The commercial world now has drones delivering your packages to your door. It is because of technological advancements like this that I am shocked when I attempt to look up a person or company online and find no trace of them other than their name as part of the digital White and Yellow Pages. Researching and buying products and services online is the present and the future, and even for those whom still shop in-store
I am currently in the process of hiring a property management firm for my home and I automatically checked a company off the list when I could not find a profile for them online anywhere. How am I supposed to know I can trust you to take care of my home when there are zero online reviews? What if I need to contact someone, but don't have time to talk on the phone? Is there an e-mail I can use? If you don't have an online presence, I doubt you would respond to my e-mail in a timely fashion. They lost a customer. Meanwhile, a second company I talked to had a great website and many online reviews on Yelp and Google. Not to mention, the salesperson I talked to on the phone actually went and found me on LinkedIn a few days after our phone call and established a second connection! Fast forward a month or so of researching firms and I called this company back again and set up a meeting for them to see my home. Pending the meeting goes well this company gained a customer because of their awesome online presence.
An online presence in this modern world is essential. It is essential for businesses and for individuals. Have you applied to a job in the recent years? I'll bet you looked the company up online before applying. Guess what? That company is going to look you up online as well. If you have a LinkedIn profile, chances are that company will be more interested in you than in another applicant who does not. Taking the time to make a LinkedIn profile shows you are serious about being a professional; however, worse than not having a LinkedIn profile is having one, but it being bare boned. We all know those profiles. Someone heard that LinkedIn was important so they attempted to make a profile and only got as far as typing in their name and city. Put up a nice photo of yourself and let the working world know your skills.
Even if you are not job hunting right now, I'm sure someone will look you up for something in the future. Do you think you will ever want to sell anything online? A car maybe? Someone considering giving their hard-earned money over to you for a particular good will first search for you online to make sure you seem trustworthy and won't rip them off. If there is nothing available online about you, that will seem suspicious to them. Is John Doe your real name? It can't be if it doesn't exist online. Now, it may sound like I'm making the world out to be a very mistrusting place, but honestly it's more so that there are so many opportunities to gain more information about people and companies via the Internet that we have become spoiled by it. As soon as we hear about something, we have the luxury to go to the Internet to immediately learn more.
I'm a Millennial so I grew up using the Internet. I don't buy anything until I look it up online first. Are you the same way?
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