How I Got to #1 on Google

Every once in a while, okay, about once a month, I use Google to see how I rank compared to others that share my name.  Yes, believe it or not, there are LOTS of Jean Pickerings in the world.  When we are talking about ranking, we are talking about the world not just a specific geographic location.

What I have noticed after doing this for the past several years is that I typically show up in the #1 position.  I normally just enter my name when I use Google, Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile, Webcrawler and others.  Sometimes I actually dominate the entries on the first page of the results and at other times I share the results with others.

So how does this happen?

Well, many of you know I am really into social media.  I have accounts on all of the top social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo and Google+).  I also have 2 blogs, an About.me page, an account on FourSquare, plus several others.  I spend probably 4-6 hours on a daily basis curating information that I can post interesting content on my various social media account.  I read what other people are posting and I comment/respond to it.  That is A LOT of time, but it is something I feel I must do to keep my high-ranking as a Social Media Technologist.

I also have tools that I use to help me do all of this.  I use Hootsuite to schedule posts.  I use Tweetdeck to interact with people in real-time (IRT).  I use URL shortners because on Twitter you only have 140 characters & only 120 if you want people to retweet/send it to their contacts.

Here are just a few quick tips:

• Have a complete LinkedIn Profile & post at least 1 update to it ever 24-48 hrs.
• Join discussion groups on LinkedIn and really have discussions versus just posting links.
• Get a Google+ account – because Google searches their services first when ranking you.  Post at least 1 update per day on it.
• Get a personal and business Facebook account.  Post about 2-3 times per day (DO NOT OVER POST) and make sure your content is compelling and useful.
• Get a Twitter account. Post at least once or twice an hour during the peak hours of the day.  DO NOT follow more people than are following you.
• Join Twitter chats, follow people who tweet about subjects that interest you and start to respond to them via retweets and comments
• Use the same look and feel for all of your accounts. This is all about branding and you want people to always see the same thing when they look at your profile on the various social media sites.
• Never offend.  Not everyone will agree with you when it comes to your personal views.  You need to be personal, but be personal in an uplifting and supportive way.

I also do a lot of IRL (in real life) networking because networking on-line is not enough.  You need to let people get to know you and that can be started online, but real relationships form over time and in person.  Get out there and volunteer some time to work for non-profits in your interest areas.

AND remember what your mother taught you “Never say anything about someone unless you can say something positive.”

Of course, this does not cover absolutely everything I do, but I can show you how to do it for yourself.  Just contact me via one of my social media accounts.