Managing Your Internet Presence
(Highlights from my Feb class. Want more? Please register or schedule me with your group or organization!)
Januray 2009
What Is Internet Presence?
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Your Online Reputation
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What People See When They Google You
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Consists of anything that appears in a results page of a search
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Your Responsibility!
Why Does It Matter?
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You are being Googled before meetings by referral sources and potential clients
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Your worth to your company and to the marketplace is always being evaluated
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It’s what makes you different, special, interesting, competent, fun, friendly, successful, altruistic and philanthropic that improves your professional reputation
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You can be the driver of your reputation or the passive recipient-which do you choose?
Online Places To Be Present:
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Company Website
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Paid directories
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Organization or Networking Group Sites
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Published articles or press releases
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Quotes in published articles
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LinkedIn.com
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Your own blog or podcast
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Comments or quotes on other people’s blogs or podcasts
Website
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May be the anchor of your internet presence if you have any control over it
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May detract from your internet presence or perception
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You need to know where you are and strategize accordingly
YourName.com
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Domains cost about $15 per year to rent
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It’s a kind of insurance
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If it’s available — Reserve IT!
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Got Kids? Reserve their domains too
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Either leave it blank or forward it to another domain until you are ready to use it
LinkedIn.com
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Simple: An online “black book” of who you know
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Complex: An incredible tool for getting known and knowing others
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Upload your contacts - invite them to join your network
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Ranks very well in search engine results-even for a fairly common name
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Works best if you invite and recommend only those people who you actually know and have worked with
Facebook & MySpace
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Facebook is more professional
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Depends on your line of business-MySpace is good for younger clients and entertainment
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Can take an enormous amount of time to maintain well
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May be of value — proceed with caution
Blogs, Podcasts & Twitter
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These can be useful tools if you have the time and enjoy them
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They can be detrimental if you don’t
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Even if you don’t have your own — leave intelligent comments on others with links to your website or LinkedIn Profile
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Start a free blog or podcast on something non inflammatory and low key to learn the basics
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Decide how to proceed from there
Professional Listing Sites
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These are sites that rank well and that you pay to be listed on
Enter search terms that your clients or referral sources use and see which sites are on top
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If you try one or are already using one:
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Take advantage of the tracking that is available to see how many hits or calls you are getting
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Keep ownership of your site separate so that you maintain control
Professional Organizations & Community Groups
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Make sure that your name and web locations (sites, blogs, profiles etc...) are accurately listed on their websites
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Link to their sites from yours
Attend the Feb Seminar or schedule you own and learn..
- The Top 3 Free Online Tools To Manage Your Internet Presence!
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How to have the first page of search engine results be mostly populated with items that you want
- How to prioritize your online time
-The down and dirty on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace
-To blog or not to blog
-Strategies that you can use if you have a common name
-How Amazon.com can boost your reputation (or ruin it!)
-How to "bury" bad or unwanted press so far down in the results that most people will not see it
-How to manage your online life so that you have control over what people learn about you
-What types of online activity will help your business and what will hurt
Brochure
(.PDF Format)
Register
(You can attend in person or via webcast)
Please send me your questions and comments.
You are welcome to use this article on your website, blog, or in your newsletter as long as you include this complete credit line: Copyright 2008 * Cordelia Blake Web Design. Cordelia Blake is the owner of Cordelia Blake Web Design, a web development company in Atlanta, GA. She creates and maintains websites, blogs and eletters. Visit http://www.CordeliaBlake.com to receive Cordelia's Tech Tips delivered to your inbox.
