Great post over on Seth Godin's blog about Personal Branding and Google.
Personal branding in the age of Google
A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.
Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person's name.
The
first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the
applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry
was, "binge drinking."
The second search turned up a personal
blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like,
"I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I'm annoyed
by it. I'll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings."
And
the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the
local police department, indicating that the applicant had been
arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.
Three for three.
Google never forgets.
Of
course, you don't have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for
this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent
record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good
stuff and to always act as if you're on Candid Camera, because you are.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/02/personal-branding-in-the-age-of-google.html
My buddy Rob Norman from GroupMalso posted something very similar about "When Your Home Page Is Not Your Home Page":
http://robnorman.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/when-is-your-home-page-not-your-homepage/
What's the lesson learned here? There's no hiding for a brand. Transparency and openness are the new world order. Anything/anyone/anywhere wants to say and or learn about your brand is out there for everyone to see.
So what's your brand's search engine strategy? How are you optimizing your website so people can find you? And how is that site constructed to not only provide information but also to have an active dialog with your visitors?
It's a big world, yes, but it's really not. How are managing your brand online matters because it's the first place people go to learn about your brand. Are you ready for them when they find you?