December
We channel our energy on the big and obvious stuff that we forget about the humble but eye-opening details.
Are the links on your website still operational? What about your social networking profiles that lists you still slaving away at your old job? Have you updated your Twitter account that accurately displays your URL?
Now is the perfect time to take care of the little things that we brush off on a daily basis. I like to call it the “Not right now list” — mental reminders of all the stuff you should’ve done when managing your business. In a digital age, one 404 page could mean losing out on a big opportunity.
In the hopes of polishing your game, I have collected a list of things to do, and I hope it makes you think twice about your own situation.
Set your privacy settings
Social networking has given us a great deal of power to control what the world sees. However, if you want to manage your online persona, you have to restructure the right type of “friends” to your list. When you click through those new friend requests, sometimes you forget who you approved. If the thought of a distant associate seeing everything you do makes you feel uneasy, then use this time right now to adjust any privacy settings. When looking over your friends, make sure you know what list they’re on.
URLs don’t work
Have you recently changed domain names for your website or blog? If so, odds are it’s being redirected. However, redirecting will vary on what service you’re using. Occasionally, they expire after a year, or, when your subscription expires. Then again, a server upgrade or code tweak can conflict with the redirect settings. Take the time to make sure everything is on the up and up for all your domain names so they point in the direction.
Outdated info is still available
Even if you’re happily self-employed, you probably forgot about your resume that you posted on a couple of job sites a few years ago. If you’re not working, you’re probably being represented by outdated information on the net. It’s critical that you remove any outdated information. In addition, if you keep an updated resume on your own personal site, take the time to check for accuracy and relevancy.
Bio information is uncoordinated
Facebook, Twitter, your blog, and the rest of the social media sites you use have a field for you to write about your bio. Looking at a couple of sites of some people I know, I see that some of them still list an old gig, career, and in one case an old fling as current news. As always, take the time to make sure everything is in order across your social media network. Even if it’s for sites that you barely visit anyway, the bio still shows up in search queries and other hidden places.
Email isn’t forwarding
Have you started to use a new email address? Or maybe your old Gmail or Hotmail account just stopped working and you haven’t caught on about it? For whatever reason, every so often email accounts just freak out for no reason at all – without you realizing it. Other times, an email account is hacked and starts spamming the people in your contacts without you picking up on it. It’s worth the time to log in to your accounts, update, or delete them accordingly.
Updates on an old network
The digital age has caused us to forget about the lack of communication when it comes to our inboxes. However, every once in a while, a customer or a partner will send you a message on that site you used a year ago. Take the time to go back and quickly scan new messages. Even better, change that site’s account settings to automatically email you about it and place them in a special folder that you can periodically check.
Your thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome.
What would you like to add to this list?!?
