12 Mar Paul Sutton the Psycho: Why You Should Monitor Your Own Online Reputation
With search algorithms advancing almost weekly and real-time search providing instant online updates, marketers are at least starting to understand the impact that their activities can have on both their clients and their own online reputations. Failure to manage this process can be pretty catastrophic, as this case study about a recruitment agency I blogged about proves. But are you monitoring your personal reputation online? You should, as I found out this week.
If you have a Facebook profile or a Twitter account, if you network via LinkedIn or if you write or contribute to blogs, then you’re leaving an electronic footprint with every action you take online. Harmless enough, right? Maybe, maybe not. Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective employer or client who does a Google search to try and find out more about you.
When I Google my own name, Google’s autofill function prompts me with the phrase ‘paul sutton fraudster’. Thanks, Google. Moving past that however, if I ignore that I get a site about a Ronan Keating tribute act (I can’t sing, but I’m guessing neither can he…), a former Chief Executive of the South East Coast Ambulance Service (again, not me) and an image of a bodybuilder (alas, not me either, being the skinny rake that I am). So what am I worried about? If I Google the handle that I’ve adopted on t’internet (thepaulsutton) it gives a more accurate impression of my online behaviour.
More than simply Googling myself every now and again, however, I also have Google Alerts set up to (hopefully) let me know if anyone mentions me online. A simple enough tactic, but one that anyone with an interest in their online reputation (which should be ‘everyone’) should have set up. And that’s where the origins of this post come from, as this week I received the following alert in my inbox:
Just for the record, I’m not the stated Paul J. Sutton, I’ve never ‘fought cops’, and I have never been tasered. And if I was, I’m not sure I’d laugh it off. It’s more likely that I’d collapse to the ground in a sobbing, crumpled, dribbling mess. Which wouldn’t really make much of a headline, even I suspect for The Jacksonville Observer.
But what this does highlight is that you never know what might appear ‘in your name’ online. Yes, it’s an extreme example and I’d have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who thought my psychotic namesake was actually me. But there are a few simple steps you can take to try and ensure that any potential employer or client can easily find you online.
- Try and buy your name as a domain name. And then do something with it (a blog will do) and get it SEO’d! What you’re trying to do is to get your own website listed top of Google for a search on your name
- Make sure you are listed on social networking sites and use your own name wherever possible
- Register your blog with several blog directories
- Read other’s blog and make intelligent comments, entering your real name
And to Paul J. Sutton of Rochester, USA: leave it out mate, you’re giving me a bad rap!
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