Basic Tips for Personal Online Reputation Management

Basic Tips for Personal Online Reputation Management

When diving into the online world for the first time it's important to take note that, with the advancements of Search Engines, almost all of your public information can be found fairly easily.  That's why I am going to give you some general tips on good practices for managing your personal online reputation.

(I will probably cover some tips for small business online reputation management and how it differs on a future post.)

1. Step onto the field only if you're going to play

A lot of people make the mistake of getting into social networking online to fall behind on keeping up with friend requests, making regular posts, and staying active.  It's important to remember that a stagnant social profile will beget a stagnant reputation, therefore making it harder to stay in the minds of customers, clients, and fellow employees if you're trying to climb that corporate ladder.  The same can be said about maintaining a blog, remember to remain consistently active.

2. Keep your following engaged

This tip plays off of the previous. If you want to keep clients active and faithful purchasers, or if you want to remain simply remembered within a specific social networking circle, it's important to engage your followers so that they participate in your online "relationship".

If you can simply engage your following in a tiny way consistently, your reputation will remain consistently in their minds. This is great especially if you're looking to get future referrals or you are looking for a new position.

3. Stick to your comfort zone

This one often goes without saying but I want to include it just to stress some points. Obviously if you are managing a personal profile, keep your information private if it is not something that you want current or future employers to see.  Stick to your comfort zone, if you don't want the world to know your personal life, make sure you keep them out of it.  Often times many employers will now google a prospective employee's name before making a final decision or even before calling you back for an interview, so it is important to make sure that you don't have anything controversial out there with your name on it. It just doesn't turn out smoothly otherwise.

4. Network, Network, Network

Looking for a job? LinkedIn can really help you out. Trying to catch up with old friends? Facebook is probably the place for you.

It's important to join the Network that suits your goals. I often find myself recommending LinkedIn for almost everything business oriented. It is definitely a valuable asset to any individuals personal portfolio. From gaining recommendations from past colleagues and current clients, to networking with like minded individuals in your industry, it's a great way to promote yourself and to manage an online reputation. 

In a future post we'll cover how to go through your LinkedIn Profile and go through an example Profile of our own Max Parker here at the office.  Look forward to our new Webucation section that will be released shortly this summer as we plan on gathering and creating resources to help educate our clients and other members of the industry.

Jordan Ryan is the Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing Specialist at Dogs of Design Studios. You can find his personal profile on LinkedIn here as well as the Dogs Of Design Studio Company Profile on LinkedIn here. Follow him on Twitter @jordan_ryan.