I'm 3 weeks into this exercise to improve my online profile and must confess that this past week has been a drag! Yes I completed the tasks I set for myself (Chris Morales Online Profile - Week 2 Update). But because I didn't see any immediate results, I was bummed out!
Things turned around when I got an email prompt from BrandYourself (Chris Morales profile). It suggested some updates and revisions to my LinkedIn profile and with 20 minutes to spare, I got at it. A few days later when I searched again for 'Chris Morales', I got the above results:
- My LinkedIn profile showed up for the first time in the #1 position
- My biography on George Brown College ranked #2
- No images showed up on this search
I'm very pleased with the progress to-date. Since starting this exercise with a flurry of activity (about 2 hours work), I'm now spending only about 30 minutes each week to tweek my profiles, AboutMe, BrandYourself, YouTube and LinkedIn. Next week, more of the same.
Chris Morales
After 2 weeks I am pleased to note that one of my image is now showing at the top of the search results page! It's nice to get confirmation that I'm moving in the right direction...and I'm super pleased with how little time it takes to get results.
In my last update I had two tasks to get done: Clean up my Twitter profile and work on YouTube. I got Twitter cleaned up but ran into a challenge on YouTube: I had two personal profiles and spent a large amount of my allotted time deleting one account. In the process I did not get as far as I wanted with tidying up the remaining YouTube account. That will be rectified this upcoming week with these set tasks:
- Finish cleaning up my YouTube account
- Update my About.me profile
- Update my BrandYourself profile
I'm still following the tips and suggestions in How to Improve your Personal Online Reputation. So far the recommendations seem to be working.
Chris Morales
I'm week 1 into this 8 week program to improve my online reputation and Page 1 of Google search for my name, 'Chris Morales'. See last week's post, 'Your Reputation Precedes You'. Here's where I am after 1 week:
- Online Reputation still mostly 'Neutral'.
- No Images showing
- Page 1 Search Results improving:
- 3 results
- Website now showing above the fold
Here's what I did over the past week:
- 'Cleaned up' my personal website, chrismorales.ca
- Added a photo
- Added key words related to my business experience
- Created an about.me profile, morales.chris
- Edited my Google My Business profile
- Removed previous business acronym, 'MMG' and replaced with my name, 'Chris Morales'
- Added photograph
For the next week, week 2 I'll be working on the following two online profiles as recommended in the article, How to improve your personal reputation:
- Clean up and update my YouTube Channels
- My Twitter profile (alt tags and key words)
Chris Morales
Back in the day people checked references. Employers, prospective clients asked for 2 - 3 references to check background, reliability, character. Fast forward: Now you are just a click away from giving up all the information about yourself that you've shared online:
- Online search results
- Social Media profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (to name the Big 4)
- Google Reviews (and every other 5 star online review site)
In my case, here's what comes up when I search my name, 'Chris Morales':
These search results are generally positive for my Employment position:
- Position #2, 7 and 8...all above the Fold
- LinkedIn is prioritized...this makes sense since I spend the bulk of my energy on curating my profile
- My Part-time Teaching position in at #8 is a surprise...I don't actively promote this...I think it is a function of the high traffic volume on the George Brown College website (and interest in the Continuing Education Courses)
There are no negative results. My Online Reputation would appear to be 'Neutral'. What are the things I could do to edge it toward 'Positive'? A little research led me to this excellent blog post, How to improve your Personal Online Reputation. Here are the top 4 tips:
- Create online profiles and optimize them for SEO
- Get your own personal website
- Start blogging
- Increase your click-trough rate by setting up the Google Authorship Markup
I already have a personal website and have been blogging for years. What confuses the Search Engines though is that I have multiple online profiles. Some that conflict with my name, 'Chris Morales' and thus reduce my profile and dilute the sentiment.
What I want is to have a positive online reputation and dominate the page 1 search results. Over the next 8 weeks I'll be applying the tips above. I'll be posting updates about the results and sharing my learning.
Onwrds to improved online reputation!
Chris Morales
