OMG! You are just like Britney Spears.

Ok, maybe not just like Britney. But you’re closer than you think. Did you know “Britney Spears” is one of the most searched keywords in both Yahoo and Google? It’s not likely as many people search your name. However your name is a keyword , just like “Britney Spears” is a keyword.

As a Realtor your name is your most important asset. It’s all you have and its now officially out of your control and in the hands of the Google Gods.

We no longer have complete control over what people say about us online and the Internet never forgets.

If you think you can simply sue someone to clear your good name… good luck. Freedom of speech is one of the most important amendments of the US Constitution. Heck, it’s even the first one. (Look it up.) How do you think all the tabloids get to say anything they want about Britney? True or not…there’s just too much of it out there for her to defend against via lengthly court proceedings.

Your best option is to do everything you can to take control of the results in the search engines so your prospects don’t find some nasty stuff written about you. Think of it as PR for the web.

Here are a few quick tips to get started:
1. Vanity Optimization: Make sure your real estate site is optimized for your name, not just your target markets.
2. Social Links: Link to all your social network profile, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Zillow, Trulia and of course IncredibleAgents.com.
3. Advertise: Sign up for Google Adwords and start marketing for your own name.
4. Vanity Blogging: Write a blog post with your name in the title. Find something useful to write about yourself, not just vanity blogging.
5. Interview: Find a fellow blogger/realtor to do a positive interview of you for their blog. Make sure they use your name in the blog title and link back to your site, so it gets indexed for your name.

Let’s hope your life isn’t as entertaining as Britney’s and you don’t get Googled as much as she does. Hopefully these are some helpful hints for you to take control of your online reputation and stay out of trouble with all the tabloids…and on Google.