Why Do You Need Personal Online Reputation Management

I’m going to tell you a story.

I’m going to tell you the story of a 34 year old mortgage broker from Jefferson City named ‘Bryan’ who made the very stupid mistake of drinking 2 beers at his uncle’s retirement party because he thought the alcohol would leave his system by the time he left.

But just 2 hours into the party, his wife messaged him with an emergency.  Against better judgment, he decided to drive to the hospital to meet his family.  On the way to help his wife, he hit a DUI checkpoint and was arrested for driving under the influence.  He went to court, paid his fine, and turned in his license.

He knew he was wrong.

He knew he could’ve hurt someone.

He made a mistake.  A dumb, selfish mistake.  But it wasn’t malicious.

But even after he faced the punishment, a nasty article and mugshot appeared online.  If you search his name, you see a local newspaper article with his disheveled face, wrinkled shirt, and a DUI headline.

Everyone can see it.  His boss.  His coworkers.  His current clients.  His potential clients.

He made a mistake, but should it be the first and ONLY thing people think about when they see him?

We don’t think so.

But without online reputation management services there’s not much they can do to fix that nasty news article that will be on the first page of Google forever.  And what’s on the first page of Google will be the first thing people think about forever.

Maybe I should tell you a different story…

‘Suzan’.  She’s a software engineer with 7 years of experience and a great library of published code.

Suzan has also been photographed vomiting at a tailgating party at her university’s homecoming football game and was turned into a minor meme on her school’s Facebook page and letter on several subreddits.

Some of her peers decided to ‘out’ her in the comments section.  So, whenever people searched her name, the first page of Google would show her professional resources, along with an image search result of her… puking her guts out.

Not only is that an embarrassing experience, but that undermined her relationships at every job.

Her most mortifying experience was front and center in everyone’s mind.  So with great humility, she had to begin every relationship at a disadvantage.  She had to hope that her new acquaintances were gracious enough to treat her as professionally as they would had they not known about her incident.

That picture was going to stay on Google’s first page ranking results without a solid plan to remove it through online reputation management.

Now, I want you to think about this.

I told you these two stories because I want you to imagine the people in your life.

More likely than not, you know someone who has made a selfish, dumb decision that has resulted in their arrest.  And subsequently, resulted in a news article, blog post, or website link on the first page of Google that broadcasts their mistakes to the world.

Or perhaps you know someone who has been caught in an embarrassing situation.  We’ve all had terrible photos, videos, or recordings taken of us.  But most of us are lucky not to have them listed online.

Do you think these mistakes should ruin all of their relationships, at work and at home, for the rest of their lives?

If these types of incidents appear on the first page of Google, then this will be at the forefront of every relationship you develop.

“Bryan, you know, the guy with the DUI”

Or

“Suzan, the girl from the puking meme on Reddit”

These can cost you friendships.  These can cost you jobs.  With most of our professional clients who rely on their name to do business like realtors, lawyers, doctors, and financial professionals, this can cost them lose up to 90% of their monthly income in new clients.

If you or someone you know is dealing with these problems, let us know.  We’ll help.

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