A unique business persona is required to keep your online business presence separate from your personal activities and those of others using your computers. This post is not about what you should reveal online or whether you should “act more businesslike” than your true self.
This post is solely about using separate information and accounts to keep your activities online separate for each project you undertake. Ready to Start Creating Your Persona Now?
Many sites you will use to increase your visibility online require user names, passwords, memberships, and additional information. We recommend creating a persona for your business or Web site once. Use and add to it consistently as you work. Be sure to read the TOS (Terms of Service) on sites as some require a “real” name rather than a user name. In those cases you can consider using a pseudonym. You can even legally copyright work created under a pen name.
It is growing increasingly common to ask you to answer personal questions when you sign up for a new account and periodically while you use them. Consider the implications of sharing that type of information. Select the question least likely to make it easy to profile you or answer based on this particular persona instead of your personal life. I often use answers related to the persona niche.
Keep track of these questions and answers and save them with your persona information. If you don’t have a system or a keyword searchable application we recommend you use the FREE Tomboy Notes app to record and organize your information.
IMPORTANT DECISION POINT:
It is simple for entities to build huge profiles using your real name and birthdate. Decide before you start whether you want to connect your business activities with your personal information. There can be serious privacy exposures and you may want to choose a “birthdate” for your blog or business. We recommend using a year in your target demographic or close to but not the same as your own birth year.
READY TO GET STARTED?:
- FIRST: Record ALL of This Information to Use for Your Business Persona
- SECOND: Create a password convention – easy way to create a unique password for every site yet still remember every one of them
- Simplify the personal question answer – you have to enter something but you do not have to enter exactly what the sites expect. You might choose “Where did you spend your summers” and answer “gardening” or “fishing” instead of a geographic location.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- How to Develop a Successful Business Persona
- Should You Create a Separate Business Persona or Reveal the Real You?
Gail Gardner
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I used to make backlinks by creating profiles on sites and leaving my link in the “about me” page or bio. For that I used different names.
But for commenting on blogs etc. I rather use my own name and picture, to make it more personal. To show the real person behind it. And it is eassier to create a better connection between other people if you use your real name and not something like a business. But the good thing with most blogs is that you don’t have to fill out any more personal information.
But I do agree that it is bad for your privacy. Somebody could easily do a search on google(or wherever) and find many of the posts I have written.
But it is still my own responsibility how much personal information I disclose in my comments.
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