Why Online Reputation Management Is Like Brushing Your Teeth

Why Online Reputation Management Is Like Brushing Your Teeth

Ryan Erskine

 Think about why you brush your teeth. 

You don’t do it because your teeth are brown and dirty.

You do it preventatively.

It’s a habit that’s good for you because it impacts your long-term health 

and the look of your smile.

Now think what would happen if you waited until your teeth were gross

before you decided to start brushing. Your teeth might fall out.

You’d probably get gum disease. Your smile would be tarnished and discolored.

It might be too late to fix everything and, at the very least, 

you’d have a lot of ground to make up.

Brushing your teeth is an insurance policy against all those negative outcomes.

Online reputation management (ORM) works the same way.

Many folks realize how important their online presence is only once they have a problem – 

a nasty negative, an ex’s rant, a sketchy forum that sticks out like a sore thumb, etc.

We fix these results, but it can take months and months, or even years.

And that can be a hard pill to swallow.

But ORM can be just as effective -- even more so -- when it’s done preventatively.

By building up your reputation now, you’re able to lay a strong foundation before anything negative has a chance to dominate your search results.

The impact of your search results

Your online presence is critical to success in the business world today.

People spend hours and hours sweating over the smallest details in their resume,

but then forget about the very next place potential employers and clients look -- their search results. Even when someone gets your name via word of mouth,

their very next step is to look you up online and see what you’re about.

When people have negative results, they finally realize how many people

are actually Googling them. They realize this because they find themselves in the uncomfortable position of needing to defend themselves 

to potential customers and employers.

They have to explain that old lawsuit or the story behind that nasty forum.

And there’s no way to recover from that negative first impression.

When people have irrelevant results, they don’t hear about it, because there’s nothing

for potential clients to complain out. But there’s nothing to impress them with either.

Clients and employers can’t find relevant information on you so you lose out on business opportunities. They look you up and find a forgettable, irrelevant reputation.

People with stellar search results are, to a certain extent, in the same boat as folks

with negative search results. They finally realize how many people are Googling them on

a regular basis, only this time it’s to the advantage of their business. It’s a no-brainer really. Relevant, kick-ass results that direct people to the right information

is bound to result in more business.

The best kind of insurance is one that brings in business.

And this isn’t just an idealistic notion. I’ve been actively managing my online reputation

for less than a year, and I’m already bringing in positive business for Brandyourself

thanks to my blog posts and active online presence. This stuff legitimately works.

That’s why we’ve started to take on more clients who are interested in these proactive,

branding-focused campaigns. They understand the benefit of maintaining a healthy smile,

and they understand the benefit of keeping their online reputation in pristine shape.

It’s the best kind of insurance policy -- 

one that brings more business in the door every single day.

You don’t wait until your teeth are gross before you decide to get a toothbrush.

So don’t wait until you have a negative search result 

before you start managing your online reputation. Get started today.

4 things you can do today

1. Purchase your domain: Go on a site like GoDaddy.com, and buy the essential domains

with your name in it. (RyanErskine.com, .org, and .net for example). This is an incredibly important form of online insurance. Even if you don’t plan on building a website right now,

you’ll still prevent other people from taking this valuable piece of real estate away from you – 

or using it against you in the future.

2. Get a personal website: Having a personal website is a terrific way to consolidate everything important into one central hub. You can put your resume, accolades, portfolio, biography, contact information and blog all in one place.

Plus, there’s nothing better than having your site come up when people search your name.

It’s the best way to direct potential clients and employers to the information that matters most.

Squarespace makes this easy with classy and professional themes. 

If you don’t want to spend a $8 a month and are a bit tech savvy, you can make yourself a nice site for free on Wordpress. Alternatively, sign up for a site like About.me or Tumblr

and use your new domain as the custom domain.

3. Keep an active blog: There’s a lot of compelling information out there for why blogging

is a worthwhile investment. It can depict you as a thought leader in your industry

and bring in free business. It can earn you a loyal following and will build authority 

on your website so it ranks well in search results. Write an article today

and put a reminder on your calendar to write another in two to four weeks.

Need some help coming up with effective article topics? Write down some trends 

or innovations in your industry that are making you excited, worried or angry. 

What lessons can you teach others about a recent event in your professional life? 

Find some news articles in your niche you’d like to comment on or take in a new direction. 

Or, write down some challenges in your industry.

This is the birth of the how-to blog post.

4. Build a social presence: Sign yourself up on some of the most authoritative social networks

like LinkedIn and Twitter. Try out ones like Crunchbase and About.me -- up-and-coming networks that don’t require much effort on your part but still look great and rank well.

Then follow these six steps to optimize them properly for search engines. 

For instance, use your full name as your username: RyanErskine, not RyGuy9000.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253201

Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later

Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR software/engineering manuals for spontaneous recall – or pass that exam.

I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and rememberwhat I’ve read.

I can TCR an academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  

How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

www.facebook.com/mreenhunt

www.pinterest.com/mreenhunt

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:

www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com    

All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.

Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster

www.innermindworking.blogspot.com    many ways for you to work with the stresses of life

www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com   just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Startup Success

White dog rose.

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Startup Success

Brad Hines

In recent years, the idea of small business owners using a virtual assistant to outsource

daily business tasks has gained popularity. But many people don't know how to hire

or benefit from one. As someone who has successfully hired a personal assistant 

for my business as well as several virtual employees, here’s an overview of the issues 

involved in setting up and managing such relationships:

Determine if a virtual assistant will suit your business needs. 

First, figure out which tasks you would like to assign to an assistant and if it’s cost-effective.

Do an analysis of your business activities over the course of a day if not an entire week,

writing down the minor tasks that are taking up time.

Don’t rule out anything as a task a virtual assistant could not do.

While a United States-based virtual assistant can earn a salary that can start at about $15 an hour {2014} (and those with a specialty might command higher rates). Solid administrative-task

virtual assistants from abroad, though, can be secured for as little as $3 to $6 an hour.

2. Understand the pros and cons of hiring a freelancer from an agency. 

It might be costlier pound for pound to hire a virtual assistant who's working for an agency, 

due to overhead costs, says Rich Pearson, senior vice president of categories and geographies 

at Elance-oDesk.  (His company provides an online marketplace for hiring freelancers 

through the Elance.com and oDesk.com websites.) But an agency might arrange 

for an entrepreneur to use multiple assistants to smooth over gaps in availability or in skill sets. 

Listings of available freelancers on the Elance and oDesk platforms include those who are paid by agencies and those who work independently. The entrepreneur can also post a job listing.  

Pearson says using a freelancer who's not on contract with an agency can result in more personalized attention, given that it's just that one person on the gig. An agency might rotate in multiple virtual assistants for one assignment or pull one away at a whim. The most dedicated personal assistants almost always are independent freelancers with whom the entrepreneur

builds a relationship with (as opposed to those freelancers hired through an agency), 

Pearson says.

When deciding between choosing a virtual assistant who's located in the United States

versus someone abroad, Pearson says, consider how important is it for the person to be awake

while you work and how aware of American culture you need the person to be. 

3. Do prep work to create a great job listing. When writing your well-edited, detailed job listing, always put in a call to action that merits a response to see if the applicant has read the description. For example, ask the applicant to provide examples of his or her work.

There will be indications when a candidate seems motivated. I found it particularly telling 

one Saturday to receive a phone call from Nairobi from Joan, who’s now my personal assistant, asking if she could be interviewed right away (even though I had not yet had a chance

to look over all the messages from those who responded to my ad).

4 Hiring the assistant. Go through the bids that come in and create a list of the applicants

whose responses you like, read their reviews and then line up interviews. A platform like 

oDesk's can show an entrepreneur how a candidate scored on an English proficiency exam

and how many jobs he or she has previously done. I like oDesk for its ability to generate

a contract, monitor work and set up a payment system.

A video conference interview with an applicant is a must and will serve a few purposes:

It can reveal the person's grasp of English and the setting that he or she will likely be working from -- and if it's an orderly place from which to make a phone call on your behalf 

and the applicant's overall demeanor (enthusiasm and ability to think on his or her feet).

5. Managing the assistant. While the hiring of a virtual personal assistant can free up your day,

the burden is on you to allocate tasks smartly and effectively so that happens. 

Generally speaking, the more specific you are in explaining tasks, the better. 

Ideally, as a result of good management, a virtual assistant will in time learn your work style 

and you will be able to give that person more responsibility and encourage more initiative taking.

Don’t hesitate to share with the assistant Google Drive documents outlining the who, what,

where and when of daily tasks, including relevant rules, permissions and passwords.

A Google search for “virtual assistant tools” reveals an abundance of gadgets

that can be used by entrepreneurs who are open to managing assistants on their own.

Online social-media entrepreneur Audrey Melnik of ZootRock in San Francisco explained to me

how she hires and manages her virtual assistant. “We use two tools," she writes in an email.

"The first is called Process Street that allows you to set up a repeatable process,"

for the virtual assistant to run through each time. The person checks off the steps

and add comments where appropriate. "The second is a screen shot tool that takes images

of the [assistants'] screen regularly and tracks their productive time so you can be clear on 

what they are working on when and capture evidence of them working the hours 

they are charging you for.” 

Encourage your assistant to offer you feedback, lending more warmth to the remote-work arrangement. Assistants might not provide feedback unless you ask,

yet their ideas are often spot-on given their proximity to the work.

It will be up to you to decide whether to trust your assistant with information like passwords

and other sensitive materials. Start out with small things, such as granting access to social-media accounts. You may want to consider having an assistant sign a nondisclosure agreement.  

“Big things like the virtual assistant's booking your vacation can come later," Pearson says.

"Training starts with trust, and that means small things at first.”

When possible meet your virtual assistant at least once in person and try to have a video conference at least quarterly. Ultimately, a virtual assistant is not just another cog 

in your business machine, but an employee and certainly a human. 

So remember to treat this person as such.

Editor's Note: This piece has been updated to clarify that a virtual assistant in the United States

can earn a salary that starts at $15 an hour. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235966

Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later

Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR music, poetry or self development material for internal knowing.

I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

I can TCR an academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  

How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

www.facebook.com/mreenhunt

www.pinterest.com/mreenhunt

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:

www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com    

All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.

Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster

www.innermindworking.blogspot.com      many ways for you to work with the stresses of life

www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com     just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

3 Steps to Stop Being Busy and Start Being Productive

Purple bell.

3 Steps to Stop Being Busy and Start Being Productive

Jason Womack

Often you get to the end of the day and think, “I was busy all day, but what did I accomplish?”

Goals give us more than just a target to aim for -- they help us change our behavior today.

Do you get the work that is most important to you done? At the beginning of each day,

there are three things you can do to ensure you're going to gain momentum.

The three steps I’ve found most helpful to regain and maintain focus are:

1.       Determine what has your focus right now. 

First you’ll need to admit that something else has your attention.

Ask yourself, “What is a typical workday like?” If possible, have someone audit your workflow

over the course of a day or so. Ask them to tell you where it seems like you're losing focus

and momentum. Knowing what currently disturbs your focus is the first step.

How much quality time do you have for deep thinking, getting important tasks done,

developing new ideas and building on old ones? Are you in a highly interruptive environment?

If you find yourself multitasking often, consider the following five-day-experiment.

For just the next five days, schedule -- and stick to -- a few longer blocks of focused time

to get important work done. Start with blocking just 30 to 45 minutes each day

to focus on bigger projects and move them forward.

2.       Cut "should" out of your vocabulary. 

You're better off without constantly “should-ing” yourself. Getting caught up in things you “should” do is a negative mindset that only clouds your focus 

and pulls you away from thinking about what you're accomplishing in the moment. 

Of course we all have lists of things we “should” do. I initially reduced this list for myself

simply by noticing where and when I engaged in that behavior. 

Stopping to reflect on one “should” at a time allowed me to attach an action step to it. 

That change alone lowered my anxiety. 

If you're struggling to make a decision about what you should and should not be doing, breakdown the steps you need to take and weigh the pros and cons 

of focusing on the specific task at hand.

These focus activities make it easier to decide whether to say “yes” or “no,” 

whatever the situation or question. Either way, you save time and get engaged faster in making your ideas happen, because you’re one step closer to moving your focus away from asking 

“Should I?” to “How can I?”

3.       Remove distractions. 

Realize that your focus is splintered in the face of distractions -- primarily visual and auditory.

What distractions around you decrease your productivity? Visual distractions include piles 

of papers or unfinished projects, and even sticky notes on your computer.

Auditory distractions are generally sounds that pull your focus from your project.

Turn off dings, alarms, notification alerts, popups and sounds that you can control.

Distractions and interruptions can fool us into thinking we’re being productive,

while destroying your focus. Don’t try to change everything at once. Select just one auditory

or visual distraction and eliminate it. Give these small changes a week and see what happens.

If your focus improves, continue distraction reduction.

Ultimately focus allows us to complete what’s important to us. With a strong goal, a clear objective, and 10 to 15 minutes of focused time, you can move much farther and faster

than you thought possible.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229625

Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later

Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can pre-read all your course material for internal knowing.

I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  

How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

www.facebook.com/mreenhunt

www.pinterest.com/mreenhunt

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:

www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com    

All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.

Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster

www.innermindworking.blogspot.com       many ways for you to work with the stresses of life

www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com      just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

How Jack Ma and Robert Herjavec Confront Failure

Pear thistle, knapweed, creeping thistle.

Turbo Charged Reading: Read fast>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later

Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneous recall – or pass that exam.

I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.

Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  

How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

www.facebook.com/mreenhunt

www.pinterest.com/mreenhunt

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:

www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com    

All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.

Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster

www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life

www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com        just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”