What To Do To Protect Your Online Reputation

When managing your online reputation, you might wonder what to do if you search Google for your name or company and find that a negative item appears about you on page one. Can you have such things removed?

You can't make a negative Google result vanish, but you can help push it farther down the rankings by sending out a steady stream of new content that shows you or your company in a positive light. Here are ten things you can do to quickly get quality content out there:

1. Create a website. That might seem obvious, but many people don't have their own domain name and website. You can nab the top spot in the search engines for your name or company name just by having a website.

2. Create a blog. The search engines love blogs because they are updated frequently. Even if you leave the blog untended for a while it will still tend to rank well. Target certain names or phrases in your blog titles and the first sentence of the posts. You'll be on page one of Google before you know it.

3. Create pages and sub domains. The search engines view these as separate from your main site, so it's a way to brand yourself more and send out yet more content on the search engines. An example of a subdomain would be "products.yourdomain." Having lots of pages and subdomains out there helps crowd out any negative information that might be on the Internet about your company. This way you remain in charge of the conversations and your reputation.

4. Use Social Media. Use your business or personal name and create profiles in the social media (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Even if you don't want to use these tools, it is wise to at least reserve your name so that others don't create profiles using your identity, potentially damaging your online reputation.

5. Create a social network of your own. Ning is an excellent free social networking software that you can use for your own community (the free version comes with ads). Or you can pay $5/month and host it on your own domain.

6. Create a LinkedIn profile. This is especially important if you are a professional and are looking for employment. It's also a way for colleagues to find your contact info and a way to meet new clients.

7. Use Flickr. Flickr is a photo sharing site which you might not think of in connection with reputation management, but if you upload photos with your name or company name, they will rank well in the search engines. Include comments on the photos too. Be strategic when choosing your Flickr ID name, because that shows up well in searches.

8. Create a Naymz profile. You can link to all your other profiles from this one site and is a one-stop site for your brand.

9. Create your own Wiki. Rather than create a page for you or your company on Wikipedia (where you don't have total control), create your own wiki instead and build a profile there. Make one for your name or company name. You control who contributes to it.

10. Use Google Pages. Google loves these pages, of course. It's yet another place for you to post content that will rank well, and using these Google Pages is especially important if there is negative content about you on page one that you want to push out.

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