“I don’t give a damn ’bout my bad reputation” Joan Jett, 1981

This may have worked for Joan Jett in 1981 but with the Internet’s elephant-like memory, everything recorded about you and your reputation and personal branding will be around … well … forever. In fact, the elephant analogy doesn’t work either since an elephant’s expected life is only 50 to 60 years. The Internet is a digital warehouse of secrets and successes with an infinite shelf-life.

Not only does the Internet’s digital information span time, but it also spans continents and languages. I did a search on my name: Dano Ybarra and found articles in Spanish published in Spain, Central and South America. I also found articles published in German, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and even Arabic! I only speak English and Spanish! I found two articles published in InfoWorld magazine dated March 13, 1989 and Aug 14, 1989. I found my previous addresses, previous employers, and recommendations by others that I didn’t know existed. After reading 14 pages of information on myself, I stopped. There was more, but you get the idea. Your online personal branding and reputation can be found by anyone, anytime, anywhere, in any language.

A recent study found that 82% of the US population has access to and uses the Internet (2010 Digital Future Study). 82% of the population can find information on you! If you have a “good” reputation on the Internet, congratulations! If you have a “bad” reputation on the Internet you may not be able to hide the information, but you can manage where it shows up. By doing a Blog Marketing campaign, publishing articles, and through active Professional Networking those negative articles will be pushed to pages deep in the search results of your name.

Start your personal branding campaign today and bury your bad reputation deep in the search engine results.

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