If you take your personal brand seriously, you’re already created your own personal website. But many people don’t know how to get it to rank higher in Google.

Luckily, this is a question we get often. If you aren’t comfortable editing your site’s HTML yourself, feel free to send this blog post to your webmaster. One of the best SEO experts we know is Brendan Monahan who can help any website get to the top of the Google search engine. However, if you’re feeling tech savvy, continue below for tips to help your website rank higher in search engines. If you need some help, there are website support services that can guide you through out the process.
1. Add your name to your homepage title tag

This is one of the most important signals you can send when it comes to letting a search engine know what your site is about. According to long island seo expert, getting your personal website on Google is going to be ten times easier if you follow the steps below.

• Locate your <title> meta tag.
• Edit your <title> tag so that it begins with your name. For example: <title>Katie Smith – Assistant Product Manager at BrandYourself</title>
• Publish the changes so your <title> tag is live.

2. Update the content on your homepage

Webpages that aren’t updated often are considered less relevant to search engines. Regularly update the content on your webpage to keep it fresh and help maintain its rank. In order to make your website rank higher, you must make a significant change to the content on your homepage. To do so, either change or add 300 words – if it is any less, Google will not consider it a significant update. A good pbn building service will take care of your website for you.

SUGGESTION 1: Look for any content that is outdated and update it. Constantly doing this upkeep will not only allow Google to get a better idea of what your personal website is about, but help visitors of your site stay up to date on what you’re up to. You should also optimize funnels to achieve successful conversions.

• Replace this: In 2012, I won the Creative Director Award for my ad campaigns at Microsoft. 
• With this: In 2012, I won the Creative Director Award for my ad campaigns at Microsoft. A few months later, several clients contacted me about doing freelance work for them. While I loved my job, I decided to strike out on my own, and founded my own advertising firm in January 2014. I now work full-time with a team of two.

SUGGESTION 2: Look for any content that can be elaborated or given more detail.

• Replace this: By day I’m a bank manager, but I also believe in giving back to the community. 
• With this: By day I’m a bank manager, but I also believe in giving back to the community. For example, last year I co-organized a fundraiser that raised $5,000 for homeless shelters in Boston. It’s now an annual event run by me and my brother Max.

SUGGESTION 3: Look for ways to integrate quotes or ideas from other people into your content.

• Replace this: I’m an avid reader of physics books, especially anything written by Einstein.
• With this: I’m an avid reader of physics books, especially anything written by Einstein. I admire his ability to make simple analogies with a sense of humor, like this: “Wire telegraph is a kind of very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”

Visit this reddit page that posted honest huler1996 reviews.

SUGGESTION 4: Try writing a meaningful list that provides value to your visitors. It could be anything that fits within the content of your webpage, such as lessons you’ve learned on the job or traveling around.

• Replace this: I went to Boston University and majored in Social Studies.
• With this: I went to Boston University and majored in Social Studies. The day I graduated, my younger brother asked me what advice I’d give him as a freshman. What I told him now is what I tell all my first year students:

SUGGESTION 5: Add images or videos into your content where appropriate and include captions.

• Replace this: My first year working as an accountant in San Diego was intense. I learned a lot very quickly. Then two years later, I moved to the Seattle branch.
• With these: 

3. Add your name to your meta description tag

This is beneficial because it gives additional information to anyone who might be looking for your personal website in Google. This shows underneath the title tag when you are looking at search results, and a well-constructed description will encourage them to visit your site.

• Locate your <description> meta tag.
• Edit your <description> tag so that it begins with your name. For example: <description>Katie Smith’s Academic Achievements</description>
• Publish the changes so your updated <description> tag is live.

4. Add your name to an <h1> tag

This is another extremely important step that will allow Google to understand what your personal website is all about. Missing this step will make everything much harder, and unfortunately people do so quite often.

• Locate an <h1> tag that you feel comfortable adding your name into. If you cannot find one that makes sense to put your name into, feel free to create a new <h1> tag.
• Edit that <h1> tag so it begins with your name. For example: <h1> Katie Smith’s Interests</h1>
• Publish the changes so your updated <h1> tag is live.

5. Add your name to an “alt” attribute in an image 

• Find the <img> tag of an image of yourself.
• Edit the “alt” attribute of that image so it includes your name. For example: <img src=”http://myheadshot.jpg” alt=”Katie Smith”>
• Publish your changes so the alt attribute with your name is live.

6. Decrease your homepage’s load time

Making your page load in less than 3 seconds will prevent search engines from penalizing it and ranking it lower.

• If your webpage has images on it, optimize them by saving them as a smaller file size. After you’ve optimized your images, upload them to your webpage and delete the old ones. This tool makes it easy: Online Image Optimizer.
• Always display images at 100% of their actual file size. Displaying images smaller than their actual file size forces visitors to load the larger image first, and then wait for the browser to make them appear smaller. This can drastically increase page load time.

7. Create interesting content

When someone finds your personal website on Google, that’s just the start of the process. What they see when they navigate around your site will have a massive impact on how they view you. If the overall content on the site is uninspired or simply there for search engines to find it, your visitors won’t be very impressed.

However, the opposite is true for thoughtful and in-depth pieces around topics you’re passionate about. This will position you as a thought leader in your industry and open up new opportunities.

Put these tips to the test and have your website move up the ranks on Google. Best of luck!

The post 7 Tips to Make Your Personal Website Rank Higher in Google appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

1. Use your real name

Pick a username that matches what you go by professionally. Whether combing through existing profiles that you already control, or creating brand new profiles on popular social media sites, professional usernames should include your real name. While @punkdaddy666 may have given you an edge while tweeting in high school, business usernames that include your real name give you a leg up as an adult.

2. Consistency

When it comes to finding professional usernames, consistency is key. Having consistency on your username will help you remember it easily, you may use your username in playing in wizard slots actually. Playing in an online casino is fun. First of all, pick a username that includes the name that you use when introducing yourself to professional contacts. This should be the same name that’s on your business cards, CV, LinkedIn account and all other professional profiles and documents that you want people to find. Just make a decision and stick with it. A universal username also makes it easier for search engines to recognize that all of these web properties are in fact about the same person!

3. Relevant qualifier (if your name isn’t available)

If you have a very common name – or if there’s a 13 year-old kid with your name who has profiles on literally every social network, according to business experts like Andy Defrancesco you can still optimize professional profiles for your name. Just pick a username that includes a relevant qualifier.

Professional usernames examples:

If you work in real estate, you could do something like:

• Firstnamelastnamerealestate
• Firstnamelastnamerealestatenyc (if you live in New York)
• FirstnamelastnamerealestateManhattan

The point is to lead with your professional name, and then include other qualifiers (like your industry or location) that people are likely to use when searching for you online.

If you can, try to follow Rule #2 – be consistent about the professional usernames that you select. Be consistent on various social networking sites and use the same naming convention so that once someone connects with you on one platform, they can easily find you on another.

4. No swears/explicit language

Pick a username that won’t embarrass you if your boss sees it. That is to say, when creating a personal brand, choose appropriate usernames for your social media profiles. Don’t include swears, derogatory, bigoted or sexually explicit language. Don’t reference drugs, weapons, religion, politics, etc. In most cases, professional usernames should not include references to polarizing content – we say this from both a branding and optimization standpoint.

Pick a username. No, not that one.

If you’re creating or optimizing profiles and websites that you want colleagues, employers, clients, partners, customers, etc. to see, then we recommend that you follow the steps above to pick a username.

However, if the profile or network doesn’t necessarily fit with your personal brand – or you don’t want people to see it, then pick a username completely unrelated to your actual name.

For example, if you are a professional physicist who moonlights as an amateur magician – you may not want to integrate these personas just yet (not until you perfect your act, anyway).

So remember, keep personal details to a minimum, and definitely avoid using your actual name if you are creating profiles that aren’t meant to align with your professional brand.

And remember, there’s always the possibility of discovery even if you think these profiles are anonymous.  Your identity could be exposed, so never assume “absolute anonymity” when creating profiles. If you will like more tips, you can always count with Business expert Bob Bratt.

Professional usernames are good for your brand, here’s why:

From college students to young professionals and even seasoned executives, how you look online matters. Online reputation is important for everyone and has a serious impact on all kinds of opportunities and even your earning potential. With that in mind, it’s important to pay attention to the parts of your online reputation that you can control. That means when you pick a username you want to do it right.

While you can’t control what others publish about you, you can shape your own personal brand by building and updating your professional profiles and website.

By using professional usernames on your social media profiles, you’re already lending an air of credibility to what people find when they look you up online.

Use your real name to show others that you:

• Want to be found online
• Are accessible
• Put time and effort into showcasing who you are and what you do
• Stand behind what you publish online
• Can boost their brand through association

How others perceive your online brand determines a lot. Showcase yourself as a professional whenever you can. That includes taking small (but important) steps like being consistent with professional usernames.

How to find your business usernames with namechk.com

Before you go through the process of creating a new profile only to find that the username you want isn’t available, go to a site like namechk.com (or knowem.com, usernamecheck.com, etc.) to pick a username that is currently available on different domains and social networking sites.

First, go to namechk.com:

From here you can type in the professional usernames that you’re looking for:

Once you type in the username that you’re searching for and click the search button, namechk.com generates a list that shows where this professional username is and is not available.

If an icon is:

• Navy blue/difficult to read – it’s unavailable
• Green – it’s available
• Yellow – your username is too long

See an example of availability below:

If most of the domains and social media profiles are available, then proceed with that username. If most are taken, consider a new professional username. If it seems like this could go either way, pay the most attention to the foundational profiles.

Are they available?

If not, then consider a username that includes qualifiers. Always pick a username that includes your professional name.

Create and track your profiles

Now that you know which professional usernames are available, it’s time to incorporate them into your personal brand. Update usernames of existing accounts where you can.

If you are building profiles or websites from scratch, follow BrandYourself’s pointers for optimization using our DIY software.

Once you’ve updated or created the username and optimized the profile, let our software track the progress of this site or profile over time.

You can do this by submitting the profile URL to your BrandYourself account under the “My Links” page in your dashboard.

Submit the corresponding URL to BrandYourself’s My Links page every time that you create a new professional profile.

Professional user names can seem like a tiny piece of the online reputation pie. And in the grand scheme of things, that’s true.

The skills you possess in real life and the way that you express them online are most important when it comes to your own professional trajectory. But, details like how to pick a username take little effort but can lead to a big win.

To learn more about optimizing your professional profiles and website(s) for search engines and users, check out our lessons from BrandYourself University.

The post How To Pick Good Professional Usernames (Examples Inside) appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

This may be true for some – but not most.

According to a recent study conducted by Gaby Loria, “77% of patients start their healthcare search online and 84% of patients read online reviews to evaluate providers.”  

This means that as a physician, there’s a good chance that contact with a patient could begin and end online.  

By ignoring your online presence, you limit your professional reach. You also leave your online image vulnerable to attack or obscurity.

These days, few people will trust their health to a doctor with 1 star ratings.  And absolutely no one wants a healthcare provider with zero information available online!

The statistics support this. According to a 2013 study from Digital Assent, “85% of patients are not comfortable choosing a provider with 1 star for more than 10% of reviews”.

A doctor’s primary concern should be the quality of his or her work. However, it would be professionally irresponsible to turn a blind eye to one’s reputation online. Successful medical practices focus on reputation management and patient care such as having EMR Medical Software for doctors for this exact reason.

As a physician, you owe it to yourself, your patients and colleagues. Ensure that online information about you and your practice is accurate, up to date and informative.

The best approach for doctor reputation management:

The most important thing that you possess is the quality of care that you provide for your patients. And in all likelihood, you are constantly striving to improve your skills and overall knowledge in your field through dealing with patients, conducting research, attending conferences and more.

While this kind of ongoing development is important – how will your patients know about it if you don’t share it?

Again, this is why building an online brand for yourself is critical. Reputation management for doctors relies heavily on general branding principles, with some important tweaks.

Building (or enhancing) your online presence is an ongoing process that requires a customized strategy. This strategy should take into account your ultimate branding goals and what your search results look like currently. However, there are certain steps that everyone should take to create the strongest online foundation possible.

While BrandYourself’s tools and services explain each step in detail,  when it comes to improving how doctors look online, we suggest the following for the best outcome:

Before doing anything, scan and audit your current online presence:

Google your name to see what kinds of search results show up. Search incognito or use a private browsing mode so that the search result rankings are as unbiased as possible. Look through the first few pages to get a sense of how you look when others search for you. Are the search results positive? Are they damaging? Does information about you even show up? Is it relevant for your patients and colleagues? Effective reputation management for doctors relies heavily on this information.

Once you’ve scanned and diagnosed how you look online, go through any social media accounts, professional profiles or websites that you control and delete old posts, comments or photos that may be inappropriate. This includes obvious things like posts that reference sex, drugs, bigotry, sexism, etc.

Additionally, review what you’ve published or commented about polarizing topics like religion or politics. These kinds of posts aren’t necessarily bad, but could damage your reputation to some depending on their own beliefs. Make sure that you stand by what you choose to post online.  If you don’t – delete, delete, delete.

It’s also helpful to know how other doctors in your area appear online. You don’t need to investigate their reputation online religiously, just take a peek so you have a rough idea how things look. You should always strive to have the best online presence as possible and this information will give you additional insight. Practicing reputation management for doctors is always easier when you know where you stand in the pack.

If there’s another doctor in a similar practice that has an amazing reputation, use him or her as an inspiration in your own digital presence. Closing the gap will only help your practice.

Build high-quality branded sites & profiles you want others to find:

If you want a strong online presence, you need an arsenal of high-quality websites and social profiles that reflect your brand in a professional manner. The goal here is to make your foundation of online properties relevant and helpful to those who might be looking for you.

If you have several unwanted results ranking for your name, or if you have a popular name, then expect to put in more work than if you weren’t facing these obstacles. However, a high level of output isn’t the only factor. Think “high-quality” when it comes to just about everything you control online! If you utilize these sites and profiles properly, you will create a comprehensive resource about you, and eventually outnumber and overwhelm negative or irrelevant content.

Reputation management for doctors is much like any other ORM campaign. The best way to find success with this process is by optimizing correctly and publishing consistently. To start the process of building high-quality sites and profiles:

1. Purchase your domain name (ie. janedoe.com)
2. Build your personal website  (we recommend using WordPress)
3. Join major social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn
4. Take control of your profile, list your practice, or create your page on doctor-focused sites like: Healthgrades, Zocdoc, RateMDs, etc.(see the next section for more on profiles)

Make sure those properties are search engine optimized:

Solid doctor ORM campaigns implement search engine optimization best practices to give your properties the best chance at outranking undesirable search results. Our DIY tool shows you how.

1. Use your name wherever possible
2. Create content that’s original and valuable to your audience
3. Link your best properties together

Regularly publish content on your sites & profiles:

As long as you own your site and profiles, publish regularly. If your properties look stagnant, Google won’t consider them relevant enough to rank. Consistently publish high-quality, unique content in various formats and share it across your web properties. Over time, this signals to search engines that your properties are trustworthy and should rank higher in the results.

Find your people to grow your audience:

This is related to step 3, and is extremely important. Everything from views to shares, and other forms of social engagement all contribute to higher search rankings. If your content is inconsistent or low-quality, you’ll miss engagement from other users, and likely won’t be able to rank above unwanted results.

Give it time:

It’s no secret that you will need to put a lot of work in upfront before reaping any benefits. Google’s algorithm favors older properties. Unfortunately, new properties are unlikely to outrank more established results immediately. However, publishing new content regularly and garnering social engagement over time will eventually help your property rank higher in search results while aging into favor.

As a doctor, your online presence can position you as a thought leader, determine the success of your practice, and expand your reach when connecting with patients, colleagues and leaders in your field. Take full advantage of these opportunities while protecting your reputation from potentially damaging or irrelevant information online that you can’t control. Reputation management for doctors is a worthwhile investment for your future online.

About those profiles:

Traditionally, we recommend that our clients start with creating profiles on the “Big Four” social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus) when building their foundation for an online presence. In addition to these, we suggest that you create an additional 6 to 8 profiles to begin the process.

As a medical professional there are some great sites specific to your field that we strongly encourage you to join. Because these sites are rooted in your field, they provide a great place to showcase your expertise and connect with others interested in your work.

An added bonus, is that the authority of many of these domains increases the chance that your profiles will rank well when optimized and maintained! We suggest that you establish and maintain profiles for yourself (and your practice) on the following sites:

• Healthgrades : According to Healthgrades, more than one million people a day rely on this site to research, compare and connect with physicians and other healthcare professionals. You can include information on your profile about your specialties, experience, care philosophy, and accepted insurance providers. Taking the time to fill out all of this information will do a great job of giving you a leg up on other doctors. Reputation management for doctors is all about going the extra mile, and Healthgrades is a great platform to do this.
• Zocdoc : As an online medical care scheduling service, Zocdoc integrates information about medical practices with the schedules of these doctors in one place free of charge to the patient. In addition to standard information and reviews, it also has additional sections to add unique information like languages spoken.
• RateMDs : One could call RateMDs the Yelp of its industry. Founded in 2004, RateMDs is a free website that lets users submit and read reviews of medical practitioners, group practices, urgent care centers and hospitals. The information on each doctor profile is fairly standard, but the big benefit of this site is the user base and traffic volume. This is a site that you absolutely need to join.
• Yelp : A popular site that crowd-sources reviews about local businesses. While most people think of Yelp for restaurants, there is a fair amount of use on the site for other industries (like researching doctors). Take the time to see if you have a profile and if you can spruce things up a bit there. If you have poor reviews on Yelp for any reason, then keep an eye out for a upcoming guide from us on how you can handle them.
• Google Reviews : Claim the page for your practice, or create a profile for yourself to allow others to write reviews about their experience under your care. This platform can have a big impact on your appearance in Google search, because reviews and star ratings are shown prominently there.
• Angie’s List : Since its founding in 1995, Angie’s List has grown into one of the most popular review sites. Though often associated with researching plumbers and part-time contractors, the site is also used to review medical practices and physicians.
• Vitals : Another popular online resource for medical care that gathers information about doctors, hospitals and providers. Vitals also allows its users to schedule appointments through the site. The profiles are clean and simple, and highlight the basic and important information a prospective patient should know.

An easy way to stand out from the pack on all of these platforms:

When competing with other doctors on these platforms there’s a very easy and simple way to stand out and appear professional. Since a lot of other doctors aren’t focusing on ORM, this affords you a powerful opportunity.

Just add a profile picture.

Not rocket science, right? However, if you’ve taken the time to browse the sites above there’s a good chance you noticed this. Most of the doctors have the placeholder profile image still showing, which means any profile that has a solid professional photo will instantly catch the eye.

Take a look at these “best match” results for a family medicine doctor (names have been changed obviously).

When a user of these sites is searching for a doctor, the picture goes a long way to getting them to view your profile. Sure they will compare your profile reviews and expertise to other doctors, but a picture is a big part of what will get them to your profile in the first place.

If you have some solid reviews and a professional photo, you will do very well on the platforms above.

And let your current patients know that you have a profile here. While you should never solicit reviews, it’s fine to alert current patients that you have a profile on these sites.

Reviews are important, according to a recent study, “45 percent of respondents were willing to see an out-of-network doctor if he or she had more positive online reviews than an in-network doctor.”

What you should do next:

When it comes to ORM for doctors, we know how important it is to translate your knowledge, dedication and accomplishments into your online brand. We also know that your time is limited. If you think you can handle things yourself, we strongly recommend you sign up for our free DIY tool to get started.

If you feel that the time commitment to successfully manage your personal brand is too great, contact a Reputation Advisor with the number below to discuss our managed services. Our specialists are experienced when it comes to providing reputation management services for doctors and want to discuss the process with you in greater detail. Schedule a free consultation here, or give us a call at 646-863-8226.

The post Reputation Management For Doctors: What To Do Differently appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

In case that you have not finished you studies yet and you need extra help to finish this IGCSE biology tutor for Cambridge can be a ally for you.

An estimated 75% of HR departments are required to Google a person during the hiring process. What shows up when they Google your name could determine if they bring you in for an interview or just skip over your resume. In fact, we started BrandYourself because our co-founder Pete couldn’t get a job in college because he was being mistaken for a criminal with the same name in Google results by hiring managers looking him up.

It’s more important than ever to come across just as good (if not better) online as your resume claims. So, if you haven’t already, Google your name and get a sense of what’s showing up on the first page of results. Even if you don’t necessarily have something negative popping up, if the results aren’t filled with positive, relevant things about you, then you could be at a disadvantage. We like to give this example: of the following three candidates, who do you think will get the job? (we’re putting our money on Anna)

If the search results for your name are looking less than stellar, don’t worry – there’s a few things you can do to get your online presence in shape for the job search process.

1. Clean up your social media profiles

You’ve heard this time and again, but what you post on social media can come back and bite you. It’s tempting to post everything to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other sites, especially in your senior year when everyone wants to capture the final moments and parties together. Go through all of your social media profiles and if you wouldn’t want a potential employer coming across it, delete it. If you absolutely can’t part with your profile pic from Beer Olympics, understand the privacy settings for all the social media sites you use, make sure everything is set to private and check back often – privacy settings are constantly changing.

CAUTION: Nothing is truly private online. Even if you supposedly set something to private, it can still find it’s way into search engines or into the wrong hands of someone on your friends list – so if you go this route, proceed with caution.

2. Fill out your LinkedIn profile

When it comes to professional networking online, LinkedIn is still king. There are two things to strive for with your LinkedIn: 1. Have it cast you in the most qualified, professional light possible and 2. Ensure it ranks well in Google so when HR managers search for you, it shows up in the results (if you don’t have a LinkedIn, sign up for one immediately and start adding connections). To accomplish both goals, fill out the profile entirely. Complete all sections, including your experiences, education, headline, summary, interests, location, etc. Detail all of your experience that relates to the field you’re hoping to enter – internships, projects, volunteer work, etc. Upload examples of related work if you have it and look to make connections with people in the field. Also, post a professional photo for the profile photo. Even if you put on a nice shirt and snap a quick pic in front of a white wall, it looks better than a grainy headshot you cropped from of a photo of a night out.

TIP: Use your full name on your LinkedIn and any other social media profiles you create. Also, refer to yourself in the 3rd person for all bio, ‘about me’ and summary sections. Using your name in these key places will help the profiles rank better in a Google search for your name. This concept is part of search engine optimization (SEO) – more on this later.

3. Create a website / online portfolio

If you want a positive online presence, you need to create positive content. Cleaning up your social media profiles and beefing up your LinkedIn is a great start. A personal website takes it a step further and serves as a central hub for all information about you on the web. It’s surprisingly simple to do; you can register for a custom domain for your name (think JohnSmith.com) on a site like hover.com for about $10 /year and can build the site with a free tool like WordPress – We usually recommend WordPress since it’s easy to use and the sites tend to rank well in search engines. If a potential employer came to your site, they should get a sense of who you are professionally and as a person. Create an ‘about me’ page, contact page, link to your social media profiles, articles or blog posts you’ve written, etc. Post work that you’ve done related to your field like writing samples, photos, reports and lab research as an interactive portfolio. You can also upload your resume right to the site and direct potential employers there from the physical resume you email over.

4. Leverage the work you already put in

Posting other types of unique, professional content about yourself doesn’t have to be a hard thing. Think of all the projects and presentations you’ve done over the past 4 years – there’s probably a few related to your field that you wouldn’t mind posting online. If you’re not familiar with sites like SlideShare or Prezi, they let you post presentations to the web. You’re not only creating really great web content about you, but you’re also showing you understand key concepts as well as an interest in the area you’re looking to work in. This can go a long way when multiple people are vying for the same position.

5. Use the same name online as on your resume

As we mentioned above, using your full name throughout your web content will help everything rank better when hiring managers search for you online. Similarly, use the same name throughout your entire web presence as you do on your resume (hiring managers will most likely Google the name they see on your resume). So, if you put “John R. Smith” at the top of your resume, make sure “John R. Smith” is the name on your LinkedIn, website, Twitter, etc. – it signals top search engines that the content is about you.

Staying on top of your Google results may be the factor that separates you from the pack and helps you secure that first job out of graduation. For more information about how search engines work and improving your online presence, check out our Ultimate Online Reputation Management Guide.

Speaking of job search, we’re always looking to expand our amazing team at BrandYourself. If you want to be a part of a fast-paced startup that is passionate about helping people take control of Google results for their own name and improve their online reputation, then we’d love to hear from you. Read more about BrandYourself career opportunities.

The post College Seniors: How to Land Your First Job With Your Google Results appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

One of the most common questions that our clients ask us is, “Why can’t you just get Google to remove the negative result?”. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are a lot of rules and regulations that govern whether or not a search engine has to de-index a site, or if a user has the legal right to demand removal of certain content.

As a result, there are only a small handful of scenarios where you will likely be able to get the content de-indexed or removed:

• An incident of revenge porn

• Copyright infringement

• A violation of “The Right to Be Forgotten” (if you live in an area governed by the EU or in Argentina)

• Sensitive Personal Information connected with your name (Bank account or credit card numbers, social security numbers, signatures and other information that could lead to identity theft are all examples. However, this does not include information like your name and address.)

About Removal

If you’re interested in learning more about revenge porn, check out this article featured on the Huffington Post from our CEO Patrick Ambron, and if you want to learn a bit more about the “Right to be Forgotten”, check out our post on Emergency Tactics for Fixing a Negative Result and our article on How to Fight an Unwanted Image Result.

Remember, while the vast majority of cases that we see do not fit the criteria of a successful removal request, there is always the chance that yours could. So take some time to familiarize yourself with the factors that usually go into a winning removal request.

 Today, we’re going to examine current copyright law to see how it can help you get content removed or de-indexed from search engines.

If It Looks Like Copyright Infringement and It Acts Like Copyright Infringement…

Before mounting a campaign accusing someone of copyright infringement and submitting the subsequent claim to Google or another search engine, it’s important that you first understand what exactly it is that constitutes this type of violation.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

In the United States, search engines rely heavily on the rules outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA was signed into law in 1998 and is responsible for criminalizing “production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.” The Digital Millennium Copyright Act also “criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.”

One of the more significant components of the DMCA as it relates to online politics, however, is the fact that it heightens the penalties for copyright infringement online for users, while limiting the liability of internet service providers and other similar intermediaries.

However, search engines are still responsible for following the rules set forth within this act. When it comes to copyright ownership, remember that this gives the established owner the exclusive right to use the work, (but there are, of course exceptions).

The Fair Use Act

The Fair Use Act enables non-copyright owners to use the work in the interest of promoting, “the progress of science and useful arts”. This means that even if you maintain copyright ownership of particular content, others could potentially assert the right to use or modify it.

While search engines like Google cannot resolve disputes surrounding copyright ownership, they will remove material if a strong case has been made that shows a copyright violation is indeed at stake.

Otherwise, it’s up to the user who is seeking removal to come up with a stronger case, or appeal to the source directly. You can learn more about specific protocols, responsibilities and details surrounding copyright in the support section of most major search engines.

What Kind of Work is Subject to Copyright?

If you are looking to get a certain search result removed based on your copyright ownership, make sure that you take some time to understand whether or not you truly are the copyright owner and what your rights are. That way, when you submit your claim – or if you make a direct appeal – you have made the strongest case possible.

If you created an original work that’s “fixed in a tangible medium” then you automatically own the copyright to that work. This could be a painting, a play, a musical composition, a movie and more. (Google has a whole help center devoted to understanding copyright issues if you want more examples.)

However, if you happen to be in a video, an image or an audio recording, then you may not own the copyright to it. If this content was created by someone else, then they own the copyright. If you’re not responsible for creating the video, image or audio involved with a negative search result, don’t worry, all is not lost. The offending search result could still be de-indexed or requested to be removed if the content threatens your safety or was taken without your permission. This is because there are other rules regarding issues of privacy and safety that may work in your favor.

How Do I get a Search Result Removed if I Own the Copyright?

As for the actual process of getting negative search results de-indexed from search engines, start by reading the fine print.

Find out what it is that will make your argument for copyright ownership as strong as possible. Read through the takedown section on sites like Google, Bing and Yahoo! and see what information you need to pull together.

If this is a situation where you think the offending site might actually listen to you, then feel free to contact them. However, be aware that depending on the particulars – you may be waking a sleeping giant.

Gather documents, screenshots -all relevant information- and follow the directions laid out by the search engine. From there, file your request. Make sure to keep track of when and what you submitted and that you follow up with your request. Because search engines deal with so many requests, it’s likely that checking in or submitting the same claim every day wouldn’t really do anything in your favor. However, do make sure that you follow up if you haven’t heard anything after 6-8 weeks.

You also have the option to hire a lawyer to work on your case. However, be aware that this can be a costly process and does not necessarily guarantee that the negative content will ultimately be removed or de-indexed. This is why understanding online reputation management is so important.

Conquering Removal Requests

Remember, there is no secret recipe to ensure that Google (or another search engine) will remove or de-index a site that a user claims is violating copyright law. However, by creating a bulletproof case with a lot of evidence, you are helping the support team at Google help you. So make sure that you read and follow all instructions closely and submit your claim that will hopefully improve how you look online! And remember, if copyright law doesn’t protect you in the case of a particular negative result that you’re dealing with, there are other ways to deal with negative results… read more about them here.

At BrandYourself, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to present themselves fairly online and have access to the tools and education necessary to do so. From our free DIY tool to our managed services, we empower our clients to take control of their online identities.

The post Can My Negative Result be “Removed” from the Internet? appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Bad Google results can happen to good people. Even if you have a great reputation online, it only takes a minute for someone to ruin it.

Just think about how embarrassing it would be if people found one of these when they Googled your name:

• An angry client personally disparaging you (that crazy client you had years ago)
• An offensive post from an ex-girlfriend
• An insulting comment from a disgruntled employee

Luckily you can protect yourself from negative results like these by filling your first page of Google results with positive, relevant content.

1. Build at least 10 profiles/websites, and fill them with lots of relevant info about yourself:

You need to build and maintain “protective barrier” of relevant, continually updated content. Then if negative results do appear, they won’t rise up onto your first page – remaining out of sight and out of mind.

Start by creating the profiles that Google naturally ranks at the top of search results:

1. LinkedIn
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Google+
5. Personal website with a custom domain like yourname.com (WordPress, Weebly, etc.)
6. SlideShare
7. About.me
8. Pinterest
9. BrandYourself
10. Crunchbase

Note: Even if you don’t plan on doing much with the profiles above, at the very least I recommend claiming your name on them before anyone else does. 

BrandYourself provides step-by-step instructions to create each profile:

1. Go to our recommended profiles list
2. Submit a link directly or find the profile from the list & click “connect.”
3. Follow our instructions to build it in a “search engine friendly” way

2. Optimize your profiles/websites to be as search engine friendly as possible:

BrandYourself analyzes your profiles and shows you how to optimize them so they rank higher in Google. We call it “boosting” a profile. After you boost a profile, it can take 2-6 weeks for it to start rising higher in search results.

To optimize your profiles and websites:

1. Go to your Optimize Positives page
2. Type the name of your profile into the “Submit” input bar; then click “Submit”
3. You’ll see your profile appear with a Boost Points meter showing it’s current optimization level
4. Click the “Boost” button and follow our steps to optimize your profile

The way you link from all your profiles to each other is a crucial part of optimization. While our do-it-yourself product doesn’t show you how to do it yourself yet (it will in the future!), we do have Services where you’ll get an expert who will create a custom interlinking strategy for you – and do all the work in this post for you.

3. Continually update your profiles/websites over time to keep them relevant to search engines:

Search engines consider continually updated profiles much more relevant to searchers. So if you constantly post updates, like / share / comment / post / etc. and remain very active on each of your profiles, they will start rising higher in search results.

They won’t rise instantly – it take months of continuous effort – but this will help them rise higher with the power to permanently stay there. This fortified barrier of positive results will keep negatives stuck below your first page and unable to creep higher. Make sure you keep your profiles updated over time so they don’t become “stale” and drop lower in results.

BrandYourself makes it easy to keep your profiles updated over time:

BrandYourself automatically reminds you when your profiles need to be updated by suggesting “Repeating Steps” – steps you can take that recur on a weekly and monthly basis. It could be as simple as posting a tweet on your Twitter, or writing a quick blog post on your WordPress.

To do your Repeating Steps:

1. Go to your Optimize Positives page
2. Scan all the green “Boost” buttons next to your profiles – you see any bright orange alert icons, then you need to complete an overdue Repeating Steps
3. Click the Boost button and complete all overdue Repeating Steps

Conclusion:

You can’t stop someone from writing something negative about you. But you can make sure that if they do, you have so much positive content on your first page of Google, that it never surfaces high enough for anyone to see. After all, 94% of people don’t even look beyond the first page of results.

So if you haven’t already, follow the directions above to build 10 high-quality profiles/websites, fully optimize them, and continually update them over time. You’ll not only look great in Google, but you’ll protect yourself from damaging results appearing in the future.

The post How to Prevent Future Damaging Links From Appearing in Your Google Search Results appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Your first impression as a person and a business is made online, and negative search results can immediately damage your business and your livelihood. But even more importantly, having positive search results make you stand out from the competition.

From our joint Harris Interactive study:  

• Nearly half (42%) of the online U.S. adults that looked somebody up in a search engine, looked someone up before deciding to do business with them
• 45% said they found something in an online search that made them decide NOT to do business with the person
• 56% found something that solidified their decision to do business with the person

At BrandYourself, our strategies make you look great online, but they are also the best way to suppress and bury negative reviews. As long as the information is accurate and relevant Google will continuously reward you with prime placement. And proactively improving your brand online by filling your Google results with as much useful content as possible is a huge opportunity to win business.

Our in-house experts provide you with a soup to nuts solution to suppress negative reviews and establish you as a thought leader in your field:

1. Strategy consultation: personalized strategy for you over the phone
2. Build Websites and Profiles: state-of-the-art websites ensure you’ll stand out from your competition
3. Specialized, industry-specific content: high quality published articles, ongoing social media strategy, branded rich media, and a host of other available services
4. Analytics tracking and reporting: comprehensive monthly report outlining work and tracking campaign progress

If you’re interested in a free reputation consultation, call us at 315-237-6742 or email us. We’ll examine your online presence and give you a personalized strategy to help you win potential customers and protect against negative results.

The post Protect Yourself: Bury Your Bad Online Reviews appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Reputation Specialist, Tim Gilliss

Meet Tim Gilliss. Tim is a Reputation Specialist here at BrandYourself. He is here to answer your questions about how long it takes to see results on Google.

“I just made a bunch of changes, and it’s already been a week. How long before I see results?”

Imagine this, you go into a bar and when you sit down, the man on the bar stool to the right of yours introduces himself. Then, he turns back to his drink and never makes another peep.

A few minutes later, a well dressed man enters the bar and sits on your left. He introduces himself with a winning smile. Throughout the night, he continues to periodically engage you in conversation, showing you some interesting things he brought with him or maybe just chatting with you about an idea he had, a cause he cares a lot about, or a hobby.

When you leave that bar, who do you think you would remember? Whose name would you be able to recall?

This little thought experiment gives us an idea about how the Google spiders – the little bits of code that crawl through and index all the pages of the internet so that you and I can search through the information quickly and conveniently – might feel when they are moving about the web. If you have created a new site and never make any updates or add anything new, your page is like the first man we met at the bar. Who would remember him? Much less mention him to a friend or recommend him to a colleague. On the other hand, if you are updating your site with high quality, relevant content then your page is more like the second man we met. He was obviously more memorable because he interacted with us, continuously drawing our attention back to him with new content and information over an extended period of time.

Google wants to give its users the best possible results for the search terms they input. If you have a static site, you will not reach the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) without doing some cheating. However, if you produce unique, high quality content and consistently update your site(s) with it, you will gain the “interest” of the crawlers, gain authority for those search terms, and eventually rise in the rankings.

Some equate this “interest” to trust. Just like a jaded lover, Google has been hurt before. So, even if the first post on a new site is awesome and the content is super relevant for the keywords you are targeting, the spiders, at first, might still see your site as questionable; they will wait to see if the site stays relevant before they rank it highly. With so many black hat – illegal or simply unethical – operators out there and the ease of website creation, evaluating the true nature of a site is difficult at first glance and Google knows that. Time is the true test of a site’s value and relevance.

This is all to say that you probably won’t see results on the first page of the SERPs for a site you just created for anywhere from 3-6 months, depending on the competition for the search terms you are targeting. It’s possible, if the competition is stiff enough, that you might not see your results on the first page for a full year. For example, if you create a site that is targeting the keywords “nike shoes” you are in for an uphill battle. Gaining authority for keywords like your name or the name of a small business will be easier.

Either way, gaining authority will require a commitment to updating the site. The more you update, the better your chances but updating 100 times in one day is not the same as updating once every day for 100 days. It boils down to this maxim: it takes patience to build authority.

Of course, this timetable can be shortened with black hat techniques; but, as we say in the industry, “quick up, quick down.” Google continues to update their algorithms (some say they do it upwards of 500-600 times a year), closing the loopholes used by black hatters and penalizing their techniques with big drops in the rankings. So, you might be able to find a trick to get your result on the first page for a time, but if you are not giving users what they want, you won’t stay up for long. If you do it the right way, any rise in the rankings has the best chance to stick.

After all, the end goal for Google is to satisfy its users. So, give the people what they want! Post great content frequently and make sure it is relevant to your search terms. And then, be patient.

Get to Know Tim!

What is your favorite part about working at BrandYourself?

My favorite part of working at BrandYourself is the culture of the workplace and the people. Everyone is positive, hardworking, eager to help one another, and fun. I look forward to coming to work everyday!

When you’re not working at BrandYourself, what can we find you doing?

When I am not at work you can find me playing a pick-up game of handball or soccer, or sitting down with some friends to play a great board game or watch the Orioles or Ravens.

If you were to choose one fictional character from anywhere that you are most like, who would it be?

I would like to think that I am most similar to Samwise Gamgee because I try my best to be a good, loyal person and make the right choices, but that doesn’t mean I’m not down for an adventure!

To learn more about Tim Gilliss, visit his BrandYourself Profile

The post Ask a BrandYourself Expert: Tim Gilliss appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Sr. Reputation Specialist, Hilary Barr

Meet Hilary Barr, a Senior Reputation Specialist at BrandYourself. She’ll explain how long it takes to see positive results after creating an online property (like a website or profile), and some of the factors Google analyzes when ranking search results.

“When can I expect to see results?”

First let’s first define “seeing results.”  Seeing results does not necessarily mean that your negative result (if you have one) is buried off the first page.  Seeing results means a few of our sites and profiles are ranking within the first three pages of Google.  Because of the way Google works, it usually takes four to six weeks for a newly created site to show up in Google.

As a Reputation Specialist at BrandYourself, I give my clients a monthly screenshot of their first three pages on Google to track progress over time. If your new properties are ranking anywhere within those first three pages the first 6 weeks, that is a great sign. If not, there is still plenty of time for them to get there. It takes time for sites to gain authority (which we build by creating high quality original content and updating your sites for you), and if we want them to outrank any negatives permanently, that has to be done over time in an organic way (instead of in a burst all at once).

After that, it can take anywhere from four months to a year and sometimes longer to get them to rank above a desired negative.  Why is this range so large?  There are many factors at work affecting your Google Search Results.  I will break it down into three categories; Previous Online Presence, Unique Search Term, Authority/Activity on Site.

Let’s look deeper.

Previous Online Presence: First, do you already have a strong presence?  If you work for a company or as a client, or you are a company that has multiple sites that appear for your name, it will most likely take a greater amount of time for our sites to gain more authority than the ones already ranking.  If you are a company, Yelp, Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau, City Search, and Home Advisor are all examples of sites that have a great amount of authority.  It can take months for our sites to outrank those sites.

Unique Search Term: Second, what is your search term? Let’s look at the difference between “John Smith” and “Pocahontas.”  For the search term “John Smith,” Google yields about 1,090,000,000 results.  For “Pocahontas,” Google yields about 24,700,000 results.  (You can find this number beneath the search bar, above the results, in gray).  There are over 44 times the results for “John Smith” as there are for “Pocahontas!”  If your search term is quite a popular term, it will most likely take longer for you to see results.   Does anyone have a search more popular than John Smith?

Authority/Activity on Site: Third, the authority of a site will affect how long it takes to see results.  For a site to have authority in the eyes of Google, it must be updated regularly, have original content, and have little to no spammy backlinks pointing towards it.  A site that is updated twice a month rather than once a month will most likely rank higher faster.  One way to check if your content is original is to use a plagiarism checker on Google.  This tool (http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/) is a great way to make sure the content going on your site is original.  And finally, spammy backlinks are profiles or robots that link to your site.  It is best to refrain from non-humans or cheap sites that will offer to give your site a million links or a million likes.  If the content on your site is good and original, you will gain likes organically.

“How does Google decide what ranks and what doesn’t?”

This is something that changes slightly with every Google update. However, the part that almost always remains true is that Google wants to provide the most relevant, authoritative, and engaging content for each search term.

Relevant: Relevant means content directly related to a specific topic.  If you have a site about nutrition, make sure there’s lots of relevant content about nutrition.  If someone searching to learn about nutrition stumbles upon a site that has some nutrition information on it and some business information, they may not revisit that site. 

Authoritative: Google wants to provide authoritative content to searchers. So it is more likely to rank sites high that it trusts – like Google properties and other well known sites including Google+, Youtube and Blogspot.  WordPress, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are other well known, trusted sites.  Authoritative also refers to sites that are supported by other trusted sites.  Sites that have thousands of low-quality backlinks will not be trusted as much as sites that have fewer high-quality links.  Be sure not to fall for advertisements claiming to give you hundreds of backlinks – thanks to several Google algorithm updates, quality matters, not quantity.

Engaging: And finally, make sure your content is engaging.  Any time you post something to your site, ask yourself: would you want to read or share it? Is it well-thought out, clearly structured, up to date and worth sharing on social networks? Remember that Google’s goal is to show people webpages that searchers will actually find useful. The more you write great content for people – and update that content to keep it current – the more engaging your site will be, the more people will naturally share it, and the higher it will rank.

Keep in mind that we will never know Google’s specific algorithm.  If you knew it, you could “game the system” and choose which search results should rank where.  That will never be the case, but we do know that relevant, authoritative and engaging content will always perform better because that’s what searchers want to find.  Google also updates its algorithm hundreds of times a year to improve its ranking system.

For example, Google’s “Panda” update favors high-quality, original, and fresh content.  This had an impact on the ranking of many news sites because they constantly publish original content.  If you have noticed a news site changing positions up in your rankings, it could be Panda at work.

Another recent update, Penguin, looks at the backlinks to a site.  If the site is backed by thousands of low-quality links (like fake blogs with little or no content), the site will not be seen as important, but rather, it may be seen as another low-quality site that does not need to rank. If it’s linkde to by a few high quality sites (like CNN or the New York Times) then it will probably rise higher in rankings.

So remember to keep your content relevant, authoritative and engaging!

Get to Know Hilary

What is your favorite part about working at BrandYourself?

I look forward to work every day because of the awesome BrandYourself team—the team is wholesome in that each employee is intelligent, has something completely different to offer, and always manages to get in a few giggles throughout the day.  I also love the current, cutting edge nature of this job.  As technology changes, we are also constantly updating our methods in order to provide the best services possible.

When you’re not working, where can we find you?

When I’m not at my desk, you can find me playing Ping-Pong against co-workers, on my yoga mat, dining at a Thai restaurant, or checking out live music wherever that may be. 

If you could be one fictional character from anywhere, who would it be?

The little mermaid! Ariel defies her parents to follow her heart – and she’s a mermaid. That’s what I wanted to be when I was a little kid.

To learn more about Hilary Barr, visit her BrandYourself Profile.

The post Ask a BrandYourself Expert: Hilary Barr appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Most financial advisors dread the idea of establishing themselves online. Learn how to build a website? Doesn’t that mean that you have to learn how to code? Aren’t web designers expensive?

Building a website and complete online presence is time consuming, especially when you’re a novice at web design and development. But, getting a web designer, such as affordable web design hampshire, to build a website for your business, as well as establish your practice on social media, pays off dividends down the line. Here are four reasons why having a web presence is important for your practice:

Business Development & Marketing

Prospective investors that are looking for a financial advisor or a wealth manager won’t be going to Angie’s List or Yelp to find a financial advisor. No, they’re going to go to the one that they were referred to by a friend, or a friend of a friend. Then, if they are an educated investor, or not even educated, just conscientious, they will Google that recommended wealth advisor relentlessly. When prospective clients Google you, wouldn’t you rather they find beautiful, informative content rather than nothing at all? The benefit of having a good Web design wirral is the same benefit of having a beautiful office; it’s inviting, it’s impressive, and it shows that you’re not messing around and care about doing a great job for your clients.

Existing Clients Expect It

The internet is the main reference and research tool for consumers. No longer are small businesses found through periodicals, yellow pages, and brochures. Now, consumers are finding local businesses on the web, and if you want your practice to be successful these days, you’re going to need a website or some kind of landing page where customers can find out more about your services, find your contact information, and learn about your business’s operating history. Being off the web effectively makes you invisible to a large portion of your new potential clients.

Makes Comparisons To Your Competition Easier

When clients are looking for a new financial advisor, they never only look at just one. The same way that you go shopping for a house, or shop for a new car, you don’t just look at one model and make your decision based off of that. You do a product comparison. Often, a potential new client will be comparing your services to another advisor’s services, and in the early stages of research, that comes down to comparing websites/web presences. Your website is a vital part of your brand identity, as TOLS Multimedia explains. If you don’t have a website at all, that puts you at a disadvantage from the beginning. Having a site with basic brochure-type information is definitely better than nothing, but if you have a robust site with articles, advice, tools, or other useful information, you’re more likely to catch the attention of new clients.

Helps Capture Client Contact Info

Having a website is an easy way to gather clients’ email addresses and contact information. Electronic newsletter applications are easy to hook into your site; clients then enter their contact information, and sign up to receive communications from you. In doing this, you can reach your clients whenever you want for a host of reasons: you’ve launched new services, there’s been an update in the market, company news, etc. Having .net developers automate your communication system saves you substantial amounts of time when compared to doing the same work by hand.

The bottom line is that having a strong web presence is no longer an option or a luxury for financial advisors. It is, in fact, very necessary. At this point, it’s as important as printing business cards, or having an up-to-date LinkedIn profile. Your entire online presence is a reflection of you, your business, and your qualifications. If you want to compete and be relevant on the web, don’t skimp on something that potentially thousands of new clients can see.

Don’t know where to start? Let us handle the work for you! Give us a call at 315-565-1799 or send us an email at support@brandyourself.com for a free consultation on some specific steps that you can take to start building a professional online presence. Get more ORM and personal branding tips at brandyourself.com. 

The post Why Is a Web Presence Important for Financial Professionals? appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.