I just Googled myself. I’ve done it now and then, and I’ve set up a Google alert (but all that does is tell me someone with my name got arrested for cruelty to animals, which really isn’t what I had in mind), but I was reading an article on making sure you have a “platform” and decided to do it again.
Of the first six items on the main page, the top two were Facebook telling people they could find me there. The third one was LinkedIn saying there were fifty Terri Bensons listed. Googling
But, the next three were my website and my book. Yeah, me! A co-worker suggested I look at images as well, and I found myself starting on line three – so not too bad again. I don’t post a lot of photos of me or my family – most of them are business photos from our office website or RMFW, or the ones associated with my book launch. There was this lady in the orange jumpsuit (no, it’s not the new black!) with the big label “Terri Benson” and side bars that say CaseyAnthony.com – not a good look for her, and not really anyone I want to be associated with. Image of
But it was interesting to see how much I showed up (or didn’t) online. I only have the one book out, but I do have a website and a personal Facebook, which may or may not be connected to a business and/or author page (Facebook and I are having a bit of a battle about that). I had a Twitter account until my provider quit (providing, that is) and Twitter demands that you log on only with the original e-mail address, no matter what, in order to change your e-mail (??!!??), so the two Tweets and three followers (how the heck did that happen) I had are out there somewhere in the ozone, all alone.
I realize I need to do better. And I’m thinking about it. I use Facebook and Twitter daily for work, and so far my stubborn brain is telling my marketing brain that I’ve already done my share for the day and it isn’t going to go any further. That’s another thing I’m working on – getting my brains all on the same wavelength, but no luck so far.
So, have you Googled today? If not, try it. And if nothing else, you’ll find some really creepy person who has the same name and will explain the looks you got from co-workers a couple weeks ago, right?
Oh, and Write On!
Interesting, Terri. I am involved in recruiting some fellow writers for a national project (can’t go into too much detail) and I can tell you that MANY MANY writers did not get an invitation because when I Googled them their websites looked blah, their info was outdated, and you could just tell that their online presence was, well, stale. Or non-existent. It may not be a fair way of judging but, unfortunately, this is the way it is. Your online presence is a bit of a calling card for those who don’t know you and they are either going to feel welcome and excited (and interested). Or not.
I agree. I’ve seen some big authors with bad sites as well, and I guess it works because they’re big authors. But the rest of us need all the help we can get to set ourselves apart from the millions of others out there clamoring for readers. I know I need to do better, and the classes with RMFW have been a big help.
I have Google Alerts set up for my name, but I can’t resist Googling my book titles at least once a week. That’s how I found there are a bunch of sites out there offering free PDFs of Wishing Caswell Dead, and it hasn’t even been released yet. So many crooks in this world!!!
Most of those are scams that get people to click on a freebie, but it routes to a junk site. You can go to Google and report it, and they’ll take them down. Don’t click into the site, just pull off the URL because you’ll need to paste it into the Google form. They take care of it pretty quickly. I’ve had several on my book as well. Here is the link to Google instructions: https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/7347743?hl=en
Googling myself I used to find lots of photos of me and relevant info from my facebook page and website to many articles I’ve written. But, of late, I’ve seen many of the organizations that offer up personal info on people. Paid sites, I think. See this person’s arrest records etc… so I’m sad about where my search is now going on the first page.