Do you need to have a Personal Website?
The direct response to this is ‘No’ – it’s not a necessity but it is something that should be encouraged. What better way to present yourself than on a webpage where the domain is your name. If you set up your site right, you can very easily get some key words/ phrases linked directly with your name and as such, when a recruiter/ organisations undertakes any form of online search, your website will start to appear.
Undoubtedly, this will be hard to achieve if your keywords/ phrases are too generic but again, put yourself into the shoes of your ideal avatar and think about what they may be searching for. At the same time, think about your ‘elevator pitch’ – within these will be the keywords/ key phrases that you should build into your website.
We will develop a further session on this area in due course but don’t feel that this is cost prohibitive – a simple website/ domain/ hosting shouldn’t cost more than £50 to achieve and the results can be amazing.
Do you need Twitter?
Yes, Yes, Yes – that’s a resounding Yes. Not to necessarily post endless drivel like many people do, but to listen and observe. Identify your ideal client/ employers and their key employees and follow them. Follow industry influencers. Follow general business influencers.
This will provide you with invaluable insight into what’s trending or what’s deemed to be of interest to your declared target market – this then gives you a foundation to post a topical article/ post or to respond to the specific Tweets and start to engage directly with your ‘ideal avatar’
The name of the game is to ‘differentiate’ yourself, to position yourself as the ‘go-to’ person – you can only do this and develop a real competitive edge by building and constantly developing your professional profile. #TLH provides you with an ideal platform to test these ideas out within a community of peers, to build relationships and identify collaboration partners. But #TLH cannot be your only ‘presence’ – you need to think more holistically and strategically to ensure that you are in the right place at the right time so that your ideal client/ employer sees you when they need assistance.
The next stage of your #TLH experience is to set up a one to one discussion where we will help you to consider the best way to adopt the principles discussed in this Essentials Series – look out for an email containing your invite.