The basic tools to manage your online reputation include:

  • Profiles
  • Comments
  • Websites
  • Blogs
  • Articles
  • Media hosting and sharing sites, like YouTube and Flickr

Many of you are already familiar with these, so I’ll just give a brief introduction to each and some samples. Then I’ll move onto the good stuff, which will help you ensure that your professional information is at the top of page when your name is Googled.

Online Profiles

Build online profiles in professional networking sites.

Based on my experience, LinkedIn and Namyz will rank well. If you actively looking for employment, Jobfox allows you to create a free professional portfolio, including a map of your skills, results of personality tests, samples of your work, etc.

I’ve created profiles with a few other sites, but I don’t see the results on Google. Some are in Beta, which may explain it.

Some folks also create professional profiles on Facebook and MySpace. (I use them for more personal profiles.) Facebook profiles also rank well on Google. I don’t how the profiles on MySpace rank.

Comments, Opinions, and Reviews

Share comments on articles and blogs about your work and industry. Use your full name when posting.

I love Fast Company Magazine. As soon as I created a profile and started commenting on their articles, the pages appeared on searches for my name. So I know that my time is well invested there.

Book reviews on Amazon show up well. You can also review products there. I have also seen good results with letters submitted online to editors at SFGate.com and the Economist.

Websites

Create a website with your resume and samples of your work.

Weebly hosts free sites that are easy to build and show up well on search engines. You do not need to know any coding languages to build sites on Weebly, but you can add HTML if you like.

Blogs

Share your expertise or professional thoughts on a blog.

Search engines pick up all the pages on this WordPress.com blog. Whatever blog you choose, make sure that the service allows search engines to access the posts. Usually this information will be listed under features or addressed during set-up.

Articles

“Publish or perish,” as they say in academia.

Most fields are not that extreme about it. No matter what your field or industry, you can submit articles or letters to online publications, just as you might to printed publications. Sites like ExpertArticles.com will publish your material for free. Be aware that you may be giving up some copy rights when you publish with sites like these.

Media Hosting and Sharing Sites

Share visual tours of your projects or professional expertise through photos and videos.

YouTube and Flickr are popular for video and photos, respectively. You can post both video and photos on Photobucket.

I posted short promotional films on YouTube that I helped produce. Other video sharing sites have picked these up, so now they appear multiple times in searches for “Kasha Frese” (a.k.a. me).