Turn Your Clocks Back and Your Digital Presence Forward

This weekend, most of us here in the U.S. will be moving our clocks back an hour as we revert to Standard Time from Daylight Savings Time. Yes, it’s that one day of the year when we get all giddy about an extra hour of sleep. That is, if we can find a way to fake out my dog Shadow’s internal clock. And, of course, it won’t be so dark when we get up.

Those two times a year when we adjust our clocks are also the times that local fire authorities remind us to change the batteries in our smoke detectors, just to make sure they are in proper working order. But now with these newfangled ten-year smoke detectors, that’s less of an issue. But a smoke detector is something that is out of sight and out of mind most of the time, but if it isn’t working properly, it could spell disaster.

But these twice a year clock manipulations are also as good a time as any to take a quick look at your online presence and see if everything is in tip-top shape. Once we set up the various facets of our digital presence, we forget about them and let them go. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore them forever. So as you are thinking about that extra hour of sleep, take a moment to think about your online digital properties and give them the once over. Think of it as changing your digital battery to make sure you are protected and everything is working well. Here are a few things to check:

Your Profile Picture

Check your profile pictures across all platforms. Does they accurately reflect you, and are they professional? If someone met you in person for the first time, would they know who you are, based on your online profiles?

Update Your Online Profiles

Head to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social platform you are using. Has anything changed? Do you need to tweak anything to accurately reflect who you are, where you live and work, or what you are doing?

Check Your About Me/Us page

Has anything changed since you last updated that page? Are pictures up to date? Staff lists up to date? Staff bios up to date? Does the page accurately reflect what you do? Whether they’re on this page or another, have your service and product offerings changed at all? Even if nothing has changed, why not freshen it up a bit? Google likes when it finds new and different content on your site, so

Check Your Website

I’m often shocked when looking at the back end of a potential client’s website at how many plugins have not been updated. If you have a WordPress site, make sure you have the latest version of WordPress and the latest updates on your plugins. Many of those updates deal with security issues in addition to added functionality. If you’re not updating them regularly (and you should be), now is a good time.

Check Your Digital Listings

Head on over to GetListed and do a search for your business. Make sure that you have claimed and optimized all of your listings, and that the information is consistent across all of them. When it comes to off-site SEO, Google doesn’t like conflicting information about you and your business.

Those are just a few things you can check this weekend, just to make sure everything is in order.

Are there any other small online tasks you can take care of at this time of year?

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/turn-clocks-back-digital-presence-forward-0664919?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=turn-clocks-back-digital-presence-forward