What Do People See When They Google Your Name?

As a small business owner it is essential that people trust you online – if you ever plan to actually sell online. People buy from people they trust ~ any “negative press” can kill the deal ~ even if the press is not actually about you, but about someone else with your name! It is hard to tell when researching online if you are reading something about the right person, or is it one of the many people that have the same name?  Have you ever researched someone and read something bad about that person just to find out that it was the wrong person ~ with the same name? Something like that can absolutely kill the sell if it happens when someone is researching YOU!

The goal is to get anything bad associated with your name to be somewhere beyond the 2nd or 3rd page of the search results.  Everything on the first 2 or 3 pages of the search results needs to be positive, items you have published, and positive feedback from customers.  Here are some strategies that can be used to “bury” anything submitted by other people.  This is just a partial list ~ there are many more.

Strategies That Work ~ Control Your Internet Reputation

Let me share what I have done to dominate the search engines for my name ~ feel free to use these tactics to help with your name as well.

• Get a BizNik account ~ BizNik is a highly optimized and trusted site. BizNik profiles get ranked in Google ~ my BizNik profile is the first listing for my name. BizNik is only for traditional businesses – if you are in network marketing do not do this strategy.
• Get a Facebook account and have your profile URL be your name ~ mine is facebook.com/dotty.scott
• Get a Facebook Business Page ~ Your business reputation is just as important!
• Make a video and get a YouTube account in your name.  Be sure the description of the video includes your name. These can be educational videos, video testimonials, or something entertaining. YouTube ranks well in Google (it is owned by Google).
• Be a guest blogger for someone else’s blog, and sign your name that links to your blog/website.
• Have a Blog at PDXChat and other platforms on the Internet
• Create a LinkedIn profile and fill it out completely.
• Fill out your Google Profile completely so that it will be displayed on Google when someone searches for your name.
• Get a Google Local Business account
• If you provide trainings, seminars, or any online event have it posted Online at several different sites.
• Set up profiles at places like Naymz.com, fastpitch.com, Ning.com sites, Plaxo.com and any other social media site.
• Put your videos out on other video sharing sites like yahoo, vidler, howcast ect. I use TubeMogul.com to upload videos to more than one video site simultaneously.
• Create testimonials for other people (services or products you have used) with websites, and link your name to your website.
• Make sure your name in on your website as text, not in an image.
• Post articles at article repositories like amazines.com, ezine.com, and others.
• Twitter reTweets with your name in them will get ranked in the search engines.
• Get a written interview posted online – this can be a transcript of an audio ~ my example: http://renegadeproactive.com/
• Your videos and other content can be picked up by other blogs – very common for video interviews.
• Comment at different places and be sure to include your name.
• Forum posts can get ranked by search engines.

Do a search of your name ~ I dare you!  If there is anything that shows up then get to work.  There is nothing that can’t be fixed with a focused effort on your part!