Many times we get so involved in running our business that the little things that should get our attention are neglected. So, when the one free minute arrives and you check… OOPS I forgot that.

Today I am talking about your online persona. We are all familiar with LindkedIn, Facebook and Twitter but more important is your Google presence. Go ahead, right now, Google your own name. What is the result? Is everything you want to be there on the search? Probably not.

The world is revolving more and more around search results. Google, Bing, Yahoo all return slightly different results for any search (so don’t neglect to check all of them). What really matters is that you are presented prominently and at your best.

I recently worked with a client who ran a very large company, over 100 employees, was well respected in his industry, had received awards and accolades from his peers yet was a ghost when it came to finding him in a search online. His mindset was that he was only worried about the “real” world and “We do have a pretty nice website.” Both his positions are valid. Running the business is the foundation of everything else and a credible website is mandatory for almost any business today. However, neither are they be all and end all.

Quite often people who you have met in various different business settings will search not only your company but you as well. You need them to be able to find you – period.

You need to portray your business and individual persona in a substantive and credible way in online search results. So how do you do that?

– Post, post, post. Make sure that you or someone in your company is responsible for generating press releases, award announcements, important industry developments and such. The more meaningful content that you issue the more you will be found by the search engines and appear in the search results.

– Write. Writing articles, establishing a blog are very powerful tools in enhancing search results. Not only do you present yourself as a thought leader and expert, but your name starts to appear in many other sites as your content is forwarded, reposted and backlinked.

– Don’t be bashful. At important charity events, industry conferences and seminars and company gatherings – look for photo ops. By including the photos in your online persona you are humanized and no longer one dimensional. No longer are you just some business acquaintance from the latest networking opportunity, but a person with many facets. The photo’s help tell the story of you.

– Check, check and check again. It is not vanity to search your own name or your company’s names. It is a barometer on how well you are getting your message out. If you don’t have multiple results on the page one you need to revisit what and how you are posting your content. It also allows you to see entries that may be less than complimentary so that you can work on having them removed or at least pushed way down the list of results.

– Be professional. The internet can be unkind if you don’t watch your manners. Comments that you make online in very different platforms can surface in the main online flow of information. Derogatory statements, inappropriate photo’s, inflammatory utterings can come back to haunt. They are the last things you on your search results, so be very careful about what you post everywhere.

I remember my mother saying “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” Keep that in mind when you think about how you and your company are perceived online.