| In 2007, the Pew Internet & American Life study | | | | footprint online for you, but you need to keep the |
| found that one in ten internet users had a job that | | | | momentum up. |
| required them to self-promote or market their name | | | | Take control of your online presence |
| online. Two years later, it found that the share of | | | | You may already be utilizing social media sites such as |
| adult internet users who have a profile on an online | | | | Twitter, which enable people to converse and |
| social network site has more than quadrupled in the | | | | market to potential customers at incredibly low cost. |
| past four years, from 8% in 2005 to 35%, and it's | | | | That's a positive and controllable way of engaging |
| very likely that with the internet being at the front | | | | with potential customers (as long as you don't |
| and center of international business, this proportion | | | | drunk-tweet - what goes online can potentially stay |
| will continue to increase in step. | | | | online forever!). However, how do you maximize the |
| There's no doubt that doing business as an individual | | | | potential of your efforts in social media, and point |
| or in a team internationally has become much easier | | | | people to the things online that you want them to |
| with the advent of the internet, new networking | | | | see (and perhaps fewer of the things you don't want |
| technologies and more diverse ways of collaborating. | | | | them to see)? |
| But, as can be seen by the statistics above, the | | | | The best way to do this is to centralize all of the |
| ability to differentiate from the competition is much | | | | things you want people to see and where you want |
| more difficult as more and more people join business | | | | them to interact with you under a.tel name. A.tel |
| networks, use job-hunting sites and build their | | | | domain gives you the benefits of discoverability and |
| professional brand online. | | | | ownership that a traditional domain brings, but |
| Personal digital branding is just beginning to emerge | | | | without the hassle of having to build and pay monthly |
| as a new tool for recruiters and career managers to | | | | for hosting and developing your own site. It's proven |
| help differentiate people online. It's only been in the | | | | to be an excellent resource for individuals using free |
| past year or two that celebrities and sports stars | | | | resources for blogging, but wishing to be found in an |
| have started really thinking about personal branding | | | | authoritative place online under their control, where |
| online in a consolidated fashion, especially in light of | | | | they share what they want to share. From as little as |
| new 'celebrities' being launched from sites like | | | | $10 per year, you can brand yourself under your |
| YouTube (think Susan Boyle). So if it can work for | | | | own.tel domain name and easily change the |
| them, it can certainly work for you. Here are three | | | | information quickly as you need to. These domains |
| tools to help you stand out further from the crowd. | | | | can also act as a single point of contact for |
| Be social, go glocal | | | | customers. |
| What's glocal?! It's the ability to talk about local issues | | | | Network |
| on a global stage, using social media. Basically, you | | | | There's no doubt that more niche business |
| have an expertise that you can share that may be | | | | networking sites are starting to 'up' their game in |
| best expressed using local examples. You can share | | | | terms of the quality of relationships that can be built |
| the benefit of your experience on a global platform | | | | on their platforms. Joining LinkedIn, Viadeo or Xing will |
| by utilizing all of the free social media channels at | | | | bring benefits, especially from the networking groups |
| your disposal, enabling you to have a global voice. It's | | | | that are starting to appear on things like LinkedIn. |
| not just blogging these days - although 'long form' | | | | With more integration of Twitter and other elements |
| content is still extremely useful for search engines, | | | | into these business networks, the ability to promote |
| and it's important to consider easy-to-use platforms | | | | a professional side to online networking is really |
| that can be branded with your personal brand such | | | | starting to come to the forefront. |
| as Posterous, which can be updated from email. | | | | Marketing yourself, your skills and your potential is |
| Micro-blogging, like Twitter or Google Buzz, can | | | | now one of the most important things you can do as |
| enable you to tell your story to a whole bunch of | | | | a professional. Take time to implement a few of |
| people. Qik enables you to tell your story via the | | | | these easy online marketing tools to help stand out |
| medium of video. All of these can generate a good | | | | from your competition. |