Managing Your Online Reputation

Managing your online reputation can be simply defined as showing your results on the first page from the search engines especially Google. It goes well beyond SEO to include aspects such as high PR, blogging, copy–writing, social media etc. Now if you are wondering how you can make yourself visible on the search engines and manage your online reputation then listed below are some tips to help you out.

1. Search yourself to justify yourself

For your online reputation, Google is the main role player that determines your status online. So, do a Google search and Google Image Search on your name and also set up a Google alert on your name so that you can keep track of any new content.Notification emails will be sent to you through this Google alert. This way you can ascertain you ranking position and also know what action is required to further increase your ranking.

2. Buy your own domain name

Use your own domain name to introduce content that will live on your site. A domain can be easily registered from a site like www.GoDaddy.com where costs start from $12.00 a year depending upon your needs. Despite choosing or buying various domain names, it’s better to stick to one domain and maximise your efforts. It’s a forum to introduce yourself including a CV for better a understanding of who and what your represent and gaining trust and integrity of your audiences. You can also post interesting articles and inspirational posts.

3. Make you content go viral

There are various sites where you can post your content and promote your site using your own domain name. Sites such as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr etc. are convenient to use since it offers well designed templates without the need of engaging costly designers. So, post your content where possible on sites where it has the potential of going viral resulting in increased visibility.

4. Get connected to all social networks

Show your presence in all social media applications. Take your time to complete your profile in detail. Major networking sites include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube. Besides these, also make your profile on Tumblr, Squidoo, Technorati, Pinterest etc. Post at least on a monthly basis to keep your site refreshed and to make it more interesting. Social Networks are the best platforms to increase your popularity by sharing and interacting amongst your friends and customers.

5. Optimize your presence on social sites

While using the social sites such as Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn, customize the URL where you can use your own name. For example you can use something like this: http://www.linkedin.com/in/visnetwork or http://twitter.com/visnetwork or https://www.facebook.com/visnetwork. Next, for a stronger presence, link your website to available Social Medias.
6. Keep your private things private

Customize your use on social media. Since you are managing your online reputation, do not post any shameful things which you will later regret. Do use the privacy settings on all content that you share.
However, be mindful that Facebook and other sites are constantly changing their rules regarding the protection of your content, as friends can forward embarrassing pictures of you without your consent. This is a very valid reason why you should have strict privacy settings or even have two accounts, one for your professional accomplishments and the other for your intimate circles, and then apply the most private settings you can find.

Tools for Tracking Your Online Reputation

For tracking your web results, set up alerts and feeds of your name or company. This will notify you before a problem escalates or enters the top search results. There are hundreds of tools that can help you manage your online reputation. Here are some of the most comprehensive and user-friendly tools available:

• Google Alerts
Set up for free Google Alerts to track Web results, news, blogs, video and groups. Subscribe via email or through a feed.

• Yahoo Alerts
Set up for free Yahoo Alerts to track news by keywords, stocks, local news, feeds and more. You will receive notifications via email, Yahoo Messenger or mobile.

• Feed Reader
Set up a feed reader to help you view custom feeds and tracking for your keyword phrases.

• Twitter Search
Twitter Search, as the name suggests, makes it simple to search any Twitters by a particular keyword phrase. You can also make an advanced search that allows you to search by location, sentiment, dates, links, or a particular person and more. You can subscribe to these feeds for your search results.

• Technorati
Make searches on Technorati to find any reference made to your blogs or specific keywords across other blogs. You can subscribe to the search results feed and get notified of any new mentions.

• Social Mention
Social Mention is similar to Google Alerts, but it is specifically built for social media. Google Alerts can be bug proned but Social Mention helps to catch immediate conversations around a specific keyword. You can subscribe to the feed, get email alerts or download the Excel file.

• Q&A Tracking
Through Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers, if anyone is asking questions about you, your company or a particular keyword, you can track them. You can also make an advanced search for a particular keyword and then subscribe to the RSS feed at the bottom of the page which allows you to keep the track of any future posts.

So the key way to manage your online reputation is to create your own domain, establish a clear, presence on multiple social networking sites, be active by posting to each of them at least monthly and keep monitoring the web through using the above mentioned tools.

If you are wanting next level of success in your business, just feel free to Contact VIS at 08-8338-3846 . We are just a call away from you.