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Internet image: Tips to maintain your virtual profile and resume
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Learn to maintain your virtual image
Are you a parent of a teen starting their college applications? Are you out of work, sending out your resume? Are you a small business owner and find your business is suffering? Are you a professional that depends on your good reputation?
If you have answered yes to any of the questions above, my new book is exactly what you need. Maintaining your online image today is as critical as having a good resume, outstanding application and keeping your offline personality similar to your virtual one.
I nearly lost my organization (Parents Universal Resource Experts), my reputation online was smeared, as well as the invasion on my private life was going viral while I slept. No, not literally slept, however I was not aware of what was slowing turning into what is considered a Google bomb.
One unhappy client, one disgruntled customer or a person that didn’t get the information they wanted, can take a few vicious keystrokes with a click of the mouse and turn your flourishing life into ruins. Your BFF today can turn into your foe tomorrow, or the soul mate you married is now your adversary. The latest source of revenge, is e-venge.
In my recent book Google Bomb, co-authored by prominent Internet attorney, John W. Dozier Jr., you will not only read about my unfortunate experiences, you will receive practical guidance to help you be proactive in protecting your cyber image. You will learn from my experiences and gain knowledge to build yourself an online profile you can be proud of.
Here are some quick tips to start. Remember, the Internet is today’s information highway and your name has a road sign.
1. Sign up for free services and post your resume or other information that pertains to your services, business, profession etc. Some of these services are Naymz.com, LookUpPages.com, Ziggs.com, LinkedIn.com.
2. For teenagers that will be applying for colleges, keep in mind, what you post today can haunt you tomorrow. More and more college admissions are using search engines to research their potential candidates. Take the time to secure your social networking sites and other places you surf. What does this mean? Keep it clean. Don't post anything you wouldn't want to show your parents or your grandparents!
3. Be sure to own your own name. Sign up for free services on Blogs with your name as the URL. Blogger.com and WordPress.com are two that are most frequently used. Try to keep them updated as time permits, however owning them is most important.
4. Set up your Google Alerts. You want to know when your name it being used online. This is another free service that will take you minutes to set up and keep you informed when your name is posted on the Internet. Twilert.com is used for Twitter Alerts. This is another free service to be alerted if people are using your name on Twitter.
5. Buy your domain name. This can be minimum in costs and the return will be priceless. Purchasing your name through GoDaddy or another source, can cost you about $9.99 a year (ie: www.suescheff.com). Building a small website can also be cost effective. GoDaddy offers services to assist you. You may even know someone that can build this for you. Most kids today are very proficient with their technology skills.
Do you feel you don’t have time to sit in front of your computer and build your online image? You may want to consider hiring a reputation management online service. My personal experience is with ReputationDefender. Today there is a large number of them to choose from as the Internet has become our lifeline to information.
Whether you hire a service or do it yourself, the last thing you want to do is ignore your cyber image!
Back to where we started, you do want to get into your college of choice, you want to land your dream job and you want to keep your online profile up to date. Take the steps to make that happen.
For more fantastic and educational information to protect you and your family online, read Google Bomb today. It is priceless!
For more information: Dr. Michele Borba Review, Defamation Law Blog, Foreword by CEO and founder of ReputationDefender, Michael Fertik, Google Bomb book Press Room.
Click here to learn more about this author.
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