Get Your Name Under Control

Positive News - SEO Your Name

Now that is on odd statement!  Let me explain what I mean.  As a small business owner it is essential that people trust me online – if I ever plan to actually sell online.  People buy from people they trust ~ any “negative press” can kill the deal ~ even if the press is not actually about you, but about someone else with your name!  It is hard to tell when researching online if you are reading something about the right person.  Have you ever researched someone and read something bad about that person just to find out that it was the wrong person ~ with the same name?  Something like that can absolutely kill the sell if it happens when someone is researching YOU!

Let me share what I have done to dominate the search engines for my name ~ feel free to use these tactics to help with your name as well.

• Get a BizNik account ~ BizNik is a highly optimized and trusted site.  BizNik profiles get ranked in Google ~ my BizNik profile is the first listing for my name.  BizNik is only for traditional businesses – if you are in network marketing do not do this strategy.
• Get a Facebook account and have your profile URL be your name ~ mine is facebook.com/dotty.scott
• Make a video and get a YouTube account in your name.  These can be educational videos, video testimonials, or something entertaining.  YouTube ranks well in Google (it is owned by Google)
• Be a guest blogger for someone elses blog, and sign your name that links to your blog/website.
• Create a LinkedIn profile and fill it out completely.
• Create a MySpace profile
• Post articles on BetterNetworker ~ even if you are not in Network Marketing.  This site gets ranked in Search Engines.
• Fill out your Google Profile completely so that it will be displayed on Google when someone searches for your name.
• If you provide trainings, seminars, or any online event have it posted Online at several different sites.
• Set up profiles at places like Naymz.com, fastpitch.com, Ning.com sites, and any other social media site.
• Put your videos out on other video sharing sites like yahoo, vidler, howcast ect.  I use TubeMogul.com to upload videos.
• Create testimonials for other people with websites, and link your name to your website.
• Make sure your name in on your website as text, not in an image.
• Post articles at article repositories like amazines.com, ezine.com, and others.
• Twitter reTweets with your name in them will get ranked in the search engines.
• Get a written interview posted online – this can be a transcript of an audio ~ my example: http://renegadeproactive.com/
• Your videos and other content can be picked up by other blogs – very common for video interviews.
• Comment at different places and be sure to include your name.
• Forum posts can get ranked by search engines.

This is a list of how strategies I am using to control my name.  The last thing I want is for someone looking for a Web Designer, find my site then research my name and find anything negative.  I don’t care if it is something talking about a different Dotty ~ people will think it as me and go elsewhere for their business ~ something I just can’t afford.

If you have more ideas for people feel free to add them in the comments section!