On page 67 you will find a very simple SEO worksheet that you can use to make your keyword research. However, if it all seems to complicated or time-consuming, you can always leave this job to a professional, since it is quite an easy task to outsource.
Use them in every platform you are on
BUT keep in mind that optimizing your online presence with SEO is more (way more) than just adding a bunch of keywords to your website (or profile) or, in other words, doing keyword stuffing. In fact, if Google realizes you are doing that instead of using those words where it makes sense, your website’s ranking can be negatively affected. This happens because Google’s algorithms can assess when you are using keywords in places where it does not make sense, when you use too many of them, or if you are using transparent text to add even more keywords to the page.
Proofread your posts before you publish them to the world
You should always proofread simply because grammar and spelling mistakes are never a good look for anyone, no matter what industry they work in. But SEO is one more reason to add to that. Even if you do use the right keywords in the right places, if Google realizes that the readability of your website is not good, your ranking will be harmed. Grammar and spelling are two of the things that make a page readable or not, so always take a double (or triple) look at your content before it goes live.
If you want to go an extra step further, you can either invest on spelling online tools and apps or hire a freelance proofreader/editor to review your content. Two heads (or one head and one online tool) think better than one!
Find a way for your name to stand out, especially if it is a common one
If you have a really common name and surname, when a person googles it, you will be one of way too many and people don’t have time, so they will probably not bother going through each person on the results page until they find you. You need to have a more unique name. Two ways you can do this are by adding your middle name to it (or even using just your second name plus your last name, if it makes a more unique combination) or creating an artistic name. Don’t be afraid to do some trial and error until you find the name that works best for you.
Remember Liza Koshy, the YouTube star mentioned a couple of chapters ago? Her name is not actually Liza, it is Elizabeth. Now, the change was not crazy, but it was enough that when we are talking about YouTubers and someone mentions Liza, the YouTube community automatically knows it is her being referred to. She does not even need her last name anymore!
If your name is already unique, you are a lucky one. Go with it!
Chapter 13: SEO Worksheet
Think of possible keywords that would work for your website. Remember these don’t need to be one word only, they can be expressions. In fact, half of the search queries people use have four words or more.
Tip: if you can’t think of many, use Google Suggests. So, if you were a Freelance Writer for example, you would type in “freelance writer” on Google’s search bar and see the suggestions that would come up below.
Go on your tool of choice and start your keyword research and fill in the table with the data.
Topic
Keyword
Search Volume
How do your competitors perform when it comes to SEO?
With all of this in mind, choose the best keywords, that you will use on your website.
Chapter 14: Tips and Tricks to Social Media Marketing and SEO Success in 2019
When you create and manage your posts, ask yourself how do you want other people to see you. But stay true to who you are. Find a balance between those two and create the best version of yourself, that will make other people in your industry become curious as to who you are and how they can network with you.
Keep all your social media profiles (as well as your website) consistent. If a user goes on your Facebook and sees you as one type of person, and then goes on your Twitter profile, and sees someone completely different, that will just lead to confusion. It is okay to adapt to the different platforms, as long as you don’t lose the essence of who you are in the process.
This consistency also applies to the visuals you use, which should have the same design basis all throughout your digital presence; and the usernames you go for, which, in a perfect world, would be the same on every platform. However, that is virtually impossible nowadays because so many people are online and so many user handles are already taken. Still, try your best to keep them similar.
Share your posts from one platform on other platforms. For example, whenever you post a video on YouTube, make a post about it on Twitter. That way, a Twitter follower of yours can also become a YouTube subscriber and your subscriber count goes up. Plus it is an easy way of continuously feeding your profiles.
Another good idea would be to include a feed of one of your profiles (the one you update more regularly would be the best choice) on your website. This is quite easy to do, since for every social platform and every Content Management System (CMS) you will find instructions on how to embed whichever feed you wish. For the other social platforms, make sure to have an icon linking to your profile. A lot of CMS show you that option when you are editing your website’s footer, header, or menu. It should be easy to find, but in case you can’t, it is nothing a simple Google research won’t solve.
Never, ever forget mobile. With the continuous rise of smartphones and with no one being able to go one single day without data or access to Wi-Fi, not having the mobile world in mind when you work on your digital presence is a sin. So, optimize your website for mobile and make sure it is responsive (i.e., that its layout adapts to the dimensions of all devices, from the biggest computer screen to the smallest phone one). Besides that, use images with the dimensions that each platform suggests and don’t include text with small fonts in them, otherwise people using their phones will not be able to properly read it. And one statistic, in case you need more convincing: in 2017, 67% of people who use their mobile phone to make online searches stated that they are more likely to make a purchase if their website is optimized for mobile (Clifford, 2017).
Engage, engage, engage. I have highlighted the importance of interacting with others so many times throughout this book and that is for a reason! There is no point in working to build the best personal brand in the entire world (wide web) if in the end you don’t communicate with others and explore opportunities that might come up.
Invest in paid posts. Everybody is online, yet organic traffic is dead. The way around this problem: sponsored content. There is no need to spend a crazy amount of money or to sponsor every single post you make on every single platform, but thinking strategically and investing on certain posts can make your online following grow exponentially, so make sure to save a bit of your marketing budget to spend on social.
Make sure to include your name and job title in each platform. It does not have to be your name, as I have said before, but for SEO (and consistency) purposes, it is crucial that you introduce yourself the same way everywhere. For the job title, use your keyword research tool and find the more profitable version of it.
Keep an eye on your pages’ KPIs. Every platform gives you information on how your posts are doing and through that, you can understand what works and what doesn’t work for your (ideal) audience and then, make the necessary adjustments in order to keep growing.
Conclusion
Creating and nourishing your personal brand is hard work and in the beginning you might even feel a bit overwhelmed, but it is definitely a big step towards your success and once you get a hang of it, you will see how worth it it is. Nowadays, I would dare to say there is not one recruiter or potential partner who does not look up their candidates online, so taking some time (and some money) to make sure that when they do, they will be nothing but pleased and excited to work with you, can lead you to great achievements.
Thank you for reading this book, I hope it inspired you to work on your personal brand and helped you figure out which steps you should take. Good luck!
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