Get Googled And Build CredibilityCopyright (c) 2003 by Angela Booth
Value your privacy? Get over it. The bad news is that thanks to
Web, privacy no longer exists. Get Googled, and within a few short seconds anyone who knows your name will be able to learn quite a bit about you.
Try it. Go to Google ( http://www.google.com ), and type in your name. I just did a search query for "Angela Booth" and Google returned a search of over 95, 000 pages. If you have a Web site, post a message on Usenet, sell on eBay, or do much of anything other than breathe, you're caught, like a butterfly in amber, in sticky World Wide Web courtesy of Google.
Bad as this may be for privacy, this is good news if you're trying to build a business. It means that if you focus some of your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out on Web, you're building your credibility.
Suddenly all those direct-mail letters that you've been sending out carry a bit more weight. You're more than a slip of paper, a stamp and an envelope. You're a Google-presence.
So how do you build credibility out of being Googled?
The fastest way is to write a couple of information-rich articles, and post them on your Web site. Sure, this is a little bit of work, but not much. You can write, can't you? Within a month or so, your name will appear on Google.com. Over time, your name will also pop up on Web's other search engines.
You don't have a Web site? You need one, and if you can type and you've got an hour to spare you can get one. Many, many Web site hosting companies offer site hosting for next-to-nothing a month. These hosting companies are catering to non-technical people who want a hassle-free site, so they make it as easy as they can by offering site templates. All you do is pick a template, type in your information (or copy and paste), and in less than an hour you've got a pretty good site that works great as an online portfolio and information resource for your clients.
