Your online visibility  can determine whether or not you attract potential clients. 

For those of us who are older, the new rules regarding visibility on the web can be rather intimidating.  Most of us were raised in a way that we didn’t believe we should be sharing everything we do and think to the world.  As my mother used to put it, “it is important that some skeletons remain in the closet with the door KEPT closed”. 

In this new age of technology, you will notice that the rules have changed drastically.  Go on to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc, and you will see people posting information that you would have not dared to share with anyone other than your family or closest friends – if even then.  Now people are putting anything and everything out there.  That information is then available to anyone who happens to stumble across it while surfing the web.  In fact, it now appears that people, especially the younger generations, have taken a 180° turn as to what they will reveal about themselves. 

Welcome to the Google era!

 As many of you know, Google is the number one search engine on the web. What that means is that when a person wants to get information about any topic or person, all they have to do is go to Google, type in a description of what they are looking for and hit the “search” button.  How much easier is that than when we had to lug out the dictionary or encyclopedia and look something up?

However, there are pros and cons to this.  Now, not only can you look up anything you want, but the reverse is true – people are also looking you up to see what they can learn about you.  If you are being considered for something important, chances are you will be “googled” first. If you are not found that can end up being a real problem for you.   And not only do you want to be found – you want your name to appear a number  of times on the first several pages – otherwise you might end up being dismissed as being insignificant and not worth considering.  

Get in the habit of “goggling” yourself.  How do you do that?   First of all, go to Google, type your name in quotations in the search box, hit enter and see what comes up.   If you don’t like what you see, then you will need to make sure some positive information is added in order to push the negative down the list.  Unfortunately, the negatives will not go away – they will just be further down the pages – therefore less apt to be seen.  I hate to tell you, but once on the internet – always on the internet.  That’s just the way it is.

So just remember whether you like it or not, what shows up on Google translates to who you are to the reader.   Rather sobering thought isn’t