5 steps to develop an online presence

An adequate online presence will allow you to develop a good name and a reputation that will open the doors needed for a new job position, to establish important contacts, or to get new customers in your business.

The most important part to start building a reputation is to define what is your final objective.  For example:

  • For a college student the most important objective is to find an internship or land a job.
  • For an entrepreneur, networking, customers, and sales are the main objective.
  • For a worker, may be to create a good name on certain subject matter, or simply find a new job (because she is a subject matter expert ).

5 Steps to Start an Online Presence

  1. Clean your past:
    We should start with the most basic step, which is to review what you already got out there in websites like Facebook or MySpace or others.Find pictures in Facebook  that your employer might not find funny, or comments on websites that your clients would find inappropriate,  or contacts that don’t represent you well.  Then do a thorough clean up.
  2. Choose what social media or sites better fit the needs for your online presence.
    Personally, I recommend three tools that should not be absent from your web presence strategy.

    • LinkedIn: Great to do professional networking. Today, many business deals and hiring are originated from LinkedIn.
    • Facebook:  Long time ago Facebook stopped being a site for fun and became a first class business and networking tool.  Relationships from Facebook can become your business partners, customers, or your employer.
    • Twitter: This is the ideal tool to konw what is going on on certain groups around specific interests, but iis also a great one to create your name and reputation.
  3. Identify contacts of interest and connect with them
    Start with your close friends and family, classmates, teachers or professors.Then try to connect with people you admire or that have a great reputation in areas of your interest, authors, artists, and respected figures.

    Finally, try to connect with possible customers, employers, and other people who you genuinely want to establish a relationship.

  4. Define the message you want to transmit:
    If you want to establish a good name, you need to find your a main message and communicate it consistently. It does not mean you need to blog or tweet every day, but if you do, make sure your message is consistent throughout all the social media or websites you have.Por example, your  tweets can be about news, jokes, or political commentary; however, be aware that people will associate you with those topics.
  5. Do something for others:
    One of the best ways to establish a good reputation is to demonstrate a genuine interest for other people.   Having access to your contacts will allow you to know how you can help them.  Perhaps, if you are in school and are ready to graduate, take the time to express your gratitude for those who really inspired you and influenced you.  Or, if someone is looking for some information, connect them with someone who can help them.  Better yet, volunteer with an organization that needs it.  That will create a good name for you.

Establishing an adequate online presence that will allow you to create a good name and reputation that will open doors for you.

If you have any feedback on this article, whether you agree or not with it, please share it in the comments section below.

This article was contributed by Andres Garcia, a member of the CHEC Pro board and the editor of the blog in Spanish on technology and entrepreneurship: Tecnología y Emprendedores.

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Bobby Green, Founder of CHEC Pro

We are excited to introduce the new addition to the CHEC Pro family. Bobby Green’s blog: My Life with CHEC Pro.

In the first two posts Bobby shares with us how his life was transformed after a significant event in his life and how he came up with the idea of CHEC, an organization whose name is  comprised by four words with a significant meaning for Bobby and that represent the soul of the organization.

In his blog, Bobby takes us  through the history of CHEC Pro, how he has worked so hard to make this dream a reality, and more importantly how he, his wife Sasha, and all the people in CHEC are building the present and future of the organization.  We are sure you will want to be part of this journey.

We invite you to read Bobby’s blog as we know that you will be inspired by his life, and we are sure you will want to learn more of him, and of his work with CHEC Pro.

Visit Bobby Green’s Blog: My Life with CHEC Pro

Make sure you subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates from Bobby’s blog .   Subscribe here

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Newsletter May 2010 – Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults

May 1, 2010
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Carolina Arana DMD, MPH CHEC Pro Contributor Editor of PublicHealthObserver.com Physical Activity helps improve your overall health and fitness, and reduces your risk for many chronic diseases. Regular physical activity is important for good health, and it’s especially important if you’re trying to control and maintain a healthy weight. Fitting regular exercise into your daily schedule [...]

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Newsletter March 2010 – March: The National Nutrition Month

March 1, 2010
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Carolina Arana DMD, MPH CHEC Pro Contributor Editor of PublicHealthObserver.com You’ve probably heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. It’s true that food is broken down and transformed into cells, hormones, muscles and YOU! When you think of food in this way, it can be easier to make healthy and nutritious choices for your [...]

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Newsletter January 2010 – Atlanta and Crime

January 20, 2010
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by Bobby Green Our community happens to have highest crime rate in the city (Zone 5). However, I cannot agree with the media or the politicians who state that crime is on the rise. For one thing, the city just closed all it’s public housing facilities and dispersed the residents throughout the city. What we [...]

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Welcome to our new Webpage and Blog

December 6, 2009
CHEC Pro - Children, Health, Education, Community, Non-profit Atlanta

This is the new webpage and blog for CHEC Pro. We are constantly improving and we believe that a web presence is a very important component of our work and a way to increase our outreach capacity. We recognize that we learn everyday so your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

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Newsletter November 2009 – Kids CHEC & PAL

November 19, 2009
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by Sasha Green CHEC Pro will begin our afterschool program at the Anderson Park Police Athletic League (PAL) facility. Children in grades k- 12 will have an opportunity to join this exclusive after school program. Kids CHEC is unique in that parental involvement is mandatory if the child is going to participate. The program focuses [...]

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Newsletter November 2009 – Our Community

November 1, 2009
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By Shena Jackson Hidden Village Apartments in Dixie Hills was once home to high crime and poverty. The apartments went into foreclosure. Now it’s just an eyesore. One problem to another! Death, pain, violence and suffering; these are things that youth experience in my neighborhood everyday and accept as the norm. In our community, the [...]

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Newsletter October 2009 – Better Parenting

October 19, 2009
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by Tiffany Glass During my childhood, I experienced some of the same problems that many disadvantaged youth experience today. I grew up without my parents. When I was around them, I didn’t respect them much and even talked back to them. There was also period of time that I did not go to school. I [...]

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Newsletter October 2009 – A Successful Future

October 1, 2009
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by April Reeves The word on the street is that teens in our community have no future. This is nonsense! Not only do we have a future, we are the future! It’s up to us, as teens to make the necessary changes to ensure that our future is a great one. Education, in my opinion, [...]

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