald’s has the same presence throughout the world, online, and in media, you should market yourself in a unified way across as many services as possible. Pick a username you can use in public and that somehow relates to who you are, what you do, or what you love.  I’ve adopted “willvaughan” as my public username on twitter and for my website (www.willvaughan.me), so that if you know one of my usernames, you can easily figure out the others. An easy way to get started with some sort of landing page, a place where people can find out about you online, is to set up a Google+ Profile or an About.Me profile. Each of these services allows you to create a simple contact page that can be searched for on Google and will help people find out how to contact you or follow you online. As you start adding more services to your online brand, this will serve as a hub and be your online business card.

 

So that’s it for the first week. Set up a profile and start helping people find you. Next week I’ll write about using Twitter to follow the subjects and people you care about, and help share your story with everyone else. Feel free to leave comments, ask questions or leave tips below