Checking Your Online Identity
The first time you come into contact with someone online you will probably not feel confident enough to buy from them – and that's understandable, there are a lot of villains out there LOL! It's obvious what you do – so that's not what this post is about!
Yes, of course, you Google them and check out the first few links that come up about them. From these few links you'll probably form an idea as to whether this is someone you trust enough to do business with. And someone who is an expert in their field.
Now imagine that someone is deciding whether YOU are reliable enough to do business with. They'll obviously do the same.
So what are they going to see? (Go ahead and try it!) Is it what you want them to see? If not – change it.
In my case, at the time of writing, my LinkedIn profile came up top of the list, so I made sure that it reflected the things I wanted it to show. Not falsifying it, just removing out-dated information and slanting it in the right direction for my current projects. Making that first impression a good one.
It was quite a surprise to see what was still ranking well. There were directory entries I'd created years ago and never taken any further. Once I saw they were still ranking on page 1 of Google it was fairly easy to login and update them.
Rather depressingly on Facebook there was a Joy Healey on page 1 of Google who isn't me! I wouldn't mind if she had an active page, but she doesn't have. I guess as my Facebook business page gets “older” it may rise above the inactive one, but in the meantime there's not a lot I can do. If anyone has a solution to this, please add it as a comment.
It was also interesting what did NOT come up. At one time my article directory entries were much more prominent than now. Currently the bias is in favour of the social networking sites.
Check yourself out now, and see yourself as any prospective contact will see you.
