What Is Your Online Profile Saying About You?

Posted by Kevin Dervin · April 27, 2009 · Print This Article

A colleague of mine recently asked the question, “What happens when I Google your name?”

What was his point in asking? He said before a potential client meets with or hires a consultant or coach like us, they will often Google to search for your name. So his question was what comes back in the top organic Google search results. (In other words, ignore any of the pay-per-click or sponsored results – just focus on organic results.)

Go ahead and try it now to see what kind of results you get – Google

Do the results that you see present an online profile that you would want to present? Do the results read like a good advertisment or promotion for you and what you want people to know you do? Would the results you read compell anyone to want to know more?

Just this past weekend, I saw a bit on the local news about creating a Google Profile. It’s something that Google has been working on and made very public this past week. Mine is now up and running and you should get your up also.

If you haven’t been paying attention to your online profile, you should be.

What happens when someone searches for you online?

What kind of results do they get back?

Can they even find you?

If they do find you, do the results contain any text compelling enough to make them actually click through the results?

It all started when a friend I had worked with in Dallas many years ago called me out of the blue. It was great to hear from him, but because I had changed jobs a couple of times over the years I was curious how he tracked me down. Here is a paraphrasing of the response I got back from him…

“I Googled you man. I can’t believe how many results I found. You’re all over the Internet. I read some of your articles, went to your web site. And, that’s how I found your phone number. So you started a marketing consulting business – what made you decide to do that?”

I was amazed at how much he knew about what I had been up to. As soon as I could get myself back in front of a computer I Googled my name to see what he had found.

This all speaks to the growing importance of the online world. If someone becomes aware of you through whatever means, it’s very likely they’ll Google you to see what they can find out. Toby has spoken about the importance of this in one of his MAC TV episodes worth watching again: Marketing Internet Secrets.

So what does your online profile say about you? Are you happy with what you see when the search results come back? Go ahead and get your Google Profile set up for starters. And start taking control of your online profile.