You may not realize it but everything you put out on to the social web, your tweets, your updates, your photos and videos and links and comments all coalesce to create a greater digital persona that is YOU or at least the part of YOU that you have chosen to project out to the online world. For some people this is a well managed persona, carefully privatized and parceled out only to close members of their trusted inner circle; for others it is more haphazard, with content and media spewed out in a devil-may-care attitude without second thought for privacy settings, social filtration or real-world repercussion (remember that guy that faked a sick day and then boasted about it on his Facebook newsfeed, only to be caught by his employer?).

If you’re a business owner, you have to strike a balance between these two extremes. On the one hand you want to be careful about what you’re publicizing online as everything can have a potentially positive or negative impact on your business. On the other hand, today’s online consumer expects you to be forthcoming and transparent with your information as a sign of credibility and so you must have an easily searchable and consistent online persona.

So what’s a business owner to do? Here are 4 tips to help you groom the most professional online YOU:

1. Create A Global Avatar:

Nearly every social network requires that you upload a profile photo to your account. Putting a face to the name creates trust and says you’re a real person and not a fly-by-night huckster. Now you could just use that snap shot of you doing that awesome keg stand from back when you were in college… but you’re a business owner remember? Everything (yes everything!) you put out there reflects on your business so choose a photo that conveys the personality and professionalism of your company. If you’re really serious about this, hire a portrait photographer who can really capture you in your best light. Once you’ve got your perfect photo, sync it across all your various social media accounts, particularly Google+ (more on that later). Finally create an account with Gravatar, a web service that creates a globally recognized avatar (photo) that follows you from site to site, appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog.  This will help identify your posts on blogs and web forums and give credibility to the content you’re posting.

2. Unify Your Bios

Spend some time crafting the perfect, universal bio. It doesn’t have to be long, maybe just a paragraph but it should describe your education, interests, and what led you to your field of expertise or the creation of your business and don’t be afraid to boast a little, you’re selling your business in your bio as much as you’re selling yourself. Upload this bio to all of your public social media accounts and take particular care with Google+ the newest of the social networks and perhaps one of the most relevant for business owners as your Google+ profile will usually be the very first hit that comes up if someone Google’s your name, which brings us to our next tip:

3. Google Yourself!

As the great rhapsodic philosopher ‘Ice Cube’ once said, “Check yo self before you wreck yo self.” Or in other words know what’s out there about you so that you can catch anything out of date, or erroneous. We’re getting to that stage where social media is beginning to build up strata; old accounts on old networks, perhaps created years ago and since abandoned but still very easily discoverable by potential customers or business contacts have the potential to paint a very inaccurate portrait of who you are today. So conduct a Google search of your name or business on a routine (i.e. weekly) basis to see what comes up. Since Google now includes social media results within it’s regular search results, you will get an instant snapshot of everything you’ve put up online as well as everything people are saying about you. Hopefully you will catch anything inconsistent or out of date before it becomes embarrassing.

4. Share the Story of Your Business

Last but not least, adopt the mantra that everything you share should progress the story of your business. Every business has a story or some might say a “personality” that changes and evolves as it grows yet always retains a few core elements- Apple is known for it’s unique design philosophy, Nike upholds the resilience of athletic determination. What you share, be it comments, photos, videos or links should in some way extend the brand identity of your business even if you’re not directly promoting your product or service. If you own a landscaping company, then share photos and videos of your favorite local gardens. If you own an art gallery, post your thoughts and insights about your favorite painters. Creating a well groomed online persona is about sharing the best of who you are, and if you’re a business owner that should extend easily into who you are as an entrepreneur.