7 Essential Tools for Easily Building Your Personal Brand Online

If you’re like the average business owner, your online presence doesn’t reflect the hard-earned reputation you’ve built in real life. There may even be a dramatic difference between your business’s digital footprint and your own.

“I can’t worry about all that,” you say. “I have a business to run.”

But your customers aren’t solely interested in your business. They want to know the people that run it. When potential customers look you up online, are they earning your trust or turning away in frustration? Is your online brand gaining you business or losing it?

Personal branding doesn’t have to be a full time job. Here are 7 tools that make it easy to monitor and improve your online brand.

1. Google Alerts.

You cannot afford to miss out on conversations about your brand.

It’s nice to know when you get a shout out, and proactive monitoring could mean the difference between effectively handling a crisis and completely dropping the ball.

The bottom line is you need to be the first to know when you’re mentioned online.

Craft a Google alert alert to stay on top of your mentions or those of your competition. Decide how often you want to receive the updates and the rest will handle itself.

2. Canva

Canva makes digital designing a cinch. Want to build a custom Twitter header or a high quality slideshow? Maybe a bespoke Pinterest pin or a beautiful Infographic?

The sky's the limit with Canva and you don’t need any design skills. With so many awesome templates, you can strategize visual elements and colors without stressing about the quality of the result.

Once you’re happy with a template, you can use it again and again to deliver visual content that your audience can come to expect and enjoy.

Canva is free with the opportunity to buy some templates and features for $1 each. I’ve spent a few dollars here and there but you can develop amazing designs without spending a cent.

3. BrandYourself.

If you’re looking to improve your chances of getting hired or getting leads, then you’ll want to keep an eye on your online presence. And BrandYourself’s DIY tool is the one you’ll need.

With BrandYourself’s tool, you can track the movement of your search results over time. You’ll be notified when things change, get tips on how to improve your online properties to be SEO-friendly, and learn what to do to help things rise in search results over time.

The free DIY tool lets you track three online profiles while the $99 per year subscription gives you unlimited ability to track and improve your search results.

If you’re going to spend any money improving your online brand, BrandYourself’s DIY tool is the way to go.

4. LinkedIn & Twitter Notifications

LinkedIn and Twitter are powerful networks with huge opportunities to grow your organic audience and get more eyeballs on your content.

Don’t let those opportunities slip through the cracks. Take a few minutes each day to keep tabs on your notifications.

In five minutes, you can quickly respond to questions, thank people for sharing your content and follow up on potential leads.

Make a special effort to engage with people who like your content. If they took the time to read or comment on your article, you owe them a response. And who knows -- an innocent conversation today could lead to more business tomorrow.

5. Track Twitter mentions.

Staying current with your notifications is good, but consistently tracking your Twitter mentions takes it to the next level. With this kind of data, you can revisit your list at any time to see who mentions you the most and interact with the users that deserve your attention.

I like to keep track of this info using IFTTT, an internet service that lets you automate actions relating to your online properties.

The service works like an input/output machine. If X happens, then do Y.

I made my own IFTTT recipe (feel free to use it!) that adds a row to a Google Spreadsheet every time I’m mentioned on Twitter.

Use it to find the people who consistently mention you so you can interact with them from time to time. You’ll be pouring fuel on an already crackling fire.

6. Comment alerts.

If you publish blog content on your website, then you should keep tabs on your comments.

People might be asking you follow-up questions or giving you great feedback, but you’d never know if you don’t receive notifications.

A commenter who gets a response is much more likely to interact with your content again in the future. It makes sense, right? Getting ignored sucks and getting a response feels great.

It’s incredibly easy to get comment alerts. If you’re using Squarespace, then you’ll automatically get notifications about new comments via email.

If you’re using WordPress, go into Settings —> Discussion, and check off “Email me whenever anyone posts a comment.”

7. Google Analytics.

Have a website? Then go ahead and install Google analytics right now. With just a few clicks, you can track the most important growth metrics and compare them to previous months. Find out how many people are viewing your content, and determine which pages are the most popular. 

See what social profiles refer the most traffic, find out where in the world your users come from, and learn what pages are causing people to bounce.

The amount of insight is incredible. The challenge is to take that data, figure out the key takeaways, and determine how you can improve the user experience.

Originally published on Entrepreneur.com 

The Most Effective Paid Campaigns for Better Search Results

What’s the best use of your money to alter your search results and improve your online brand? Google Adwords certainly comes to mind, but it’s typically not the best paid promotion option out there for us.

Google Adwords is best if you’re selling a specific product or service. People who are looking for a specific solution search their problem on search engines -- businesses can determine those keywords and target users with their ads.

Why is this no good for us?

We’re trying to change what shows up for our names, not a competitive keyword. When people search Ryan Erskine, they’re already going to find results for my name. I don’t need to advertise for my website on top of those results. Doing so might look weird and would definitely not be the best use of my cash.

Here are a few paid promotional options I’d recommend instead:

Facebook Ads

There are three primary kinds of Facebook ads and each is useful for different purposes. The big benefit with Facebook ads is that you can choose the audience you wish to target based on age, gender, location, education, and other demographic information.

Boost a Post: This option is great for earning more traffic and engagement on a particular post. If you got an important article placed on a third party publication, this might be a great time to give a big push here.

Promote Your Website: This one is self-explanatory. Use it to direct more people to your website. If you come up with a compelling ad and can deliver on value once people click through, you have a high chance of earning returning visitors in the future.

Promote Your Page: Promoting your page is useful for driving up your page’s likes. Moz has a terrific article that argues compellingly for spending at least $1 a day promoting your page. As they say, “They are the lowest cost per 1,000 impressions ad in history. They average around $0.25 per 1,000, which is only 1% of the cost of TV.” A no-brainer if you have the cash.

Twitter Ads

Here are the two types of Twitter campaigns I find most useful:

Engagement Campaigns:

These campaigns are useful for earning more engagement or activity for a particular tweet. If you want to spread the natural reach of your tweet -- perhaps to get more traffic to your latest article -- then this is the right campaign for you.

You can tailor these campaigns on a number of factors, such as language, location, and keywords. My favorite is ‘followers,’ which allows you to target specific @usernames. Your tweet will then reach users with interests similar to followers of any of those accounts. It’s a great way of ensuring your content reaches the right eyes.

Followers Campaigns:

Followers campaigns are great when you want to increase your Twitter profile’s audience. This is not just for cosmetic reasons; a larger audience means your tweets are naturally pushed to more twitter feeds.

You can tailor these campaigns in the same way, but the best practices differ. Although tweets often do better with hashtags or links, Twitter has found that followers campaigns without these distractions do better. Also remember to be direct and include “Follow” or “Follow us” in your tweets.

NOTE: For personal campaigns (as opposed to businesses), I find Twitter’s engagement campaigns to be much more useful than followers campaigns. Growing your audience is easy enough using tools like Crowdfire, so I’d rather save that money to promote important content.

Stumbleupon Ads

People still use Stumbleupon?

Yes, it’s true. Stumbleupon actually drives 3x more traffic than Reddit and it’s the 4th highest social channel driving traffic, right behind Twitter.

Stumbleupon’s campaigns are great for getting more eyes on your content. And the best part is that those folks are pretty engaged -- a recent campaign for a client kept people on site for 2:44.

Here are some fun facts about Stumbleupon.

• Over 30 million people are active on StumbleUpon on a monthly basis

• The average Stumble session for women is 30 minutes, 22 minutes for men

• 15% of B2B marketers use StumbleUpon to distribute their content

The demographic information for Stumbleupon campaigns isn’t as impressive, but it’s enough to make your campaign reach the right users. And the analytics also leave something to be desired, but I still find myself using this platform for the consistent traffic again and again.

Outbrain Ads

Outbrain describes itself as a content discovery platform.

What does that mean? Outbrain basically places your content as an ad on another platform. You know when you’ve seen “suggested content” on BuzzFeed or CNN once you’ve finished reading an article? That’s probably thanks to Outbrain.

Outbrain is comparatively expensive -- you have to pay a minimum of $10 a day -- but I’ve seen some good impact.

Here’s a recent campaign for one of my clients that’s still in the works. I’ve spent $60 so far and earned 365 clicks out of 380,000+ impressions. Not the most impressive click through rate (just about 0.1%) but a few hundred clicks is nothing to sneeze at.

And Outbrain also tells you where your articles are getting picked up. Sure, Ghana web wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’m definitely impressed by the next few publishers on the list. Plus, now I can see what's working (and what publications I want to scrap) and make my next iteration that much stronger.

My favorite thing about Outbrain campaigns is that you can test multiple different titles and pictures for the same URL. Then you let Outbrain figure out which combination is earning the most engagement and continue serving that combination to users.

Closing Note

Remember, ad campaigns are not a quick fix to improving your search results. They are only as good as your content.

If you focus on creating quality content — useful content that adds real value — you’ll have a sustainable source of traffic for months and years to come. Got some disposable income for your campaign? Then try strategically using paid campaigns to increase your content’s reach.

If you have some other favorites, let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter.

How to Get Organic Backlinks Using Your Existing Network

Despite what you might hear, backlinks are still a critical part of ranking well in search results.  

One way to earn backlinks is through publishing high quality content. If you write articles that people want to share and link to again and again, then you’re well on your way to earning your website lots of authority.

But given that backlinks are so important for rankings, is there anything else we can do to earn more of them?

Yes!

Asking Your Existing Network!

Asking your existing network doesn’t mean go and ask your entire address book to link to your website. You’re bound to come across as spammy, and irrelevant links won’t do you much good anyway.

Instead, make a list of websites where you’re currently mentioned and a separate list of websites where you ought to be mentioned, but aren’t yet.

Having trouble? Here are some common places:

• Your company’s website

• Your school/university website

• An alumni organization

• A philanthropic organization or charity

• An author page from a web publication

For instance, I found a page on my company website, an author page from the Bowdoin Orient (my college newspaper), and an author page from Social Media Today.

Then, ask yourself the following questions about each website.

1. Do I have an ideal URL slug?

   1. www.example.com/ryanerskine would be ideal

2. Do they link to my website or social media properties

3. Is it appropriate to ask for a longer biography or to have my name used more times?

I’m all set on Social Media Today. I have a link to both my website and Twitter, I’ve got a nice bio, and my URL slug is http://www.socialmediatoday.com/users/ryanerskine.

My company page is a mixed bag. I have a nice bio and my name is used several times, but there is no link to my personal website. (However there is a link to my BrandYourself site.) It would also be nice if I could get my URL slug to change from /rerskine to /ryanerskine.

My author page on the Bowdoin Orient is a good example of one with a lot of potential. There is currently no bio, no link to my website or social media, and my URL leaves a lot to be desired: http://bowdoinorient.com/author/685

Reaching Out

Once you have your list, it’s time to reach out. For my company, it’s appropriate for me to just ask the dev team, but I’ll need to send an email out to someone at the Bowdoin Orient and see if they can do anything.

No need to defend or explain yourself. Start with a small explanation of who you are and keep the rest of it short and sweet. Remember, you want to make this as easy for them as possible.

As an example, here’s the email I sent to the web developer at the Bowdoin Orient:

Hey [NAME],

I’m a ’12 graduate and a columnist on the Bowdoin Orient. I was wondering if it would be possible to make two small changes to my online author page:

1) Could we change the URL slug to be bowdoinorient.com/author/ryanerskine — right now it’s http://bowdoinorient.com/author/685

2) Would we be able to add a link on my author page leading back to my main website, ryanerskine.com?

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

He got back to me and explained that the two changes weren’t possible right now but that they were likely to change the system in the near future. It’s not an ideal answer, but now I can put that in my calendar to reach back out in a few months and see if anything has changed.

The process is actually very simple, just remember to remain polite and courteous. If anyone makes a change for you, remember that they are doing you a favor.

If you have any questions, reach out on Twitter and I’ll be happy to help.

How to Make Custom Pinterest Pins on Canva

Canva allows you to make killer slideshows and infographics, but that’s not all it’s good for. You can also craft your own made-to-order Pinterest pins.

Now why would you want to do this?

Well, let's say you just finished writing an article. You’ve shared it on Twitter and LinkedIn and now you’re ready to expand your audience to Pinterest users.

You could just pin it from your blog, but then you only get a simple image. 

Not bad, but when people are scrolling through hundreds of pins, your image gives people little indication of what you’re actually sharing.

See how my article gets lost in all the noise? It's colorful but the other pins are longer and have great-looking text right on the image. Makes them awfully clickable, doesn’t it?

So let’s do the same thing to our pin.

Open up Canva and get started on a Pinterest Graphic.

Throw in the image you want to use. I like to enlarge it and see if there is a good spot to put the title.

Obviously, this one worked out well because of the convenient speech bubble. But you don’t need that to make this work.

Here’s another I made -- I just found some empty space on the bottom and threw the title in there.

Check it out -- my pin is much more obvious now thanks to the title and vertical layout.

Next time you finish an article, try this strategy out and see if you can get a bit more engagement on Pinterest and drive more traffic back to your blog.

Reach out on Twitter to show me what you came up with!

33 FAQs About Removing Negative Search Results

Negative search results can happen to anyone.

They’re frustrating. They’re unfair. And they can dramatically influence your chances for landing a job, earning new clients, and even getting yourself a date.

You probably have a load of questions (that’s why you’re here, right?) about fixing your search results. The world of online reputation management (ORM) can seem murky and mysterious to the uninformed, which is why I’ve put together a comprehensive list of the 33 most frequently asked questions people have about removing search results from Google. (I refer specifically to Google in this article, but the answers apply to Bing & Yahoo as well.)

One of our main tenets at Brandyourself is transparency — we want clients to know what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. Scroll through these 33 questions and find the ones that most apply to you. Or, read the whole thing to give yourself the ultimate preparation for battling that negative result. When you’re done here I highly recommend that you head over to our reputation management guide and take things even further. Looking forward to answering any additional questions in the comments section below — see you there.

Here we go! 

1. How can I get this negative result ‘taken down’?

Unless you own the content (in which case, what are you waiting for?) getting a negative result ‘taken down’ is actually quite challenging. The website owner doesn’t have to take it down, probably has little incentive to listen to you, and may even miss your email request altogether.

For these reasons, getting a negative result taken down is unlikely to work. But if you succeed it can be very effective.

Here’s how you do it. Go to whois.net and find out who the website owner is. Contact the owner by email and request (politely) for them to take down the offending material. I’d suggest going the sympathy route — explain that the material is damaging your reputation and try to show how you’ve changed for the better since the content was published. Whichever route you decide to go, remain polite and remember that if they do help you out, they’re actually doing you a favor.

NOTE: The disadvantage of this method is that it doesn’t solve the underlying problem of having a weak online presence. You still leave yourself vulnerable to other slanderous results if you don’t take actions to build up a positive presence. See #6 for more details.

2. When is it right to submit a DMCA request?

The most common reason for submitting a DMCA takedown request is if the offending material infringes on your legal rights as a copyright owner. If someone is clearly using your material without permission (photos, written content, audio, video, etc.) you can submit a request by going to your DMCA Dashboard and creating a new notice.

You’ll need to be able to identify and describe the copyrighted work, show an authorized example of the work, and provide a URL to the allegedly infringing material.

Google gets millions of these requests every month, so don’t expect to get any results unless you can make your case crystal clear. You should also be aware that any request you send will be tied to your name and all requests are made public on chillingeffects.org so think carefully about the risks before you move ahead with this request.

3. Can we take legal action?

It is very difficult to get search results legally removed because people can say pretty much anything they want online. Even if you have a strong case proving defamation or libel, the legal process can cost you thousands of dollars and take many years to settle. The court system is a notoriously difficult place to solve these kinds of problems.

If you’re interested in hearing about your legal options, definitely speak with an attorney. Just remember that a lawyer may come back to you with the upsetting news that there is nothing that can be done to take down your negative result — and still charge you for their time.

4. What about the “right to be forgotten?”

In 2014, the highest court in Europe decided that European people had the right to influence the search results for their name in some certain circumstances.

The New York Times explains:

Under the ruling, Europeans who felt they were being misrepresented by search results that were no longer accurate or relevant — for instance, information about old financial matters, or misdeeds committed as a minor — could ask search engines like Google to delink the material. If the request was approved, the information would remain online at the original site, but would no longer come up under certain search engine queries.

This sounds promising. So what’s the catch?

As of this article’s publication (August 2015), removals only apply to European versions of Google search results (Google.fr and Google.de for example) and not the American version, google.com. The number of removals so far has also been relatively small. Of the 1,000,000+ requests since the court’s decision, only 41% were approved, and that number ismuch smaller for specific categories like public figures, serious crimes, and child protection.

Finally, beware the risks associated with this move. According to Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand.com, Google will disclose the removal in a process similar to DMCA complaints and even report the removal on chillingeffects.org.

Google tells us that it will show disclosure when URLs are removed under the new Right To Be Forgotten method in a manner similar to above. In other words, while the URL itself is forgotten, the fact that Google was made to forget it will be remembered.

If you are still interested, you can submit a search removal request here. You must submit a copy of your photo ID and be able to prove that the offending content is “irrelevant, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate.”

5. Can I submit a complaint to Google?

Aside from the “right to be forgotten,” there are only a couple instances where it makes sense to ask Google to remove something.

The first is the above mentioned DMCA request. The second is regarding highly sensitive personal information like bank account numbers and signatures. The third is revenge porn. Google decided to start honoring requests to take down those kinds of damaging results as of June 2015. You can read more about that on Google’s public policy blog.

To ask Google to take down these results in these specific cases, you cansubmit your request here.

6. If we can’t take down the negative, what CAN we do?

The most effective way to handle a negative result is to bury it with positive, relevant content about yourself.

This is an easy three-step process.

1. Build yourself a website. Buy a domain with your name in the URL (likeryanerskine.com) and build it on a simple platform like WordPress, Squarespace, or BrandYourself. Then make some high-authority social profiles that fit in with your personal brand. Everyone knows LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter but some other great ones to start with are About.me, Slideshare, Crunchbase and Youtube.
2. Optimize your profiles to be search engine friendly.
3. Most importantly, keep your sites and profiles updated consistently with original, quality content and lots of organic activity.

As your properties gain more authority over time, they will start to rise higher in search results for your name, eventually pushing down the negative or irrelevant results.

7. How does Google’s search algorithm work?

When you type something into the search bar, Google tries to serve you the most ‘relevant’ search results for that term. Relevancy is determined by a number of on-page and off-page ranking factors. Let’s look at a few:

On-page Ranking Factors

• Quality Content: Google rewards sites that have amazing content that provides lots of value to users. Content that is longer, well-written, and original is considered higher quality (from an algorithmic standpoint) than short, thin, and duplicate content.
• Keyword Optimization: Keywords are the core words and phrases you want to rank for in search results. In this case, the primary keyword will be your full name or business. Keyword optimization does not mean unnaturally stuffing your keyword onto your site — that kind of behavior can earn you a nasty Google penalty. Focus instead on writing engaging content and weaving your keyword in naturally when it is appropriate. Some obvious places to include your keyword are in the URL of your website, the title, the header tag, and an About page.
• Outbound Links: Outbound links, the ones you use to link out to other sites, are seen as signals of trust. Link out to authoritative sites in your industry that provide real value to the user. As a general rule of thumb, don’t exceed 25 outbound links per 1,000 words.
• Site Architecture: You want to make sure that your site structure has a logical hierarchy and that you are linking to all your pages in an easy-to-use navigational menu. Give your URL slugs appropriate titles and make the process of getting around your site as simple as possible.

Off-page Ranking Factors

• Backlinks: Links still matter a ton because search engines use them as signals of trust and relevancy. The important distinction today is that the QUALITY of the backlinks matter. One link from a highly authoritative site like the New York Times is going to be far more effective than hundreds or even thousands of links from no-name sites. The opposite is true too — spammy backlinks from link farms can do your site more harm than good. Focus on creating incredibly useful content for a target niche and you’ll be well on your way to getting a variety of links from relevant websites.
  • Don’t be afraid to reach out to your network to politely ask for links to your website. Appropriate places to start might be your business or a philanthropic organization that you’re heavily involved with.
• Social Engagement: It’s not clear how much weight Google gives to social connections and interactions as a ranking factor but there is a correlation between social votes and high rankings. Build your personal or corporate brand across your social network, grow your following organically, and share your content to get the most out of your social connections.
• Personalization: Local search is becoming an increasingly more important factor for search. There are many ways to take advantage of this factor, including registering your business’s address in Google+ and setting your location in your social profiles. If your site is getting loads of links from sites related to your location, it is more likely to rank, at least in that target location.

This just scrapes the surface, but it gives a good sense of the factors Google looks for when ranking search results. For more info, check out Google’s own SEO Starter Guide 2015.

8. Are there any special SEO tricks I can use?

Even as recently as a few years ago, you could get away with using “black-hat” SEO techniques, tricks used simply to game search engines like Google. These were things like link farming, cloaking, and keyword stuffing.

Today, these techniques will do you more harm than good. Google has gotten much better at detecting these tricks and penalizing the websites that use them. If you remember one thing about the future of SEO, it’s this: The arm of SEO is long, but it bends toward user experience.

Want to know the best SEO trick in the book? Do things that real users would do. Create incredibly engaging and valuable content that makes other people want to share it and link to it. Play by Google’s rules, and you’re much more likely to win in the long run.

9. Can we buy backlinks?

Buying backlinks falls into the “black hat” camp and is never a good idea. Backlinks from link farms and the like are in breach of Google’s webmaster guidelines and the search giant is quite adept at identifying violators and dishing out serious penalties.

10. How long does it take to bury a negative result?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Anyone who guarantees a specific timeline for pushing down a negative result is lying and, frankly, being irresponsible. Depending on the competitiveness of the keyword and the authority of the negative result, pushing a negative off the first page of Google can take up to a year or longer.

11. Can we buy traffic to our websites?

Purchasing website traffic is another “black hat” technique used to game the system and is therefore inadvisable. It might seem like an attractive short-term solution, but it is unsustainable and can actually hurt you in the long run. Google has released multiple algorithmic updates to penalize this kind of dishonest traffic-building behavior so your efforts are likely to be for naught.

Instead of buying traffic, focus on creating quality content — useful content that adds real value — and you’ll have a sustainable source of traffic for months and years to come. If you want to use some disposable income on your campaign, try strategically using paid campaigns for sites like Twitter, Stumbleupon, or Outbrain to increase your content’s reach.

12. Why is this old, irrelevant, negative result still ranking?

Google uses a number of on-page and off-page relevancy factors to determine the rankings in search results.

That negative result from years ago may not be relevant anymore but it’s probably built up lots of authority over the years. Even if it’s a static page, the rest of the site that it’s associated with might be constantly updated, which lends extra authority to that static, older page.

All the properties you’re creating for yourself will be keyword optimized and updated regularly with content, which puts them at a distinct advantage. But your properties are newer and they haven’t built up enough authority yet to overtake that ancient negative result. Here’s an example for you to visualize what happens over time.

13. Why did the negative result suddenly jump back up in the rankings?

Google frequently updates its search results based on a number of relevancy factors. Fluctuation in search results is completely normal, especially for a competitive keyword. For more information, check out question #22: “Why am I seeing different results than you?”

14. It’s been 3 months, why aren’t I seeing any results yet?

Three months is simply too short a time to see results. If you maintain regular activity on your web properties, you might start to see things rank in the first 3 pages, but you might not. Keep at it!

15. It’s been 6 months, why aren’t I seeing any results yet?

It depends how you’re measuring results. If your goal is to beat a negative result, there will be plenty of smaller successes along the way before you finally push the negative off the first page. Properties will begin to rank on the first three pages and you’ll start to displace other irrelevant results along the way.

If you’re not seeing any of your properties rank on the first three pages after 6 months, then it may be time to re-evaluate the situation. Is the keyword extremely competitive? Do you need to put more firepower behind your efforts? Is it time to restrategize the way your sites link to each other? Are there easy link-building opportunities you’re leaving on the table? Speak with a SEO specialist to come up with a new strategy to reflect what you’ve learned.

16. It’s been a year and the negative is still on the first page. Should we just chalk this up as a failure?

No! There are two things to consider:

1. Firepower: Online reputation campaigns can routinely take longer than a year depending on the competitiveness of the keyword and the amount of firepower you put behind your campaign. If your properties are ranking on the first few pages, you can be sure you’re on the right path. Keep up the good work and consider increasing the amount of time you put into your campaign.
2. Branding: Your online presence is not just a means to an end. It’s your personal brand and it tells a truthful, relevant story about you. That negative result may still be ranking, but it no longer defines your online presence. Are your other web properties ranking on the first page? If so, they’re mitigating the negative page’s impact and telling viewers the full story. Are you earning more monthly website views than the amount of Google searches for your name? If so, then you are beginning to really define the way you are perceived online.

17. Are there some short term tactics we can use?

No. Burying negative results takes time and there is no shortcut to generating authority on a number of web properties. Press releases can sometimes offer “flash-in-the-pan” results because they mimic a news article, but these results fall of SERPs as quickly as they arise.

18. If Twitter and LinkedIn are so authoritative, can’t we just create a bunch of those profiles for my name?

Google tends to rank only one result per domain on the first page. So while this sounds like a good idea in theory, it doesn’t typically work out in reality. It would be smarter to refocus your efforts on creating amazing content on your already-existing profiles.

19. Why does this process take so long?

It takes time for your web properties to generate enough authority to begin ranking prominently. Even if your properties are more SEO-friendly and optimized better for your name or business, they’re still much newer than that negative result. For that reason, it’s going to take time for your properties to gain enough authority to overtake it.

I’ll share the chart from question #12 here again so you can visualize what I’m talking about:

20. Is the process different if I have a negative image result?

Pushing down a negative image requires the same process as a negative search result, but a different focus. You’ll still need to build SEO-friendly web properties and generate consistent quality content, but you’ll want to remain focused on the images you upload to your sites and social profiles.

Perhaps you’ll add a gallery page to your website and embed many more images into your articles. Whatever you decide, remember to optimize your images properly: use your keyword in the file name, rename the title, and give it appropriate keyword-related alt text. Bonus tip: reduce the image size to the minimum you need for your site so you don’t slow things down.

21. How do I optimize a social profile like LinkedIn or Twitter for SEO?

There are 6 steps to optimize any social profile for great search results.

22. Why do I see different results than you’re seeing?

There are a number of reasons you might be seeing different search results than someone else. Here are the big 3:

1. Location: Especially after the Google Pigeon update, people have started to notice a sometimes-dramatic change in search results depending on the searcher’s location. Your results make look horrible in New York but much better in San Francisco. Want to check? To change your search location, click ‘Search tools’ and then click your location and replace it with your preferred one. (To get a different country’s search results, go to the country-specific Google address, like Google.fr for France.)
2. Personalization: Your results may be personalized based on your web browser’s cookies, your IP address, or other saved data. To avoid this issue entirely, you can reset your cookies or open up an incognito window and search from there.
3. Algorithm Experiments: Whenever Google engineers want to test something, they try it on a small percentage of random users. If you’re getting different results even after clearing your cookies and searching incognito, your search may be testing a new tweak to help improve the overall results.

23. Why am I seeing different results on mobile?

It’s official — Google reports that more Google searches now take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the United States. Since Google always aims to deliver the best user experience, it has increasingly prioritized mobile-responsive websites, especially after the recent “Mobilegeddon” update. If you’re seeing different results on mobile, it could be that Google is serving up results based on your search history, your location, or simply because there are some sites that are better for a mobile viewer’s experience.

24. It sounds like a long process to change my business’s search results. Should I just change my business name?

That’s up to you, but consider this: what happens when people do their due diligence and search the previous business’s name to gauge your credibility? If you think you can completely cut ties from the business, then it’s might be something to consider, but don’t go that route before adequately weighing the risks.

25. What’s the point of linking everything together?

The benefit of linking everything together in a consolidated way is that you pass little bits of authority between your web of online properties. New social properties won’t hold that much authority by themselves, but they will be much stronger once they’re tied together on the backend.

This kind of linking strategy makes sense too because it’s exactly what a real user would do. Any professional with an array of social media profiles will want to direct people back to their website. When it comes to the future of SEO, focus on doing what a real user would do and you’re likely to succeed in the long run.

26. Are we done once we push down the negative result off the 1st page?

The good news is that less than 10% of people search beyond the 1st page. You can probably afford to ease up a little once you’ve pushed the negative off, but the worst thing you can do is rest on your laurels and let your properties get stagnant. Remember that consistency is key to high search results and maintaining activity on your sites and social profiles is important to keeping them above the competition.

27. Do I need to have a blog?

You don’t necessarily NEED one, but you’d definitely be shooting yourself in the foot without one. In most cases, it’s simply too tough to get a website to rank on the first page without a consistently active component like a blog.

28. How often do I need to update my blog?

This truly depends on the nature of the negative result and the goals of your campaign. At the very least, you’ll want to update your blog once a month with a 350-450 word post. But if you spend more time on your blog — in length, quality, and consistency — you’re much more likely to drive quicker results.

29. Do I need to worry about my search results if I don’t have a negative?

Yes, absolutely. In most cases, your online presence is the first impression you’ll give to employers, clients, and even potential dates. According to 2014 statistics, 80% of employers Google job applicants before they even invite them to an interview.

Plus, preventatively building up a positive online presence is insurance for the online world. The more authority your web properties have, the harder it will be for someone’s slanderous comment to rank for your name.

30. I’m a private person — do I need to put information out there about me to beat a negative?

Long gone are the days of keyword stuffing and shoddy content. If the negative result is about you, you’ll need to at least talk about yourself in some basic terms to give Google (and ultimately, users) what they’re looking for. By naturally weaving your name into the content on your site, you’re trying tell Google that your content is not only about you, but it’s also more relevant than the negative article. Google is getting much better at gauging quality, relevant content — if you use your name without providing relevant information, you’re going to have a hard time convincing Google that your website is more relevant and authoritative than the negative.

That being said, the benefit of having your own websites and social profiles ranking for your name is that you get to choose what information goes online. Instead of a negative article besmirching your name, you’ll get to define how you’re perceived online. If you’re a private person, consider leaving out the personal details and talk instead about your creative process, your love of a particular hobby, or something else entirely.

31. Why do I need to write about myself in the third person?

Google doesn’t know who “I” am but it definitely knows my full name. Whenever possible, write bios in the third person to show Google that your content is clearly about you.

32. Will press releases help bury the negative?

There are mixed feelings about press releases in the SEO and ORM industry. At Brandyourself, we’re not sold on their efficacy in the long run. In most instances, we’ve found press releases to offer short-term successes (because they mimic news articles) without giving the desired effect of long-term rankings (because they fall off SERPs as quickly as they show up.)

Like comment sections on blogs, press releases no longer provide dofollow links, the links that are acknowledged for ranking purposes. As Google gets better at sniffing out press releases, they are likely to have less and less of an SEO impact.

33. Would getting articles published on third party publications help?

Absolutely. If you can create really engaging, high-quality pieces of content, third party publications can be a big help to any ORM campaign.

Articles about you are more difficult to acquire, and you also run the risk of a journalist mentioning a relevant negative result.

But getting ordinary articles published on third party publications is a great way to supplement your campaign. Those articles can sometimes rank by themselves merely by being affiliated with your name as an author. Plus, getting an author page on publications like Huffington Post can often provide an awesome place for a valuable backlink to your website and social media.

Have any more questions or concerns? Let me know in the comments section below!

Originally published on BrandYourself.com

How to Start Real Conversations Using Social Media Communities

Social media conversations are just like real conversations.

The key to a great conversation is to start by listening. What are other people talking about in your industry? Does it differ from social network to social network? Spend a few minutes searching around to get a scope of the landscape.

You probably wouldn’t have the same conversation in the library as you would in a bar, right? Even if you end up talking about the same topic, you’re likely to abide by different social norms (whispering versus yelling) and have something different in your hand (a book versus a beer).

Consider social networks in the same light.

The nature and style of your conversations are going to depend on 1) the specifics of your online brand and 2) the social norms of the social network.

→ See if you can start a few relevant conversation on each of your social networks. I’ll explain some of my favorite ways to do this to help you spark some of your own ideas.

TWITTER

Conversations are happening on Twitter all the time. Find some active businesses or people in your industry and see what they’re saying. Search for relevant hashtags and see what questions people are asking. Is there an obvious knowledge gap where you can be most helpful?

Here are a few specific ways to take advantage of Twitter conversations.

1. Alert someone to your article.

This is particularly useful if you actually wrote about them, but it can also be great if they fit into your target audience. When I wrote 12 Twitter Tools to Improve Your Online Reputation, I spent time personally tweeting each of the businesses I wrote about, letting them know I had shouted them out.

It took maybe 10-15 minutes, but I couldn’t believe the engagement I received. Nearly all of the businesses retweeted me, and some of my tweets really blew up. Just for letting them know!

When I tweeted @Canva, I got favorited 7 times, and probably earned some new Canva-lover readers in the process.

2. Ask a question.

Twitter is a great place to ask questions. If you trust a particular thought leader in your industry, consider targeting them. Otherwise, just ask the general public what they think about a particular topic or article. It won’t always blow up like Buffer’s tweets do, but you may spark some fun conversations along the way.

3. Start a conversation.

Did you read an interesting article recently? Chances are you’re not the only one. Try searching the title of the article on Twitter and seeing who else shared it recently. Tweet at them and tell them what you think. You never know what kind of conversation your tweet may spark.

You can also tell your audience a fun fact, a useful tip or an industry-specific anecdote.

When I tweeted @Crowdfire back in August, I received the most engagement I’ve ever received on a tweet in my life. 128 favorites! I hadn’t even written my 12 Twitter Tools article yet, but it made me realize the potential for articles like that.

4. Engage your active audience.

Sometimes you might tweet something and find that someone else tweeted back at you. That’s terrific! Take advantage of that low-hanging fruit and keep the conversation going! Look at this exchange between me and Chris.

Or, if someone has shared your content, take a second to thank them for the support. You’d be surprised how much a heartfelt thank-you can mean for long-term engagement.

NOTE: You can also get involved in Twitter Chats, where a group of Twitter users meet at a pre-determined time to discuss a certain topic. I don’t have too much experience there yet, but Buffer has an incredibly in-depth article about Twitter Chats if you want to learn more.

LINKEDIN

Here are four ways to spark conversations on the professional networking giant:

1. Comments

This is pretty self-explanatory. If someone shares an article related to your industry, make a relevant comment and try to start a conversation. Ask what they thought about a particular point or provide them with another article that gives a different view.

2. LinkedIn Communities

LinkedIn Communities are a fun way to have discussions with groups of like-minded peers. Find some communities that make sense for you and start by weighing in on popular discussions. Respond to existing comments, provide an insight or opinion, or even ask a thought-provoking question.

See what topics and discussions are resonating with members the most, and start asking similar questions to encourage engagement. Be wary about including links to your sites, especially at the start. You want to be seen as a valuable part of the community, not a self-promotional salesperson. If you’re diligent, you’ll eventually be recognized as a top influencer, which allows your posts to be seen by more people in the group.

3. Status Updates

You can obviously use status updates as a self-promotional tool. But a great way to get engagement is to share OTHER people’s articles, especially when you can tag them in your post. Use the @ sign just like you would to tag someone on Twitter.

4. Private Messages

Private messages on LinkedIn have a connotation of being spammy, but your efforts may be worthwhile if you can personalize your message for a few specific people. Consider asking for some folks’ opinions on an article, their thoughts on an industry topic, or feedback on your latest post.

QUORA

There are three primary ways to engage in meaningful conversations on Quora:

1. Ask a question related to your industry.

Quora is a terrific place to get answers or start conversations among industry experts. Remember to first check whether or not someone has already asked your question!

2. Answer someone else's question

Quora is a great place to share some of your industry-specific knowledge and link back to an article if it’s appropriate. If you have a terrific answer on a popular question, you’re likely to get hundreds or thousands of views on your content. That’s a huge opportunity!

3. Ask someone else to answer a question

Quora’s ‘Ask to Answer’ feature is pretty neat. It lets you target specific people in your industry to get the quality answers you seek. You can ask 15 people per question, so make your choices mindfully.

Closing Note:

There are countless ways to engage people on social media. You can find Google+ communities that match your niche, comment on Slideshare accounts that fit your brand, and ask questions about a particular Instagram post. These are just a few of my favorite ways on some classic social networks, but I encourage you to explore your own.

This process can be fun and time-consuming so remember to keep your end goal in mind. You ultimately want to create conversations around the topics that are important to you. You’ll be taking a significant step toward building yourself a real audience and positioning yourself solidly within your industry.

This article is a sample day from my upcoming 28 Day Online Reputation Management Challenge. Stay tuned here.