Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Have You Googled Yourself Lately?
By Joanie Ogg CTC, MCC

Well, I guess you cannot Google yourself but have you tried Googling your name?  We were having dinner with my nephew Dave, who lives in Hawaii a couple weeks ago and this topic came up and after much discussion, I thought this might be a timely topic for our newsletter.

My nephew decided he wanted to investigate taking a cruise when he turns 50 in a couple years. Obviously Dave is a long-range planner. He has lived in Hawaii for the last 12 years so we do not see or chat as often as we would like. He knows Tom and I have cruised a great deal but he really had no idea what we really do or did for a living.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We are close but not about business. We just don’t really get into that aspect of our relationship when we talk. I suspect there are some of readers who can relate to this and you might be chuckling along with me.  So, long story short, Dave Googles Tom Ogg and then he Googles Joanie Ogg. Lord only knows what he found when he did that!

At dinner we all discussed what happens when someone Googles you and what might they find. Will it be fact or fiction? Will they get current information or very dated information? Apparently, Dave found that we cruise a lot and he decided we were the right people to chat with when planning his 50th.  We had to break it to him that we are not selling travel at this time but we assured him we could find him a great agent when he was ready to make the buy. 

This got me wondering what the heck he found out when he Googled his Aunt Joanie and Uncle Tom. So I gave it a whirl and found I was far more interesting then I think I am. All kidding aside, it really is a good exercise and most importantly, you might find out what other’s see when they Google you. It is information you should be aware of and on top of. Luckily, I could not find anything really bad when I did my search, but I have heard some stories from others that have not been so positive.

So, I did some investigation as to what we might want to be aware of and pay attention to, as it pertains to our “Googleability”. Each day, thousands of people are searching online for information about others, businesses, etc and this is just on Google. Add to that the other search engines and managing your reputation can be a major undertaking. Here is some things I uncovered that might be worth taking a look at.

How do you rate?
Go ahead, just Google yourself for fun. Begin with your name and then get into it and try your last name only, your name in quotes, run your name together with no spaces, etc. This is called investigation. You will soon see what is being said about you and how you rate.

Google Alert
Did you know you can set up an alert with your name through Google and see when your name is published to the Web? Once you set this up, Google will email you to confirm your desire to receive the updates and voila, you will know when you hit the Web!

Don’t like where you are?
Perhaps you appear on sites and don’t want to be there for one reason or another. Contact the website and ask that the information be removed. This may take awhile, but no news may be good news.

We have some friends in Mexico who own a hotel near our home there. Another local hotel decided to try to build their own occupancy by starting blog posts about the hotel our friends own. Our friends found their business failing and when they finally found out about these negative posting on a popular blog, it was almost too late. However, they were determined to clear their reputation and that of their hotel so they demanded that these posts be removed. It took them about 6-months of persistent “watch-dogging” online, but the good new is, their business is now thriving again!

Is it worth your time and effort to Google Yourself? Heck, you might have fun learning more about yourself then you ever knew!