I hope last week’s interview with Lynette Chandler of Blog Energizer answered some of the questions you may have had about blogging. Today I’m excited to tell you about a brand new resource that will improve your blogging and drive your readers to buy your product or services, or join your mailing list.

There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog, but if it isn’t well-written, it’s unlikely readers will stick around, and you’ll miss out on the opportunity to gain a new subscriber or a client. According to a new e-book by Darren Rowse and Glenn Murray, several things make the difference between a good blog post, a great post, and a not-so-good post. These can be organized as follows:

• Writing style
• Scannability
• Search engine optimization
• Grammar

The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers outlines these factors in detail and provides you with a scorecard for evaluating your blog posts before you publish them.

I suggest printing out the two-page planning questionnaire and the scorecard and inserting them in plastic sheet protectors. By using dry-erase markers to fill them out for each post, you can simply wipe them off and use them again next time, instead of wasting paper and ink to print out multiple copies.

Before writing today’s post, I used the two-page questionnaire to help me organize my thoughts, and after writing my first draft, I used the scorecard to see what improvements I could make.

My original score for this post was 54 (shows promise). After checking it against the scorecard and applying the recommendations, I was able to bring it up to 69 (very good). Furthermore, by following this system, I was able to focus more on my writing and get it done in less time than usual. I can just tell that my blogging will continue to improve as these strategies become second nature to me.

Wouldn’t you like to experience the satisfaction of knowing that your blog is getting read – and bringing you results? For a simple and inexpensive yet valuable tool to improve your blogging, I highly recommend The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers. Order it by tomorrow, and you’ll pay only $9.97 – plus you’ll receive an updated version (which will sell for $29.97) with 50 pages of additional material and access to a Q&A session with the authors – all at no extra charge!

Once you’ve tried it out, come back and tell us about your results!

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Write Blog Posts that Get Results.

I’ve been a fan of Blog Energizer for quite a while now, so I was thrilled when their team leader, Lynette Chandler, offered to answer a few questions for Your Organizing Business. If you find Lynette’s answers to be as helpful as I did, please vote for me at the link you’ll find at the end of this post, so I can win an awesome prize – thanks!

How often should a professional organizer (or other service provider) blog to effectively promote his or her services?

You’ll probably not get the same response for every person you ask and I’ve also heard recommendations all across the board. Here’s what my personal choice is. If the blog is brand new, it can really benefit from more regular updates like 4 – 7 posts a week. As it matures and you start building steady traffic, you might get away with a more relaxed schedule. I aim for 2-3 a week though some weeks there’s only 1-2 which to me is bare minimum. But remember, substance is more important than quantity.

Also, cultivate the habit of batching and take advantage of scheduling features. 4-7 or even 2-3 a week sounds like so much content but when you do them all at once, and schedule them over the month, it really is a lot easier and doesn’t seem like you’re having to write every other day and that can get old really fast.

Is blogging a good way for professional organizers to generate passive income?

To me, a blog is no different than any other website. It is just easier to maintain. So that would really depend what you set the blog up for. If your goal is to build business for your services then use a large portion of your blog to do that. Yes, there is a place for passive income definitely. Like me, I write reviews and put up recommendations that do bring me passive income but that has been happening even before I put a blog on the site. It is a good way to supplement your income and it plays a role in your marketing mix, certainly not the only avenue. I like to view my blog as just one piece of the big marketing puzzle.

Is Blog Energizer suitable for business bloggers, or is it more geared towards “mommy” bloggers?

We try to accommodate bloggers in a variety of niches. If you are a free member, some weeks it seems like all we ever find is only relevant to mommy bloggers. That’s just how things play out. I guess due to the size and number of mommy blogs there are, many offers and resources are geared toward that market. However, we are always on the lookout for things business bloggers can share too. If you look in our archives there’s plenty of goodies for business bloggers.

Premium members also enjoy 30 blog prompts a month that is focused on business.

But here’s the thing I really want to bring up.

1. It depends what you mean by business bloggers – if you are in the business of blogging to make money then the topic doesn’t always have to be business related.
2. We always encourage people to think laterally. When we suggest an item you can put on your blog, that’s a suggestion. You can always put your spin on it to make it relevant. For example, August 10th was Smores Day. Hardly something ‘business’ like right? But maybe you can use ‘smores’ in your blog title about something else, maybe “XYZ software as good as smores’ or maybe you can write about good old fashioned values and product matching that go together like graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate.

Is it possible to have too many guest bloggers?

I don’t think so. If you look at many of the large blogs, they are written by a slew of different people. Especially if you are in this for a business, more people make a blog very interesting. Plus, if the owner itself is not so prominent, it makes it easier to exit that business if the owner chooses to in the future. A lot of people tell us that people buy from those they like, and because we are used to being individuals, we think people have to like us the person, but I think if you are running a serious business, you should be working on getting people to like your brand. Your blog is either the brand or an extension of the brand. When you are working on the brand itself, it really doesn’t matter if others are writing for the brand.

As long as the guest bloggers put forth quality and relevant content for the brand, I don’t see that as a problem at all. It might be a good idea to put pictures of authors on the post though so there is no confusion.

What are your thoughts on using a ghost blogger?

Everybody has their comfort level with this. I think a good ghost blogger who can copy your voice, your tone and style is very hard to find and if you do find him/her, you should hang on to them. I’ve hired bloggers before but have requested that they write or sign off under their own name or a pen name, not mine. So yeah, they were not ghost bloggers. It is not so much the control thing but there’s always something I would have chosen to word differently. Of course. They aren’t me and I’m not them.

I do not want to be caught in a situation where something was written, and be used to nitpick against me when they weren’t my words to begin with. The only exception to that is when I ask someone to write very factual posts that leave very little or no room for grey areas like a tutorial or posting up a deal/special offer.

Has this interview given you some great information? Then vote for it at http://blogenergizer.com/teip-vote. I’m sure Janet will appreciate your support.

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Blogging Tips: An Interview with Lynette Chandler.

I’ve often said that if one wanted to, it would be possible to attend a seminar, workshop, webinar or teleclass on a topic of interest every single week, if not every day! Most of us don’t have quite that much time (or training budget) available, but it is important to keep on learning. Here are a few events taking place over the next couple of months that you just may want to consider.

The Organized Child
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

7 Secrets to a Successful Workshop
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
September 13 – 15, 2010
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2010 Australasian Association of Professional Organisers (AAPO) Conference
September 13 – 14, 2010
Christchurch, New Zealand

Innovative Closet Organizing
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Organizer’s Boot Camp
September 21 & 23, 2010 – 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
September 22 – 24, 2010
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

NSGCD Fall 2010 Conference
September 23 – 25, 2010
Austin, Texas

Professional Organizer Training Institute™ program
September 27 – 29, 2010
Lake Oswego, Oregon

Orvention 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Gelderland, The Netherlands

Mid Atlantic Regional Conference for Professional Organizers (MARCPO)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Bethesda, Maryland

Organize In Your Own Learning Style
Wednesday, October 4, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Addressing Hoarding Through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Thursday, October 7, 2010 – 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
October 11 – 13, 2010
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

This is by no means a complete list, so if you know of other classes or conferences that are taking place soon, please leave a comment below.

I’m thinking about adding an event calendar page on this site – is this something you’d like to see here?

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities.

Welcome to the August issue of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! I sincerely appreciate all the submissions, but am just catching up on my work after a mini-vacation, so I hope you’ll forgive me for not inserting my usual commentary, and simply publishing a list of the back-to-school organizing posts submitted by my readers. Please enjoy, comment, and share!

This is a busy time for families with school-aged children, so it’s not surprising that many bloggers focused on this audience. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these posts are much the same, as you’ll find tips here on organizing school lunches, school supplies, daily routines, and a lot more. You’re sure to find some advice here to benefit your clients, or even your own family!

Audrey Cupo – Start The New School Year Being Organized

Geralin Thomas – Getting Organized for School Lunches

Ellen Delap – Back to School Preparation Checklist: Being organized and having a list makes all the difference for a successful school year.

Heather Burke – Getting Organized for the New School Year

Tina Blazer – Organizing Ideas for Back to School

Clare Kumar – Be Prepared for Back to Class: Although many of us are reluctant to think about the coming school year while we’re still reveling in summer, planning now will pay off in a smoother transition for you and the kids.  I’ve included 5 quick tips to get you started.

Jane Veldhoven – Yikes – Back to School Already?

Jacquie Ross – Top 12 Back to School Organizing Tips – Shopping for School Supplies: Organizing tips for shopping for back to school supplies.

Barbara Tako – Three frugal simple ways to get organized for back to school: Frugality and simplicity can work together here.

Janet Baker – Organization Is The Key When Going Back To School

Kimberly Eagles – Staying Sane During the School Year

Debbie Pendell – Ready for School? 3 Essentials

Back-to-school isn’t just about young children, and a couple of our posts are geared towards high school and college students:

Jacki Hollywood Brown – Summer Job Organizing: It’s important to prepare for the school year but it’s also essential to record necessary information to help you in your job search for next summer. Here are some tips to help you keep your employment information organized!

Anne Blumer – My son leaves for college in one month…so, what does that have to do with organizing?

As always, I’d like to thank all the bloggers who have participated in this month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival. This is a monthly event, so if you didn’t submit a post, feel free to join us next time, when our topic will be Technology. It’s an important part of our lives now, so we can all use tips to keep it organized, or to use it to keep us organized! The deadline for submissions is noon EDT on Thursday, September 9.

The October Blog Carnival will focus on Bathroom Organizing.

In the meantime, be sure to check out this month’s posts, leave some comments, and get to know one another!

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for August 2010: Getting Organized for Back to School.

Savvy professional organizers don’t rely on client fees as their sole source of income. They realize that with this business model, your earnings are restricted by the number of billable hours you work, and that you have no money coming in at all if you’re too sick to work or want to take a vacation. That is why so many have created information products to sell on their websites.

If business is a little quiet for you during the summer, this is the perfect time for you to think about developing your own information product. For help getting started, check out these tips from Melissa Ingold. Be sure to read right through to the end to learn about a big sale Melissa is holding right now!

Mobilize Your Passive Income by Creating & Selling Information Products

If knowledge is power, then selling information products is your one-way ticket to the top. With little to no overhead, zero production costs, and no inventory to maintain or keep track of, selling information can be a highly profitable venture for both you and your business.

As every entrepreneur knows all too well, one of the biggest hurdles for any business is having access to readily available capital. In today’s economic downturn, it can be nearly impossible to gain the funds one needs to both grow and sustain a business. However, if you are looking for new and inventive ways to either start a business or keep your current business afloat, selling information products is not only cost effective, but can prove to be highly profitable.

Creating information products is as simple as sharing what you know with others. The key to selling information products is to identify your audience and provide them with attractive opportunities to not only purchase your info products, but put them to good use with up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.

For example, if you are a web developer and your main focus is selling your services, you may want to consider creating a “how to” guide for writing HTML code. If you are a software engineer who sells to small and mid-size businesses, you may want to create a user manual to go along with your information product. The real key to success with selling information products is not only what you know, but how you deliver it. Make your knowledge work for you.

Package your information product in such a way that is enticing to your customers. Offer a “tease” of information along with the purchase of your product. Once they have gotten a taste of your information product, it will be easier to sell them the rest of the story.

You may also want to consider selling information products to industry partners and peers in addition to clients and customers. This is a great way to increase your profit-making potential while sharing knowledge with others in your line of work.

A great tip for getting started selling information products is to start out by offering an information product for free. Yes, the ugly four-letter word. But “free” does not have to be synonymous with “no profit.” In fact, by offering a free information product, you will not only prove to your customers just how knowledgeable you are, but you will entice them to want to learn more. Consider your first free offering an investment – a relatively cheap investment considering the fact that you did not have to invest any capital to create it.

The great news is that when creating and selling information products online, the possibilities are endless. From eBooks and ezines, to newsletters, articles and electronic reports, information products are easy to create, cheap to produce, and free to deliver. By using something as simple as email or a quick and easy downloadable file, you can increase your revenue stream simply by sharing what you know. The power is literally at your fingertips.

Melissa Ingold is an information marketer that loves to help people create easy-to-manage high-profit information product businesses. Learn how you can stop working so hard and earning more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melissa_Ingold

The Big Sale!

Melissa emailed me the other day to let me know that the current edition of her Information Product Sweetie is being retired, so from now until Wednesday, August 4, she’s selling it for 75% off the regular price – that’s less than $10.00 for all of the following:

• Information Product Guide
• “Must Have” checklists from Melissa’s own business manual
• Audio and transcripts of teleseminar on Creating Information Products
• Audio and transcripts of teleseminar on Creating & Using Mini Sites to Sell Your Products
• Website templates
• Report, audio and checklist on 21 Strategies For Generating More Product Launch Sales

To take advantage of this amazing deal, enter the coupon code 76429D4. But remember – you’ve only got until Wednesday!

VQKC9J7QH9F3

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Using Information Products to Increase Your Income.

I know many professional organizers who are not taking advantage of Facebook to market their businesses. Their reasoning is sound: “I help my clients to make the best use of their time and space. It just doesn’t make sense for me to waste time on Facebook or other social networks.”

If you associate Facebook with playing games such as Farmville or Mafia Wars, poking friends, or completing quizzes like “How many kids you will have?” I can understand why you wouldn’t see how a Facebook presence can be beneficial to your business. Keep in mind, however, that you can be on Facebook without ever participating in these types of activities. Although new applications are added every week, taking a moment to block these applications from your news feed will save you from spending time and energy filtering through the updates of your friends who like to use them.

Here are three more ways to make sure that Facebook doesn’t distract you from more important activities:

• Use Networked Blogs or another application to automatically post an update when you publish something to your blog.
• Use an external application such as Ping.fm, TweetDeck or HootSuite to post updates without logging into the Facebook website.
• You can also pre-schedule your updates using TweetDeck or HootSuite. Take advantage of this to post helpful tips at various times throughout the day and/or week, even while you’re out working with clients. This keeps your name in front of your target audience, and allows you to increase the frequency of your updates without having them all show up one after another.

Although these strategies allow you to maintain a presence on Facebook without even logging into the site, it is important that you visit the site on a regular basis in order to communicate with other users, especially those who have commented on your posts. The name of the game is social media, and if you don’t engage with others, they will stop trying to engage with you. You should be able to manage this in 15 minutes or less per day. That is not a lot of time, so you’ll want to use it wisely. Give priority to:

• Checking your notifications, to see if anyone has responded to any of your comments, and
• Visiting your business page, if you have one, because comments posted on there will not normally appear in your news feed or notifications.

In addition to blocking frivolous applications as noted above, you can organize your friends into groups. When you visit Facebook, instead of the default news feed which lists all of your friends, go directly to the feed for the group(s) that you most want to stay connected with.

Once you have completed these three steps, if you haven’t used up your 15 minutes, you can explore other things that may be going on. If you tend to get distracted, set a timer so you don’t get off track. If you’d also like to use Facebook for sharing news and photos with family and friends, do that at a different time, not during the 15 minutes allotted to your business.

Try it for a couple of weeks, then come back and share your results!

While you’re on Facebook, be sure to “like” Organized Assistant, if you’re not already a fan.

Photo credit: Beth Kanter

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on How to Streamline Your Facebook Activities.

For many years, I wanted to take advantage of Microsoft Outlook® as a time management tool, but was frustrated because the courses I took covered only the basics, and none of the books I read went sufficiently in depth to satisfy me. My woes ended when I discovered Sally McGhee’s Take Back Your Life! Using Microsoft Outlook® to Get Organized and Stay Organized in 2005.

Take Back Your Life! outlines steps for creating a system to help you to maximize productivity, which will help you to take control of your personal and professional life, and to support your clients who struggle with time management.

Some of McGhee’s recommendations are similar to those found in other time management books; for example:

• Implement personal boundaries to allow scheduled, uninterrupted work time.
• You can’t create more time; you can only make the most of the time you have by setting priorities.
• Process and organize your e-mail (and paper mail) by following the four D’s for decision making (Delete/Do/Delegate/Defer)

One of the parts I found especially valuable was the guidance around the use of Outlook Tasks. McGhee recommends disregarding Outlook’s default categories such as “Client” and “Personal” and replacing them with your own planning categories (to keep track of objectives and supporting projects) and action categories (to keep track of the individual tasks to be completed). She also suggests placing all telephone calls in one category so you can quickly and easily make those calls when you have time between appointments, and all errands in another category, to make it easier to keep track of them and reduce the number of trips you have to make.

McGhee understands that technology can only facilitate increased productivity when users know how to use its features to full advantage, and are prepared to let go of ineffective habits. Willingness to make behavior changes is a key component of her system, as some of the strategies she describes will be quite foreign to many, particularly those who struggle with structure and details.

Of course, to rely fully on Outlook for time management requires the use of a smartphone or other portable device that can be synchronized with your main computer, and many people can’t afford or don’t wish to use these tools, or have no desire to give up their paper planners. Nonetheless, although Take Back Your Life! is primarily about using Outlook, it offers many helpful time management tips that may be adopted even by non-Outlook users.

Many new enhancements were made when Outlook 2007 was released, so McGhee wrote an updated version of her book, along with John Wittry, Take Back Your Life! Using Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 to get organized and stay organized, which includes nearly 100 pages of new material. Both editions are available in the Time Management department of The Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Book Review: Take Back Your Life!.

I published The Organized Assistant Resource on a consistent monthly basis from 2003 to 2008. Once I began blogging regularly, I found myself less interested in putting together a structured newsletter every month, and gradually reduced the frequency of issues before formally discontinuing it earlier this year.

Most online marketing experts still stress the value of “building a list” over and above the people who subscribe to your blog via RSS or email, so from time to time I’ve questioned whether I made the right decision.

Michelle Deo introduced me to a fabulous email marketing service called MailChimp in the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for January, and I was so impressed with it that I’ve recommended it to a number of people and implemented it on behalf of several clients. I’ve also been using it for the monthly Blog Carnival reminders.

As I familiarized myself with MailChimp’s many powerful features, I was delighted to learn that I could create a special mailing list which would send subscribers an email every Friday with all my posts for the week from both Your Organizing Business and my other blog, From the Desk of Janet Barclay. Now, instead of receiving several items in your email or RSS reader, you can receive them all at one time!

To join our mailing list, simply enter your information on our home page. From time to time we may send out exclusive subscriber-only offers, so be sure to indicate if you are a professional organizer or are located in Southern Ontario.

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Join Our NEW Mailing List!.

Most of the professional organizers I know have a genuine thirst for knowledge and are continuously reading and taking courses. Since small business owners tend to be plagued by “so many books, so little time” syndrome, this month’s Blog Carnival is a collection of book reviews submitted by our readers, to help you choose your future reading material.

When choosing the theme for this month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, it occurred to me that I might receive multiple reviews for the same titles, but decided that wouldn’t be an issue, since it could be interesting to read different people’s perspective. Much to my surprise, every single submission was unique.

Without further ado, here are the book reviews, in alphabetical order by title. Please note that to make it easier for you to follow, I’ve replaced the post titles with the name of the book being reviewed.

The Accidental Organiser reviewed by Angela Esnouf, who describes it as:

A down-to-earth look at organising from a down-to-earth woman. And a great example of getting it done. Wendy went from an inkling of an idea to the bookstores in less than a year. A great example for all would-be authors.

Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion reviewed by Elaine Shannon

Digging Out reviewed by Jeri Dansky, who says:

I’ve blogged about many organizing-related books, so it was initially hard to pick which one to include in the carnival. But Digging Out is one of the best organizing books I’ve read in a long time, so the choice wound up being easy, after all.

Everything I Know about Perfectionism I Learned From My Breasts reviewed by Julie Bestry

Following Through reviewed by Ellen Delap

Get Rich Organizing reviewed by Janet Barclay (Hey, that’s me!)

Gift from the Sea reviewed by Joan Kosmachuk

Is There Life After Housework? reviewed by Debbie Pendell

The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done reviewed by Stephanie LH Calahan

On Top of Everything reviewed by Jacki Hollywood Brown, who says:

Busy family? Busy job? Busy life? Learn a professional organizer’s tricks for staying On Top of Everything!

Organizing Outside the Box reviewed by Lelah Baker-Rabe, who tells us that:

I love reading new books about organizing, and Organizing Outside the Box is a fantastic resource and just the latest book review on my blog.

Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding reviewed by Dr. Renae Reinardy on Geralin Thomas‘ blog

Someone Will Be With You Shortly: Notes From A Perfectly Imperfect Life reviewed by Margarita Ibbott, who says:

I recently had the great opportunity to participate in a Twitter Party hosted by Julie Morgenstern for her friend and “O” Magazine writer Lisa Kogan. I wrote this review on my blog because I really enjoyed the book.  It was also great that at the Twitter Party, I won a LARGE BOX OF BOOKS, courtesy of Ms. Kogan’s publisher. I am making this suggestion to you this month because I loved this book and found it very funny.  A great summer read.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your book reviews with us. If you’d like to recommend another book, feel free to leave a comment below, with a link to your review, if applicable.

For more book suggestions, be sure to check out The Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Our theme for August will be Getting Organized for Back to School, and the deadline for submissions is Thursday, August 12, 2010.

I’ve been delighted to learn that many of you plan your blog content around the monthly Blog Carnival themes. In that case, make a note that our theme for September will be Technology – whether it’s organizing your cables, your emails, your passwords – you name it!

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for July 2010: Book Reviews.

Once upon a time, all you needed was a professional-looking business card and maybe a brochure. In more recent years, it became expected that even a small business like yours would have a website. These days, prospective clients want to get to know you personally, through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social networking websites.

Just signing up for these sites is not enough; you need to create a compelling profile that will make it clear why others should connect with you. Most social networking profiles include three basic pieces of information: a photo, a short description, and a link. Deciding what picture and information you’d like to share before you even log in will help you to simplify the process.

In today’s post, I will share some guidelines for creating an engaging profile, but first, let’s ensure that your profile data is secure and that you don’t unintentionally share any private information.

Your User Names and Passwords

Although it may be tempting to use the same password for each site, this is not wise, for security reasons. Consider that if someone is able to hack into one account, once they figure out your password, they can hack into your other accounts as well. Under no circumstances should you use the name of a pet or family member, or even a dictionary word, as your password, as these are far too easy to guess.

I’ve been using Roboform, which generates strong random passwords and stores them securely, for several years, and it has completely eliminated the need to remember my passwords or type them every time I log into a site. With the free version, you can store up to 10 logins indefinitely. I highly recommend it!

Your Privacy

Take the time to familiarize yourself with a site’s privacy policies before you decide to join, and to stay on top of any changes that might require you to adjust your settings. You can usually choose what information is and is not displayed, but Facebook in particular is notorious for changing its policies, and if you’re not up to speed with the changes, you might find yourself sharing information that was previously set as private. If certain information is optional, consider whether it is to your benefit to have it appear on your profile. Otherwise, leave it off.

Your Profile Photo

Begin by selecting the picture you will use on your profiles. Using the same one on all of your profiles will be less work for you and will also ensure that people who don’t know you well will recognize you from one site to another.

On some sites, your profile picture is displayed as a very small thumbnail image, so it’s best to use a headshot rather than a full body shot.

Using your business logo rather than a personal photo may be a good way to enhance your brand recognition, but keep in mind that it may be less engaging. As Brian Manzullo said in a recent Web Journalist Chat,

Readers want to talk to people. They want to see faces, not company logos.

Whatever image you choose, make sure that it is the correct size and proportion for the site so that it doesn’t cut off important parts or turn fuzzy.

A professional photograph is ideal, but don’t worry if you don’t have one. Just be sure to choose one that is in focus and shows you at your best. If you look tired or grumpy, it doesn’t exactly invite people to talk to you, does it?

Avoid displaying the site’s default image if at all possible, as many people won’t give you a second glance if your profile lacks this important detail.

Your Short Description

Don’t make the mistake of just typing something in off the top of your head, because what you put in this section is critical to attracting people to join your network. Also, resist the temptation to leave it until later, because it’s too easy to forget about it.

In many cases, you are limited to a specific number of characters, so you have to be very selective in what you say. Avoid making it a sales pitch, and instead create a compelling message that will make people interested in learning more about you and what you have to say.

When writing your description, be sure to use the keywords and phrases that are apt to be used by people who are searching for someone like you, to increase the likelihood that your profile will come up in their search results.

Your Link

Some sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, allow you to list multiple links, so you can easily link to your main website, your blog, and any other sites you may have. Others, such as Twitter, only give you space for one link, so you need to decide what will be most effective. Most people post a link to their business home page, but since many users will click on the link to learn more about you and decide whether or not to follow you, it might be more beneficial to link to your “About Me” page or your blog. Some people even set up a special landing page just for this purpose, which provides an opportunity to share much more detail than will fit on your Twitter profile. Your link can easily be changed at any time, so feel free to experiment.

Other Information

Take advantage of any other fields that are available on each site in order to incorporate additional keywords and to provide supplementary details that may encourage others to engage with you. Again, don’t just start typing without considering whether the information reflects the professional image that you wish to portray, and take the time to proofread everything you write before you add it to your public profile.

Organized Assistant has helped lots of professional organizers and other small business clients to develop and manage their online presence. If you need some help getting started, or if you’re not getting the results from social media that you’d hoped for, don’t hesitate to request a free 30 minute consultation.

Please visit Organized Assistant to read and comment on Your Social Media Profiles.