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If you are in the ActiveRain Community, obviously you know the importance of networking and personal promotion.  In the era of identity theft, you also know the importance of protecting your name and reputation.

Recently I came across an article in Money entitled "Building Character".  It discussed the need to be ever vigilant in guarding your good name and reputation in the internet age.

In the past, when gossip and goof-ups were mostly discussed word-of-mouth, embarrassing or unprofessional moments would eventually be forgotten.  With today's technology, nothing is ever really forgotten (or deleted).

  • Post a bad picture in college - someone will "tag" it 5 years later
  • Try online dating late one evening - the profile will be out there "somewhere" on your wedding day
  • Post a negative comment on someone's blog -    You get the point...

 ReputationDefender.com was mentioned in the article.  They offer several interesting products:

  • MyPrivacy - "allows you to remove your personal information from people search databases spread all over the Inter-".  Cost is $4.95/mo.
  • MyReputation - "reputation management solution; enables you to review everything that's available about you online".  Cost $9.95/mo.
  • MyChild - think MyReputation for your children.  Cost $9.95/mo.
  • ...and MyEdge - which allows you to "take control of your online reputation" at a cost of $99.00.

Another alternative, which I recently started to use, is Naymz.com.  I currently use the free version which works fine for me so far.  They also offer a premium version for $9.95/mo, and it of course has more belles and whistles.

I actually like this site.  Be warned, there really is A LOT of information about you out there.  As a personal hobby, I'm working on the family tree and this program even found some of the questions I posted on the genealogy site. 

If you would like an invitation to Naymz.com, please feel free to leave your name and email address.

What tools do You use to protect your online name and reputation?

 

~THW
Tracie Mason Holton
Coach, VA, & Happy Wife

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracie Mason Holton is a coach, trainer, writer and part-time VA.  She is "The Happy Wife (THW)."

Copyright© 2009 By Tracie Mason Holton, All Rights Reserved.  You may re-blog with links back to this post.

 
Post is included in group: Addicted to Active Rain
Post is included in group: LATE NIGHT - EARLY MORNING AT ACTIVERAIN

9 Comments on Your Online Reputation is On the Line...

AUG
31
2008
Localism Sponsor

Nice informative blog post.  Always helps to hear what other people are finding on the internet to help the lives of others.
1:39pm • #1
2 Featured Posts

In the information age, no information is sacred or private.  It's scary, and thank you for enlightening me to this fact.

 

Kind Regards,

Manolis
1:43pm • #2
4 Featured Posts

I'd like to take a look.  Please send me the invitation link.  Claudia
1:44pm • #3
4 Featured Posts

The first thing you should do to prevent someone from finding out past addresses, age, etc is log onto www.zabasearch.com and put your name in the search bar.  All of your information comes up that they have on the free search; the pay site has a lot more data...Income, children, etc.  It is really scary!

In order to have your personal information removed, go to the bottom of the page and click on privacy. They have 2 options for removal of your information.  I opted to write them and not do it online. 

I let clients know about this and they really appreciate it.  It is a great "good will" builder!
1:48pm • #4
221,241 Points

great informative post.  The world we live in is far different fromt aht of the previous generation to be sure.  We need to be much more prudent.

 

Lorena - that is a good point about zabasearch.com  i had forgotten they had that option.  I am goingto make a blog just about that.

 

 

CHris the implementer
2:31pm • #5
221,241 Points

Done!  Tracie and Lorena, I gave you both credit for the blog i created, feel free to visit if so inclined.

Chris the Implementer

 

http://activerain.com/blogsview/668359/Mortgage-Chili-Watch-what

 
3:01pm • #6
1 Featured Post

Robert and Manolis - thank you for your comments.  We know there are some dishonest people out there who are looking at our information.  We have to make sure we are looking out just as closely.

Lorena - thank you for tip on zabasearch.com.  This is a great tip to pass along to friends, family, and clients.  I did a search for both my maiden and married name, plus my new husband's name; I was sick at the information available for free and for sale.  My opt-out letters will go in the mail on Tuesday.

Chris - thank you for continuing to spread the word; and for giving credit to myself and Lorena.  Scarry stuff!
4:24pm • #7
SEP
01
2008

Hi Tracie,

Nice Post. For unprofessional sites that you don't want people to find in search engines it is probably best that you use an alias name. Like you mentioned you can create an online profile in social network like Naymz. However you never know how the "good" and the "bad" sites will rank in search results for your name search. The reason for that may be:

  1. The relevancy of the site to the name you searched
  2. The number of clicks each site gets when people search for your name
  3. the number of outbound links to the site
  4. The page rank of the site
  5. Newer and more updated sites may receive higher ranking at first and more…

The ranking may also change drastically over time… Anyway, there are a lot ways to make your site rank higher than others, probably the easiest way is to use services that create a web site for you and specialize in SEO. One service that I use (and I have many online profiles) is LookupPage (www.lookuppage.com). You can Google my name or search my name in Yahoo to see that my LookupPage is the first result :-)

BR,

Udi Drezner
Udi Drezner
1:49am • #8
1 Featured Post

All this is so true Udi.  And unfortunately no matter how diligent we all are, there will always be some things we can't fully control.  Thanks for the tip on LookUpPage.  I'll check it out soon.
10:39pm • #9

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Tracie Mason Holton, Coach & Virtual Assistant

Seattle, WA

More about me…

Agent Assistant Network

Address: 6647 Carleton Ave. S., Seattle, WA, 98108

Office Phone: (206) 353-7899

Email Me

This blog is to share tips and ideas with real estate professionals across the U.S. and Canada. Real estate is done differently in different markets. Yet, at the end of the day real estate is a numbers game and people business. My aim is to provide timely topics, innovative ideas and strategies, inspiration and motivation, and a smile from time to time. My goal is to assist you in growing your business while continuing to grow mine. I hope you will visit me often. View Tracie Mason Holton's profile on LinkedIn
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