Learn from Ego Surfing

We’re all guilty of “ego surfing” every once and a while (searching your name in Google and seeing what comes up). For some, it’s scary to see how much of your life is documented online. For others, it’s a nice ego boost to see your name “up in lights” within Google’s search engine results pages. Either way, a quick search of your name will turn up who’s saying what about you online.

Turning my attention to attorneys – is it hard to imagine an attorney would be interested to see what others are saying about him/her? Well, sure. But let’s take this a step further and learn a few things from ego surfing. How about a few recommendations on getting the most out of your profiles online:

• In your initial search, make sure you put your name in quotes (eg “Your Namehere”) to specifically return results for you and not a mixture of your first and/or last name. Do the same for your law firm’s name, if different from your own.
• Once you’ve pulled up the search results, my next tip is to make sure that the first page of information that’s returned contains correct information. No, you can’t change others’ opinions about you, but double check that the address and phone information printed along with your name will actually reach you or your office.
• If you don’t see too much online about you, your practice or your cases, there are a few sites that should be high on your list for building your name online. Yes, you are effectively “brand-building” your name and, thereby, your firm’s visibility.
• Lawyers.com – you should get a listing.
• FindLaw.com – you should (probably) get a listing.
• LinkedIn.com – you should set up a profile
• Jigsaw.com - you should set up a profile for your firm
• Naymz.com – you should set up a profile
• Finally, if you’re the type that’s interested in actively TELLING THE WORLD about what you’re up to, top options include:
• Start a blog at a site like Blogger.com or WordPress.com
• Wink.com is a good place to aggregate your information (as is Naymz.com)
• Sign up for Twitter.com (ugh, waaay too much detail for me)
• Sign up for all the social bookmarking accounts you can… and use them!

Yes, there are those who love to document the minutia of their lives for their mothers to read… but there are also those that carefully manage their name and “reputation” online to maximize the impact of search in client development. Whether you’re an old timer who’s still scared of what’s being said online or on the cutting edge, it’s important to learn from what you see when ego surfing and take action as necessary.

[tags]ego surfing, search engines[/tags]

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