Spring Cleaning How You Appear in Searches

Do you have a presence on social media? How do you want to be found?

Almost everyone reading this post has searched for answers, jobs, things to buy, advice, and people in the past 24 yours.  There’s usually a financial benefit to the person who can supply the answer, job, things to buy, advice, and people.

A Small Selection of People Who Want to be Found:

• If you’re a sales professional or solution provider, getting prospects and customers to contact you to solve their problems is better than you pounding the pavement or the phones seeking people who want what you have to sell.
• If you’re a rising professional seeking high quality network connections, it’s better to have high quality connections seek you looking to connect, than to contact and convince a potential connection to accept your networking invitation.
• If you’re a job seeker, it’s great to be wanted by several employers who contact you instead of making countless applications for positions of interest.
• If you’re one of the growing multitudes of gig workers, your next engagement is just a click or two away.
• If you work for a non-profit, you attract both funding and those who need your services.

Why Keywords are Key

If you want to be hunted by employers, prospects, customers, and valuable people for your network, then you must have the right set of keywords associated with your online presence. The internet reinvented the buying, learning, and networking processes of the past century in less than a decade.  We no longer spend an afternoon shopping store to store in search of something specific. When was the last time you visited the library to initiate research? And when did you last buy an industry directory to find a qualified professional?  No, the first step in all these hunting expeditions is to look online first, using keywords to get to the products, information, and people you need…all in seconds.

That means that if you want to be the hunted, carefully choose the right set of keywords that draws the hunter to you.  Embed each keyword multiple times in every one of your online profiles, because multiple appearances of the hunter’s keywords improve your chances of the hunter’s search finding you.  Each online network has its own rules about which sections are keyword searchable and which are not, so investigate in order to attract hunters.   Consider hashtagging your keywords, as explained in Hootsuite’s Guide to Hashtags  and the Complete Guide to Hashtags in Social Media. 

Begin With Your End in Mind

One of the first tenets of effective planning is to begin with the end in mind.  In what kind of searches do you want to be found? Who do you want to find you? Hunters ask themselves, “If I were looking for X (describe X specifically), what keywords would I use to find X?”  Here’s how to apply this to your situation:

• Job seekers – embed keywords in your online résumés, blogs, and profiles associated with the job you want in order to attract employers, recruiters, and hiring managers seeking candidates using the keywords that describe you. Places to find the right keywords include the job postings and job descriptions of the roles you want, as well as the words employers use to describe the results of successful people who are in your target job roles. 
• Sales professionals and solutions providers – embed keywords in blogs and profiles associated with the problems you and your solutions solve, along with the benefits they deliver. Understand the specific keywords buyers use to research the problems and need areas they have. Ask existing customers how they search for solution providers and the keywords they use.
• Seeking to build an effective network – select attractional keywords that describe your areas of expertise and interest, which will draw visitors to your profile. Look at the keywords used in the profiles of people you find most valuable in your existing networks.
• Freelancer – choose specific keywords describe what you do and want to attract those who need what you do. You could use keywords to identify the problems you solve, the kinds of problems you have solved, and the specific qualities that define you as an effective gig worker. 

You get the idea.  You can improve your chances of being the person found simply by periodically spring cleaning the set of keywords associated with why you want to be found. 

Keyword Tools

Just Google best keyword tools and you’ll find a rich banquet of choices. As with all technology, today’s best tools may become tomorrow’s has beens, so periodically repeat the exercise.  A few notable keyword tools, tutorials, and sources include:

• Google Keyword Planner relies on the power of the Google brand to help you reach the right people with the right keywords and keeps you aware of keyword trends. For fee plans. 
• Keyword Tool positions itself as a strong alternative to Google Keyword Planner, offering free and for-fee versions, as does The Hoth.
• Best Keyword Research Tools list that receives frequent updating.
• Top Expert’s Best Keyword Tools article is one of the many popular sources of keyword expertise.

By the way, I found all these sites and more by using – you guessed it – keywords…

Bottom Line

Spring cleaning is a great time to address how you want to be found.  If you want to be found, you must choose the right set of keywords associated with why you want searchers to find you.

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• Improving your (or your team’s) management and leadership skills: Leading Through People™. This acclaimed program equips participants in thousands of current and emerging best practices of leadership, hiring, and talent development.
• Raising your (or your team’s) selling and sales management effectiveness: B2B Sales Essentials™ (among the 30-plus courses we offer are ones on selling with emotional intelligence and storyselling!)
• Conducting a more effective job search: Get a Better Job Faster™