You work hard to get to the first page results of search engines like Google, but what happens
when what shows up there isn’t what you wanted? What if there was a listing of a negative
review that makes your image look less than squeaky clean? Although no one is perfect, the
way you handle yourself in times of adversity is important. Before the negative begins to
outweigh the bad, online reputation management should be performed.
There are many SEO companies that offer online reputation management services, which can
help professionals like you maintain or cleanup their image. To help prevent the need of a
“cleanup”, it’s vital that you do all you can to build and manage a professional image. Here are
six ways you can do just that:
1. Google yourself. Find out what is being said about you and your products or services,
so that you can address concerns or complaints quickly. This act of good faith will
resonate in the online community and show that you care. To make things easier, you
can also set up Google alerts for your business name so that you are notified right
away when a post is made.
2. Your name can be a domain, so purchase it! Sites like GoDaddy can be used to buy
your domain name for cheap. If your name is Sally Sue, then your Web site name
would be sallysue.com. Some even go as far as to purchase different variations, like
sallysue.org, sallysue.net and so on. You can then post up your bio, blog posts or
portfolio.
3. Place all of your online content on one Web site. If you have a WordPress or Tumblr,
attach your domain name to it and use that. Make sure it has a professionally designed
template or custom design.
4. Get active in social media. Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn – these are all great
places to establish an audience and a professional image. This also gives you quick
access for online reputation management, allowing you to quickly post answers to
concerns and address complaints as they occur.
5. Optimize your social media accounts. On LinkedIn, you can edit your URL to have your
full name. You can also link your social media accounts on sites like Google+, so take
advantage of this.
6. Take your privacy seriously. Surely, you know not to post unprofessional photos of
yourself online, but you can’t control what others post. If you were in a club, dancing on
top of a bar, anyone around could snap a photo and post it on the Web. Aside from
keeping a professional demeanor in public, you should go through your privacy
settings on Facebook and other accounts to ensure that personal accounts are only
shared with close friends and family.
But when all else fails, online reputation management can be used to control the fallout!
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