Deflect Mistaken Identity by Managing Your Online Repuation

Years ago, my mother injured her back while at work at a nursing home. She ended up getting surgery, so of course Workers' Compensation got involved. At some point, either the nursing home or the Workers' Compensation office had someone follow my mom around to take photos of her to prove she was not as injured as she claimed to be. They did indeed have the evidence to prove she was not injured - only they mistook another woman for my mom. Oops!

I remember another time in a drive thru, a worker thought my mom was someone else and talked to her as if she was the other woman. We think it was the same woman - her true Doppelganger. This woman was happily living her life, not even aware that her looks were causing trouble for another person. This mistaken identity could have caused more trouble than it did, though.

We, too, can find ourselves in similar trouble if we are not careful or aware. Sometimes, we may be dismayed about something we actually did. What then? Can we ever make that blemish go away or will it forever tarnish our reputation and career?

I read an article by Forbes that explains how we can protect and even correct our online reputation. I didn't realize that there are actually companies out there that exist to clean up the reputations of its customers. The author, Susan Adams,  talked with several of these companies to find out what we can do to manage our online reputation:

What the advice comes down to: Create your own content and optimized profiles, to push offending content down to that proverbial third page in Google search results.

She specifically gives 6 things to do to manage your online reputation. Click here to read the article in entirety.

1. Search yourself.
2. Buy your domain name.
3. Put all your content in one place.
4. Join social networks.
5. Optimize your presence on these sites.
6. Keep private things private, while assuming nothing is truly private.

I would add a number 7 - don't do something that will tarnish your reputation! That is the best protection of all.