Building your online reputation

It is really important to have an online identity because the first thing which a prospective employer or a customer or a business acquaintance is going to do is to perform a Google search for your name. You don’t want to have some of your drunken pictures or bad comments showing up when your name is searched for. We should always remember that everything we do online is getting documented in some way or the other and also the information is available openly for everyone to see. There are some simple steps which will help to boost your personal reputation in the internet world.

Image Credit: Geek and Poke

1. Create your blog or homepage
It is always good to have a personal blog or a homepage where people can find information about you. Getting a domain name with your first and/or last name in it is really a good practice and it will feed some nice value to the search engines. Having relevant keywords in the domain name is one of the common strategies which search engine optimizers follow. In most cases it might not be possible to get a domain name which is same as your name. In such cases try alternative domain extensions or domain hacking. If you are blogging under a brand name make sure that your full name is prominently visible in the about section and in all other places possible (Eg: Posted by John Kramer). If you are a student, putting up your resume and contact information on the homepage is a good practice.

2. Social media profiles
Creating profiles on the prominent social networks will definitely boost your online presence. One important thing to keep in mind while creating profiles in social media sites like Twitter, Delicious, Digg etc is to have a consistent user name. Like in the previous case, it is good to have your first name/last name combination as your user name rather than having something like zombieking or techieboy. Just creating the profile and leaving it deserted is of no use. There are many cases where people have found their prospective employers via social media channels and it is always good to be participative. Creating a professional profile on LinkedIn and furnishing the right details will be of good help to explore a lot of opportunities and get new professional contacts.

3. Think before your post
Every status update which you post on Twitter or every comment which you write on your friend’s face book wall is getting archived. It is always good to think for a second before your post. Swearing is one thing which most of us are good at but keeping it off the online world is a big ‘to-do’ if you are looking to have a positive reputation. Bitching about your current or past employer is a big no and so is foul mouthing about products or services in public space. Being careful and choosy about your online contacts is a plus and it is also good to look before you follow.

4. No drunken pictures
A recent study by Careerbuilder.com revealed that 45% of employers looked at social profiles of the candidates whom they were looking to hire. Drunken photos, reference to drug usage, swearing are some of the reasons why candidates were denied. The good lesson which we can learn from this study is to keep our Facebook profile clean and untag all the drunken pictures posted by friends.

5.Track,Track,Track
Track who is talking about you. Some of the methods to do this are to check your @replies on twitter and set up Google alerts for your name. Although this is more important for brands, it works out well for individuals too.

6. Google Yourself
Google yourself or Ego surf and see if things look fine when your name is searched for. Although nothing much can be done for the existing results, doing the steps listed above in the right way may change the results in your favor over a period of time.