By: Nicole Pulley

The cherry blossom trees blooming around the Tidal Basin are a clear sign that spring has hit the Beltway, and what better way to welcome warm weather and sunny skies than with a little cleaning. E-cleaning, that is.

What do I mean by e-cleaning? Well, just as you take time this season to tackle cluttered closets and give walls a new coat of paint, spring is also a great time to set aside time to refresh your online presence.

To start, take a moment to think about the last time you updated your LinkedIn profile picture, checked in to a location, or wrote a post for your blog. Come to think of it, are you having trouble remembering your passwords to all the accounts you’ve created over the years? If so, perhaps it’s time to put some spring into your step and do some e-cleaning….and we’re here to help.

Just like you clean your home room by room, we’ve put together the following e-cleaning checklist for tackling many of the pieces that make up your personal e-presence.

Pictures

Many social media sites provide users with a space for uploading a profile picture, and in some cases, even a background photo. Be sure to upload a recent photo of yourself that reflects the industry you are in. Norine Dagliano from Careerism recommends wearing your most complementary color and choosing a photo with a background that isn’t distracting. After all, the most important part of personal branding is, well, the person!

Accounts

Make a list of all the accounts you have created on different social media sites over the years and ask yourself questions about them. When was the last time you logged in to that account and posted something? Or the last time you updated the content? How about those daily subscription emails that go unopened? After you’ve made a list of your accounts figure out which are worth keeping, and if you haven’t logged in within the past 6 months, consider deleting them. Once you’ve made a list of accounts to delete, check out this article by Eric Griffith on deleting accounts from any website.

Privacy

Now that you’ve successfully logged into your blog account on the third try, head over to the settings or My Account tab to look at the privacy settings and other account preferences for that platform. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, privacy policies can change after a user creates an account and that they may not cover third-party applications that interact with that site. If you don’t feel safe using that website or social medium, delete your account.

And while we’re on the topic of privacy: see that sticky note with the list of passwords stuck to your monitor? You’re better off memorizing them, or storing them in a location with less eyeball traffic. 

Content

One of the most important parts of e-cleaning is updating the content on your social media sites and accounts so that it reflects accurate, up-to-date information. Have you recently switched jobs? Has the topic of your blog changed? Be sure to read through the text on your profile accounts and replace outdated pieces with relevant information. Don Campbell from Expand2Web recommends you update the content on your blog and other websites as often as possible. Not only will this keep your visitors happy with new information but will improve the listing of your page in search engine results.

So after the basement boxes and garage shelves have been taken care of, refresh your online presence with a little e-cleaning. It will give everything a fresh and clean look, just like spring!