Online Presence and Why You Need It
Entrepreneur magazine Inc recently published an article entitled “Start a Blog, Get Discovered” that explores the great benefits of having an online presence. The article followed a financial analyst who had a casual blog on the side that eventually landed him a large book deal. That analyst isn’t the only one reaping the rewards of having a blog. The point I want to get across is that you need a website or blog, especially if you will be job hunting anytime soon.
A few months ago I read an insightful article about how more and more job recruiters are putting a heavy emphasis on applicants’ online presence. By online presence, I am essentially referring to how active one is on the web - personal websites, blogs, published articles, activities on programming forums, etcetera. That same article detailed how recruiters hiring in technical positions would ignore applicants that while fully-qualified, lack the online presence that someone with their skills should have. If you’re a Ruby on Rails programmer, there’s no better way to show your passion for the framework by blogging about it, publishing tips and guides or simply helping others work with it. Companies will easily be able to see that, which definitely helps out during the interviewing and selection process.
If searching for your full name online comes up with nothing, my suggestion would be to buy a FirstNameLastName.com domain. You can create a simple website on the domain starting out with copy explaining who you are and what you do - a portfolio site basically. For the more ambitious, I encourage you to start a blog on that domain or setup a free hosted one on services like WordPress.com and link to it. There’s literally nothing to lose except a few dollars for the domain and hosting. Having a website gives you the added benefit of being able to link to your site when commenting on blogs, another great way of exposure.
Then you can expand and manage your online presence with online identity services like ClaimID and Ziki (Ziki is more of a personal brand manager/portal). It’s also a good idea to register the same user name at all of these online services so that someone searching for you online knows which accounts are yours.
In the last ~1.5 years that this blog has been up, I have received tremendous benefits. From job offers to be an IT guy in New York to working with Yahoo! and blogging for Intel in addition to weekly emails from people wanting me to join their startup and daily emails from PR people sending me press releases and news tips. And then there are the countless review products I have received.
However, the best thing I’ve done is put a contact form on this blog, making it (too) easy for anyone to reach me…
This screenshot was taken a long time ago. I receive more of these contact form emails now.What ways do you establish and enhance your online presence?
Now you just made me buy another domain… great work Paul. Just great.
I haven’t yet set up a Myspace account, while it seems the rest of the world has. When I do, I plan on having lots of pictures of me drunk and puking, or snorting coke. That’s should be about par for the course on Myspace.
Paul,
Thank you for mentioning Ziki. We have positioned Ziki as a “portal” if you will, where members enter their profile, aggregate their content and mange their personal brand. For the ones who want - or need - to be visible, Ziki is the right platform that can be used with many purposes, such as a job search (in your example), or promote produced content to be shared or monetized.
andre taliercio/Ziki team
Great advice Paul. Back when I was younger (early high school), my parents used to frown upon me being so open online. I look back now, and I would definitely not be where I am today without maintain my online identity. If you do searches for my name or cavemonkey50, you’ll find hundreds of pages of me on various forums and sites. If you’re planning on doing any business online, you need results like that to turn in order for people to trust you.
I completely agree with your post. I just started blogging about two weeks ago and have already begun to see the future potential. Your site has helped me a lot, thanks for all the support and insight!
While I do agree with your general point, I don’t think that you have “nothing to lose” by starting a blog/website on a domain that bears your name. Especially if you work in tech. There are way too many conflicting opinions and holy wars to put out content that is agreeable to everyone all the time. This can potentially hurt you if a potential employer doesn’t agree with some of your ideas. Sometimes making opinions heard can be a bad thing, be careful what you publish.
I love your blog Paul, keep up the great work!
While I find your post interesting, and encourage the idea of an online presence, the discussion in my native country is to beware of being to visibile. Headhunting firms, future employers etc. will, they warn, search the web to find anything that may be a disadvantage for your present or future employer, note the discussion about Petite Anglais who got fired because of her blog.
But again, this might say something about the collective mind of my country, where the important thing is not to make mistakes, while the American mentality may be more about ventures and personal initiative.
Maybe you should write a follow-up about what kind of online presence people should have. Five year old posts suddenly popping up at Google Groups may not always be too favorable to my online presence….
Andres, I think a lot of people cannot spell your surname tellefsen by just hearing it. Besides, I think xgrapes.net is a nice and short domain name.
Interesting thoughts Paul. I started blogging 3 months ago, and because my surname is quite long and uncommon, I decided to go with ArmensBlog.com.
3 months on and I regret it. I mean, how many people really arrive at a blog through word-of-mouth anyway? ArmenThomassian.com, although long, would still be better.
Having said that, a punchy, interesting generic name is probably even better, and I am currently on the pondering over a possible domain name change.
I personally don’t like the idea that everybody can google me.
Paul, you’re blogging a lot about your personal tech gadgets. Aren’t you afraid that somebody breakes into your house an steals your 24 inch iMac, the Sonos Music system and all your other stuff. I don’t think that it is very hard to find out your address. And since you are twittering people know if you are at home or not.
I personal feel more comfortable not disclosering my real name and address.
@Apfelmus - I’m not particularly worried about that. I’ve got insurance, data backed up online and at least one roommate is always home when I’m not.
I have my own website / facebook account, but other than that I like to keep everything else unsearchable.
Might be a good follow-up to this post, a reputation management consultant chiming in on why having an online presence can be good for your career:
http://engtech.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/an-introduction-to-reputation-management/
It’s kind of like turning yourself into your own brand. You see a lot of bloggers out there who succesfully build up their names and they get a significant following. It’s not much different from being a celebrity, I think.
Having my resume + contact form online is extremely helpful, especially since I am looking for work in the web industry. I have had quite a number of people in the industry find my resume through my website.
It’s good to have an online presence but folks need to be wise about what they say and publish online.
The age old advice of don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your boss or grandmother to read.
hi Paul
thanks for sharing - i am going to work on expanding my online presence BEFORE my competitors get the hang of it.
Adam Darowski is tracking a fantastic discussion going on around this subject. Definitely worth a read.
Another important part of having an online presence, at least if you have decent traffic, is interacting with your audience. You do a great job of responding to comments and replying to contact emails. It makes each person feel like you care and makes your blog more of a two way discussion.