Why real world professionals need an online brand
The internet is an increasingly important tool for bio-researchers. It is also an important tool for employers to “check” on potential staff. Search engines help strangers and friends form a composite image of you. Darren Rowse of Problogger recently wrote an article about the importance of creating an online brand. He encourages bloggers to ensure they control what google says about them. The example he used was a blogger who had a lot of bad google press.
Why professionals should create an online identity
I live fully in the internet age. I have a number of internet personalities, and I share different information with different people. I use Flickr, Facebook, Bookcrossing, Bookmooch, Stumbleupon, and online forums. And I have three blogs that I actively post to, that are directed at quite different audiences.
However, if someone was to “google” me, I would want them to get a collation of my published scientific articles. I only have five articles on PubMed, but I want those to rank highly.
Currently, when I google “Cris Cuthbertson” the top ten results include
- 3 blog comments and forum entries (which are still good content, so I am not unhappy)
- a link to my PatientHacker blog (but no links to the other two)
- a link to a medical school lecture I was involved in 3 years ago.
- two links to my associated Content page, which has no content
- one link to a chinaware pattern that has nothing to do with me
- my placeholder page on my domain, www.drcris.net
So just to point out, if you missed it: no links to my articles on the front page. In fact there is no link to my articles in any of the first five pages.
If I google “Christine Cuthbertson,” I still don’t end up with any content on the front page, as there are at least two other people with my name out there. I only get two links of my own in the first 20 results and it takes 28 results to come up with one of my scientific papers.
What can we do to control our online profile?
The easiest thing to control, is to choose one page and promote that. For bloggers, it is usually their “about” page, where they can link off to other sites.
Probably the best thing for most professionals is to create a “Home Page.” The idea of a home page brings up images of flashing buttons and animated GIFs and pictures of cats. However, it can be a simple, brief online resume - a name page.
Good examples of name pages in different styles include Kevin Yank, Darren Rowse, and Merlin Mann.
Making a Name Page
I mentioned my placeholder page. For the moment, I have nothing in the top level of my domain, so I have a placeholder page to direct traffic to my blogs. In two hours, I turned this page into my home page, using iWeb. This is what it used to look like, and this is what it looks like now: Dr Christine (Cris) Cuthbertson. I provide links to my blogs and my research, and a brief resume. This is the summary of me that I am happy to let everyone see - random traffic, potential employers and patients.
Anybody can create a name page. There are free hosting solutions to put small pages online. You could even set up your name page on a blog platform like blogger or word press. A lot of these system have online word-processor like tools so you don’t need to know any programming languages. You could even choose to make a Facebook or Myspace or Stumble page your name page. Choose something that will potentially last for your whole career, and is flexible so that you can update it over time.
What to do with your Name Page
Once you have created or decided on your name page, tell everyone. Add a signature to all your email accounts with your full name and a link to your page. Change all your forum signatures and comment templates. Alway use the address when you comment on blogs or newspaper articles. Add it to your resume under your email address. Add a link from the “about” page on any blog you write. Give it to your parents. Darren writes more about tactics for getting your chosen page ranked more highly.
Even if you don’t manage to get your site highly ranked, it will be unnecessary. Almost everyone who knows you will get a link to your personal page - the side of you that you want people to see. Talk about a great brand.
Please feel free to link to your name page, or post links to other great examples.
Technorati Tags:
doctor, medicine, research, brand, google, online brand
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