Manage Your Online Reputation
Posted in Professional, Technology on 17. Oct, 2009
There once was a time when the best approach for managing your online reputation was to make sure that people couldn’t find you at all. These days, that’s all but impossible.
So like it or not, your personal information is probably out there and available for anyone to find. The problem now isn’t making things go away (if something’s out there, someone with enough time and dedication can probably uncover it). The objective today should be to ensure that the things that DO appear are exactly what you want someone to find.
Granted, one part of this might actually include asking people to take down content painting you in an unfavorable light. The most critical aspect isn’t data elimination, however: it’s proactively publishing content consistent with the image you want to project. The Official Google Blog explains:
For example, if someone posts a negative review of your business on a restaurant review or consumer complaint site, that site might not be willing to remove the review. If you can’t get the content removed from the original site, you probably won’t be able to completely remove it from Google’s search results, either. Instead, you can try to reduce its visibility in the search results by proactively publishing useful, positive information about yourself or your business. If you can get stuff that you want people to see to outperform the stuff you don’t want them to see, you’ll be able to reduce the amount of harm that that negative or embarrassing content can do to your reputation.
Lifehacker has previously discussed the importance of using your own web domain as an online business card, and this is one of the most important aspects of proactive content posting. Even if there isn’t anything embarrassing out there, not having any negatives isn’t the same thing as having a good reputation—it’s just having no reputation at all. A domain name is a great first step towards building the online reputation you want, and it’s easier than you might think.
Bottom line: You can’t control what others say about you (at times it’s hard enough to even control what YOU say about you!), and if you’re doing anything that matters not everyone is going to have a favorable opinion. So rather than worry about what’s out there, project yourself in a positive manner and let others say what they might. The easiest way to deflect attention from a flawed painting isn’t to scrape paint off a canvas—it’s to create more paintings.
At the end of the day, you—and only you—are responsible for your personal brand. Make sure it’s a good one.
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