“How to Use the Web to Build a Powerful Reputation In Any Industry” (from doshdosh.com) is by far, one of the most interesting and thought provoking articles I’ve come across in recent surfing. It’s about creating an online presence harnessing the power of the Internet to market yourself towards potential employers and partners. It’s like someone reached into my head and put many of my ideas on paper (or on a website). I’m surely not the first person to do what this article is purposing. In fact, many tens of thousands of Internet users already have an online presence and market themselves in such ways.
“The web is incredibly powerful and it can be used to generate huge amounts of publicity. It is potent launching pad for personal careers. When you are seeking to enter and dominate an industry, the internet is your best friend. With smart online marketing, you can develop a substantial presence which will not be ignored.
Let’s recap the goal: To build a strong reputation and promote oneself within a specific industry through the use of the web. It is not about earning an income online but purely about using the internet to develop one’s individual brand and improve career prospects/perceived worth.
To achieve this goal, you need to develop visibility and industry connections. For people to talk about you, they first need to know that you exist. And so it is important to develop visibility in all the right places through an online persona.
If you want to be deeply involved in the industry and want others to recommend you, you need to use the web to forge solid relationships that matter. To achieve all this, I’ve broken down the entire process into four progressive steps.” (source: doshdosh.com)
I like the idea of integrating the various social network sites back to “home base” (your website). This allows you to control the flow of traffic back to the one stop shop that is everything YOU! Each social networking site (or other online community) has a different user base that is unique to that site (I’m sure there’s user overlap with people on both MySpace and Facebook). By having a presence in each of these online communities you are reaching out to a different user base/demographic you wouldn’t otherwise have. For example, MySpace and Facebook will have more college aged youth than say LinkedIn, which is going to have a more business oriented demographic. Therefore, it’s vital to have a presence in as many online communities as feasible. Also, making regular thoughtful contributions to those communities builds a relationship and increase traffic back to “home base”.
A final note on this article. “home base” doesn’t need to be an elaborate. You don’t need to have a complex website with in depth knowledge about web technologies. Sometimes having a simple presence on LiveJournal or Blogger is all that is needed for a good start. These sites can always be built upon and scaled as needed.
Now get out there and get connected!
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