Are You Projecting A Professional Online Presence?

Maintaining a professional online presence is an important part of having a success full writing career.

I volunteer for a couple of writing groups. As part of my duties, I email writers, and other professionals on a regular basis.

One thing I've noticed lately is the high number of people who use strange names for their email accounts.

Fiction authors should take the opportunity to get their name in front of their audience whenever possible. Your name is your brand.

As a writer, you should be branding your name wherever possible. Names like elfprincess, edit845, or yrgm33 won't help you gain name recognition, or even help people associate your name with your email account. Use your professional name for every business contact.

If you are serious about your writing, you should take steps to be viewed as a professional when using email.

* Use your name or your pseudonym if you possibly can.
* Don't use your family's email account for business.
* Don't send professional email using your husband's name on the account.

Be professional with your social networking. Allow your personality to come through in your writing, but don't share anything that you wouldn't want published in a national magazine.

Also, no one cares what you are having for lunch, unless you write cookbooks and are teasing folks with your newest, greatest recipe. Keep your tweets and other social networking updates business related.

Editors, agents, critics, and your readers are active on the social networking sites. You never know who may read your next post. One of the main reasons to be active on social networks is to reach these very same people.

It's become common for editors, agents, employers, and other business contacts to "Google" the name of people before entering into a business relationship. Make sure what they find will project the image you are striving to create.

* Make sure you aren't writing anything online that will reflect badly on you.
* Protect your online presence by setting up a Google alert on your name to see what others are saying about you.
* "Google" yourself regularly to find out if your entries project a professional online presence.
* Check your pseudonym(s) as well.

When you keep an eye on your Internet reputation, know what people are saying about you. You can thank the people saying good things about you and deal with any negative comments before they affect your career.

It's your reputation. it's important for you to protect it.

Act as professionally on the Internet as you do in face-to-face meetings with your business contacts and your readers. Always remember that writing is a business.