Imagine my shock when I Googled myself today and saw that my (personal) Facebook page was ranking on the first page of Google.

Very interesting!!!

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Lidia Griffin - Majenic Virtual Solutions
Virtual Assistant Services for Real Estate Professionals

The internet knows everything about you. That's why I don't use my full name on anything I write online unless I want it easily found.

It's important that you set your name up in your Google Alerts. That's the only way to know what's being said about you online. Reputation management should be part of your daily work.

I was speaking with someone the other day who told me a former boyfriend had posted some "not very nice" stuff about her on YouTube. Luckily she subscribes to Google Alerts and followed the link to the posting. It was really bad and could have seriously damaged her professional reputation if left unchecked. Anyway, she managed to get it removed off YouTube (took lots of time and energy) but just imagine the fall out if she hadn't found it in time. Once it's on the internet it very quickly gets picked up by other sources. When that happens, you can't do anything about it. It's like a runaway train. You can't stop it.

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

I second that. I have my name on google alerts as well as my business name so I can know when it comes up. It's definitely a good idea. Sometimes it's surprising not only what will come up buy when it will come up. Somethings will come up every few weeks long after I've posted them (like an ad or a comment).

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

Hi

I so agree. Google alerts are the best. It's amazing what you find and usually if something needs to be corrected, you know about it so you can take corrective action.

What's great too is often you can see where some of your marketing shows up. For example, one of my newspaper articles that I was mentioned in got picked up by some TV network. It was small, but still I did see a peak in stats that day and more people emailing me for information on my services. I'll take it!

I use Google Alerts to follow up on my topic too. If a reporter has written about a topic once, they might want to again so I'll write them and see.

I think it's still beneficial to occasionally Google your name too.

Thanks!

Diana Ennen

This is a great idea! I will definitely add Google Alerts to my list of things to do for my business. Thanks ladies!

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Janice Correa-Elite Business Services
"My Business is Your Business!"
www.elitebusinessonline.com