Here are 5 ways you could help protect your reputation while still enjoying the Internet.

1. Work Profile, Play Profile

You don’t need to be a digital hermit just to protect your online reputation. Many celebrities, politicians, and public figures have both a professional and private profile. Their private profile usually uses their initials, a middle name, or a nickname that only their friends and family know.

Having a work profile means that you don’t get left out of any professional events, being tagged in photos, or forgotten in conversations. A work profile gets to be massaged, with every post vetted, adding to the allure of your persona. It’s actually very exciting for people when they only get a little bit of information about you at a time.

A separate private profile allows your family to post group photos with you tagged in them. They can reach out to you directly with anything, rather than your public profile which could be managed by an assistant. A play profile also allows you to have you to have real conversations and explore your humorous side, warts and all.

The biggest thing to worry about when you have two profiles is that you’re never posting to the wrong one. The best way to manage your two profiles is for your personal devices to be logged into your private account while your work devices are on your public one. You can maintain the balance by having to move to a completely different device to post.

2. Start Over

If you’re about to step into the public realm, you could always just press reset on your old life. If you’re under 40, you’ve lived a good portion of your adulthood under the microscope of the web. People have been watching your every move for years.

If you need a refresh, there’s nothing wrong with canceling an old account and starting a new one. You can even archive your old account, save the old information, and then scrub it from the world.

Starting from scratch for some people is like grabbing a ticket halfway across the world and starting over. It’s like moving to a new city where you don’t know anyone. Many people report feeling relieved and happier once they were no longer tethered to the false sense of connection and identity that social media provides.

3. Google Yourself

Searching for yourself online is the best way to see what your reputation really looks like to others. If you don’t see anything wildly incriminating in your first page or two, you should be in good luck.

Try to remember any crazy events you were at, political protest for causes you no longer support, or now-problematic celebrities you loved. If there are photos of you shaking hands with Sadaam Hussein, you might want to get control of those images. If there’s a report you wrote in the 90s about what a great movie producer Harvey Weinstein was, you might need to take those posts down.

If you posted to a blog that you no longer have the credentials for, all is not lost. It’s common for this to happen and tech support should be prepared to help you out.

Run searches on different engines. Use the name of any schools or universities that you attended. Plug in any incriminating terms if you’re looking for a specific embarrassing event.

4. Don’t Drink and Post

Drinking and posting online is a surefire way to end up in deeper trouble than you intended. Being drunk in photos can come back to bite you if you look a little too drunk. Everyone needs time to unwind, but yours shouldn’t overlap with using social media.

Lots of people post wild strange things online and then try to call it an accident, a hack, or a momentary lapse of judgment. It’s hard for the public to believe these excuses if the incidents keep happening. You’re better off just logging out of social media and off any blogging sites if you’re out having a good time.

If you’re really having a good time, what are you doing on social media anyhow? Perhaps you need a break from social media. View here for more ideas on what you could do instead of being on social media.

5. “Don’t Be Evil”

While this was once a key slogan in Google’s code of conduct, it’s a great credo for all of us to live by. Making conscious efforts to only do good in the world can easily trickle down to our online life. If we’re always trying to be constructive and make the world a better place, “don’t be evil” is a perfect statement to remember.

Being online allows us to say the mean things we’re thinking to a wide group of people without having to start the person we’re talking about in the face. That level of anonymity can belie some serious viciousness. “Don’t be evil” is a reminder to avoid that viciousness.

If you have the tools to hack into a system, to break into your ex-partner’s inbox, or to mess around with for former employer’s computer, think twice. Not only could you be violating the law, but you could be violating your own personal code of ethics.

Remember, don’t be evil.

Protect Your Online Reputation Forever

When you set out to protect your online reputation, you may not have realized it would be a constant struggle. Every post that you or anyone else makes about you could have ramifications out of your control. Without enough protection, you could be the next person on the news posted next to photos of a racy or poorly chosen Halloween costume.

If you’re more interested in building your company’s reputation, check out our guide for tips.

The post 5 Ways to Protect Your Online Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.

You hear it all the time – content is king; content this, content that. What’s the big deal? Content marketing is one of the most effective things you can do for your online presence.

It’s more than a search tactic. Content marketing supports the image of your brand and helps create lasting relationships with your audience. This applies no matter the kind of industry you operate in, how large your company is, or how long you’ve been around.

At the end of the day, you have to use content as part of your marketing and branding strategy. But, it’s not in your best interest to just publish something for the sake of pushing content. You have to create high-quality copy and visuals for your audience.

Here’s a more in-depth look at why quality content matters so much.

1. More Content, More Traffic

At first, people were focused on creating content just for the search results. They figured that the more they posted new articles and social media content, the more users would come to their site. It’s true, that’s basically how content marketing works.

But, Google isn’t stupid. You can’t write an article with thin content or post duplicate content and consider yourself good to go. You have to write original, relevant material in order for your content to be worth anything and bring people to you.

In fact, sub-par content can do more harm than good. This is why having a content strategy for the web is crucial. It’s not something you can be hands-off with or half-hearted about; the best content is created with a clear purpose in mind.

In other words, it has to have a purpose beyond getting traffic. Maybe you want to get people excited for a product you’re about to launch or be the first one to talk about a new trend in your industry. Maybe you want to highlight an employee or create a way for users to connect with you beyond the brand.

Whatever the actual copy is going to be about, make sure it’s excellent. This will help you get the most traffic possible from the web content you share.

2. Good Content Improves Your Brand Authority

One way to leverage the things you write about is to focus your content on creating authority. This improves your brand image significantly.

When you become an authority in your market, people naturally start paying more attention to you. Competitors will be going to your blog for innovative insights and consumers will want to buy from you over someone else.

Authority creates trust. It sends a positive message about who you are and what you do, which strengthens the reputation of your brand.

3. Offering Value Creates Amazing Results

Keep in mind that your reputation isn’t just about you. When you make a good name for yourself, you’re really telling people you can give them everything they’re expecting and more. A good reputation says you offer the best value in the business.

It’s worth driving this message every time you can. Publishing high-quality content on a consistent basis creates a value standard for the entire business. Your insights and ideas reflect the strength of your products and services.

Together, these things boost brand awareness and brand loyalty. Your content becomes less of a marketing strategy and more of a continued conversation with your audience. It encourages the growth of already-established relationships and helps foster new, powerful connections with users.

4. It’s Better to Be Proactive Over Reactive

Here’s another thing to think about: it’s much better to be in a position of increasing the positive awareness of your business than to be fixing negative perceptions.

Put simply, content works best when it comes from a proactive standpoint. Building a strong brand reputation now is extremely helpful if a user has one negative experience later.

People are less likely to stop using your business altogether if they go into a bad situation knowing that such experiences are a one-off with your business, not the norm. The only way for them to know this, though, is through their own past experiences and the form in which you present yourself.

Your reputation is your livelihood. A good brand reputation helps patch up mistakes and keeps you above water, while a bad one is sure to bring your business down.

5. Quality Content Matters Beyond Search

The final reason to create and leverage quality content is that this offers benefits beyond search. If you are focused on using it mostly for search, though, view here to learn about important search rank factors.

But, remember great content drives engagements across the board.

It drives the rate of new customers you convert, keeps current consumers coming back to buy more, and supports how people buy-into your culture, too. This is helpful if you find yourself in an expanding position and recruiting new hires or looking for feedback on what products to roll out next.

Also, your in-house people will be proud to work with a company that is in such good light. This is where quality content comes full circle. It starts as something meant to create a dialogue with consumers and reel them in, then it turns into a part of what your business is.

That’s the best way to look at your reputation, actually – as an extension of your company. The next time you go to publish something, consider whether or not it’s something your brand is proud to stand behind.

Make Your Online Reputation the Best It Can Be

It’s one thing to understand just how much content matters and another to know how to create quality web copy. Plus, writing the right content isn’t enough. You also have to know how to leverage what you publish as much as possible.

Click here to learn how you can improve your content marketing campaign.

The post Content Matters: How Quality Content Can Impact Your Online Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.