While having a personal life is very important we must also stay professional online through how we portray ourselves whether that be in our business or social media accounts. There are no specific rules you must follow to be professional but there are definitely tips to help guide you. Why be professional? There are many reasons. You never know who is looking at your content or postings. Your online posts follow you forever and never actually go away.

You can choose to stay personal and professional online at the same time. If you do your marketing right for a business then you can still be personable while presenting professional. This helps a business honestly and helps customers feel more comfortable with a business. Even if this is just your own personal online accounts then acting in the same way can benefit you in the long run.

It is well known that Facebook and other social media accounts are being used in unprofessional ways. Whether that be gossiping, posting rude comments or too much of your personal life. All of these things have an effect of how professional you look. If you end up needing a job someday and employers come to your account and see inappropriate photos or content then there is a good chance this will effect you negatively.

https://money.howstuffworks.com/10-tips-for-maintaining-professional-image-online.htm

https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-to-separate-the-personal-and-professional-on-social-media

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.