Google Profiles is your area in Google’s universe where you can store and link all sorts of information about yourself.    Why is this important?  Because it’s yet another area on the interwebs where you can have a presence which is discoverable by search engines, *cough*, especially that little one who made the profile page, Google.

Have you been keeping your Google profile tidied up?  Did you even know that you had (or could have) a Google profile?  You can find your profile here.

Over the past week or so Google has been making improvements to Google Profiles.

First, they changed the way the URL displays for your page.  It used to be (…and still is unless you change it) a string of numbers that identifies the page as YOU.  For example, to Google I was: http://www.google.com/profiles/113345621158656129639.  But, with the change in settings, I’m now easily found as: http://www.google.com/profiles/justin.levy.  The only two minor notes here, as reported by Lifehacker: If you’ve previously linked your profiles page to your Gmail account, you can’t change it.  Your link will be your Gmail user name.  The other caveat is that you can only change your URL once, so be careful with that choice.

The second change was announced this week and concerns the prominence that your profile receives from Google.  Google will now start displaying profiles on the first page of Google search results.

Both of these announcements are HUGE from Google.  Why you may ask?  For some, reaching the first page of Google is a never-ending losing battle.  It can be very hard, if not impossible, to reach the front page.  Now Google is ensuring that at least some part of YOU reaches that front page.  You need to take advantage of this.  Maximize your profile by linking your websites, blogs and other profiles.  Use the “About Me” section to highlight all of the important stuff that you would want a potential employer, prospect or partner to find.

Want some more tips?  Google has provided a few tips on making your profile more useful over here.

Now, stop reading and head over to your Google profile and optimize it…

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For Day 2 of our Pixelated Conference Series (you can read more about what this is from Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel and Bryan Eisenberg), I thought we’d explore personal branding.  While yesterday’s focus on productivity was more of a full-day conference packed with tons of reading recommendations, I thought I’d make today’s sessions shorter…more like a breakfast seminar.  I don’t know about everyone else but Tuesdays are meeting day for me so therefore it’s hard for me to dedicate a full day to a conference but I do attend a lot of events/meetings at breakfast and lunch so I thought this might be appropriate.

Today we have 3 speakers lined up for you: Jim Kukral, Dan Schawbel and Gary Vaynerchuk as well as a few extras for you to take with you after breakfast.

Breakfast Seminar

We start today again with an interesting video to make sure you’re awake.  If you’ve never seen this series before, make sure you check out a few of them!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLxq90xmYUs&feature=user]

First up is web marketing strategist, Jim Kukral who is going to speak about his thoughts on Tim Russert and personal branding.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2316464943086224526&hl=en]

Next is personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel who is going to talk about developing your digital personal brand.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qqZbU8rc6A]

For our keynote today, we have the always entertaining Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV who discusses building personal branding through social media as well as what it takes to be successful at developing your brand.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhqZ0RU95d4]

Some of my favorite posts (the short list)

• 100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media
• The Marketing Minute: Tim Russert
• Personal Branding Tips – Guylights
• Become the Chief People Officer of a Brand Called YOU
• Develop a Strong Personal Brand Online – Part 1 | Part 2
• Describe Your Personal Brand in One Word

Great Sites to Check Out (again, the short list)

• Personal Branding Blog
• Personal PR
• [chrisbrogan.com]
• The Engaging Brand
• Marketing & Branding

eBook:

• Personal Branding for the Business Professional

Ok folks, that wraps it up for our breakfast seminar on personal branding.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Day 3 of our 5 day Pixelated Conference Series.  I hope you enjoyed and I encourage you to share your thoughts on personal branding in the comments below.

Now it’s time for me to run to a few meetings but while I’m away from my laptop I’d love to hear how you develop your personal brands.

[Disclosure: I am a featured columnist for Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Magazine]

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