How to Set Up Your Power Profile on Social Networking Websites

When you come to meet other Internet users on social networking websites, your profile on each website you participate in is very important. People are looking for someone who has the same interests as they do. If you don't set up a profile, it's difficult to make friends and share your interests online.

If you sign up at a social site and fill out your profile there, your profile page may appear on Google when someone searches for your name or other keywords. The search engines will be simultaneously spidering all the content and links on your profile page. The more you participate in a social site, the more traffic your profile on that site will receive from other members.

Although each social site's profile page is a little different, here are the basics:

1. Build out your basic profile: For your username, you may want to consider using your own name, your business name, or a name that relates to your niche or your main products. Consider using the same username on all of the social sites you participate in, so people will recognize you right away and connect with you whenever they see you someplace new.

2. Add your link to your blog, website, or online storefront. Add at least one RSS feed if permitted. This is a good place to add your blog feed, so visitors to your profile page can see your latest posts. If you're permitted to add multiple RSS feeds, you may want to include some selected feeds of your activity on other social sites.

3. Fill in your "About Me" box. Here's where you can enter your bio or personal story, some interesting or entertaining info about your business, etc. - anything that would capture the attention of the people who are the most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. On many social sites, you can use HTML to add links within your "About Me" section, giving you the opportunity to make good use of your anchor text here. If you can include links in your "About Me" section, this is a good place to deep-link to some of your best content on your website. Be selective and use only a few of your very best links. Make every effort to create a high-quality impression with your profile.

4. Upload or edit photos. The more fantastically interesting photos you make available here, the more you can attract the notice of your targeted customers who visit your profile page. You can display your recent photos from your Flickr photostream, if you have a Flickr account.

5. Enter your personal tags - some social sites have a space for you to type in tags related to your interests and your online presence, so you can be found by other members who share your interests. Enter some general and specific words into your tag list. This will help your profile pop up as a result for more tag searches on that social site.

People who participate in one social site usually participate in others as well - and these folks tend to actively link, comment, blog, etc. all around the Web. Consider taking advantage of the opportunity to customize the appearance of your profile page - to make it different, memorable, and visually compatible with your business and with any images you show on your profile page. Your profile provides some valuable links to your blog and other content - which also will help boost their search engine rankings. Any time your content and links appear in the search engines, you've increased the odds that an interested customer will find you.