With the digital economy in full flow and around ninety percent of the population expected to be online by 20230, I believe it is essential that you start to build your online presence or digital “home “and what could be the start of an online “real estate” portfolio.
I’m not talking here about your business that has a website, or your social media presence, but a real home that you can acquire for a very small cost and one that you can build and develop your way...without any restrictions.
Your digital home will be where people can find you...potential employers, like-minded people who want to connect with you and your business clients to find out who is behind that amazing company that they love to buy form.
It’s the very reason why my three children all have their own name domain names registered and are starting to build their own online content – they are slowly but surely building their own online CVs and showcasing who they are as well as what they know to the world.
It’s the “who they are” part that in my opinion, people are far more interested in.
Being online means that you can be found...and you never know who might find you!
In 2009, I was at a meeting in the USA headquarters of a leading global technology company and just as we were about to start, the Chief Operating Officer, who I was meeting with congratulated me on my martial arts videos that were on YouTube!
I never expected someone at his level to be searching around YouTube -- at the time, it was not seen in the same light as it was now and seen more as a video playground...but he explained that he searched everyone online before he met them...and at least he would not forget me!
Today it is common practice to Google everyone, but no so much back then, but that moment gave me a lot to talk about and the first part of the meeting was all about martial arts, being online and the business aspects of that meeting simply fell into place as a result.
Back in 1999, I hired a PR company to build my own personal and company brand.
It was one of the best decisions that I made because in a short time, clients were learning not only about the business I ran, but the person behind it and the PR company brought in my love of martial arts and music into the mix, which created more than a few talking points to say the least!
But my client in 2009, never mentioned any of the National and International press, radio and TV that I appeared on...just YouTube!
I am always fascinated by people and I love to hear stories about their lives, their successes and the problems and challenges they have overcome.
And I think that deep down, we all do...it’s human nature.
Fast -forward to today and you can effortlessly share your life on social media, build your own website and you are able to reach so many people, just from the press of a button.
If I only had the foresight back in 2009 with YouTube and my blog, I could have easily built a huge personal brand and that’s why I am suggesting you start the process right now.
Don’t worry, you haven’t missed the boat and we are just getting started in the real digital economy and it’s only going to get better.
I can hear many of you thinking to yourselves that you already have a business website and it has an “about me” page, so what’s the point?
Well, businesses come and go, but people don’t...you never know what can happen to a business, but you, the person, remain constant.
Now how do you go about doing it in the most efficient manner:
Start a blog!
A blog personal blog is an extremely powerful tool in the online world.
It is your online CV, the home of your passions and beliefs and a place where you can share your life story to the world, so get started and get the information out there.
I will give you one simple reason to do so...you might just be able to help someone.
Just think for example at the amount of retired people who are sitting there with a lifetime of knowledge that could be sent out to the world and imagine how much help that knowledge would deliver.
As I said, just one reason...and there are many others, just do some research.
My advice to you is to start a blog on the Wordpress platform and I would use Wordpress.org, because it is one that you can have control and ownership of.
Having a social media presence is great, but remember that the rules of the game can change in a heartbeat...you do not control the platform and with a blog, you can write/video/audio what you want and start to build what I term:
The enterprise of you...which in my opinion, is the most important enterprise of all!
Twenty years ago, I was having a conversation in my office in London, about the future of the Internet and at that time, we were in a dot.com frenzy.
Everyone was in on the new Internet opportunities, with the investment community eager to back the next certainty that would see companies reach valuations that would make the most bullish of analysts fall off their analytical chairs.
This first-wave of the Internet economy was over-hyped, overvalued and had no choice but to collapse, which it certainly did.
But there was one part of the conversation that stood out:
The prospect of everyone being assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address at birth.
Born and immediately connected to a vast, global world!
Blog submitted by Neil J C Franklin neiljcfranklin.com