Your online image is extremely important. As more and more people are going online for information and to research prospective employees. It is vital that you keep your online image as top notch as you possibly can. These tips will help you polish your online professional image and put your best virtual face forward.
1. Google yourself. It is astounding how many people do not Google themselves. Not only should you do it, you should do it fairly regularly. Search not only your name, but also variations of your name. It is also a good idea to search Google Images for your name as well. This will allow you to address any instances where your professional image may be compromised.
2. Be careful what you post on your social network sites. More and more employers are looking at prospective employees’ social network pages. They look at photos, postings and even friends. You need to maintain a professional image on those sites. Think twice before you post any risqué photos or over the top status posts.
3. Be careful what your friends post about you on their social network sites. So you got wasted at a party and stripped while dancing on a table and your best friend was kind enough to not only take photos but also post them on their Facebook page – and they tagged you. If you have friends who will do that, then don’t put yourself in those situations. It is that simple.
4. Do damage control. After you Google yourself, go to any sites that have photos or content about you that are not the image you wish to portray about yourself. Contact site owners if you do not remember log in information and request that they remove your information. This may be easier said than done in some cases, but persistence will pay off.
5. Flood the net with professional images. You can also combat negative photos and content by getting some professional photos taken and posting them on the internet on your sites and social media. Make sure to tag your photos with your name and also use your name as the image name so that the search engines can better index them.
6. Protect your passwords. The last thing you need is for someone to hack your email or social media account. A password that is pretty much hack proof contains at least one upper case letter, at least one lower case character, at least one number and at least one special character such as %, * and #. Also, don’t have one password for all your accounts. That is just asking for trouble.
7. Do your own clean up. If you are doing some online reputation correction, do it yourself. The closer you keep your information, the better off you will be. You may trust your best friend to go into your accounts and clean things up; know that emailing your password to that person opens you up to potential hacking. Keep your private information private.
Margaret Batting 