How eLearning Professionals Can Create an Effective Online Presence
Creating an effective online presence is essential for all professionals, regardless of their industry or niche. However, it is particularly important for eLearning professionals, either eLearning freelancers or not, who are trying to stay competitive in today's tech-centric world. Clients and potential employers will be venturing online to get a closer look at your experience, portfolio, and reviews. So, creating an effective online presence is crucial, but at the same time you'll also need to know how to properly manage it.
- Create an eLearning site that stands out from the crowd.
Your site will generally be your virtual hub of communications and marketing and it may also be where you host your solid eLearning portfolio. Given that your site will often serve as your online base of operations, you'll want to ensure that it accurately reflects your image and branding. It should also contain any vital information that a potential client may need, such as your past experience, examples of eLearning projects you've worked on, and how to get in contact with you. If you already have created profiles on social media sites, you'll want to include links to those as well. When perfecting the design of your site, keep in mind that less is often more. Don't go overboard when uploading graphics and keep your text short and sweet. Avoid clutter and chaotic page layouts. Remember that your site is going to be a visual representation of the work that you produce. It's also the first impression that prospective employers or clients are going to see. - Focus on Search Engine Optimization.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of cultivating an effective online presence. When creating copy for your site, be sure to include keywords that will attract the right clientele. Developing meta tags and descriptions for your site that feature these keywords is crucial, since this will help you to rise in the organic ranks of the search engine listings. Moreover, don't hesitate to publish eLearning articles on other relative top ranking eLearning sites. This will give you the chance to immediately reach your target audience and build your online presence, even if you are relatively new to the eLearning industry. In these articles you'll want to include SEO keywords in order to increase your readership and backlinks to your site. - Cultivate a social media presence.
Social media is all-important these days, especially in regards to your online reputation and presence. It's often wise to create accounts on all the big social media sites such as: Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. In particular, LinkedIn offers a wide range of benefits to eLearning professionals. You can network with other eLearning professionals via LinkedIn groups and make your presence known to potential employers and clients. However, be careful about what you post on these sites. Remember that you want to keep it personable, but still professional. In other words, don't post anything that you wouldn't want clients or colleagues to see. If you're finding it challenging to stay on top of your social media presence, you may want to think about creating some sort of posting schedule. For instance, you can schedule to manage your accounts every Monday and Thursday, so that you'll set aside time on those specific days to boost your online visibility and manage your reputation. - Develop a solid online eLearning portfolio.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most beneficial tips for creating your online presence, especially if you want to land more jobs as soon as possible. Your solid online portfolio should feature past eLearning projects that are good examples of your talent and expertise, as well as references. You may also want to include previous work experience, educational background, and any training or certificates that will make you stand apart from other eLearning professionals in your eLearning niche. - Be consistent about posts and updates.
One of the most important aspects of managing your online reputation is to be consistent about how often you post on your social media accounts and you update your site. Share eLearning articles that you've come across and may be informative for your followers, or post important updates, such as if you've recently completed a training session concerning an emerging eLearning technology that you can put to good use on future eLearning projects. You may even want to consider starting a top eLearning blog that you can use to keep your followers updated and post information that they will find useful. For example, you can offer them links to sites that feature eLearning news or an interesting eLearning article that you came across while researching a project. eLearning professionals like to stay on top of emerging technologies and new trends, and you can keep them in-the-know with frequent social media posts or blog entries.
To conclude, by posting frequently and by having an online presence, which is solid and active, you stay fresh in the minds of potential clients, which means that they are more likely to call upon you when the time comes to develop a new eLearning project. The same goes for fellow eLearning professionals too. If you're willing to share insights with them and keep them in the loop, they'll be more likely to enlist your aid on upcoming eLearning projects. Also, if employers or clients are searching for the perfect eLearning professional for the job, they'll be able to see that you've made the effort to remain active online, which can give you an edge over the competition.
Keep these online presence tips and techniques in mind when creating and managing your effective online presence, so that you can increase your online visibility, boost client referrals, and advance your eLearning career successfully.
Last but not least, you may find valuable the article The Importance of Sharing Your eLearning Expertise that features the top 5 reasons you need to start having a more powerful online presence, as an eLearning professional.