by Sherese Duncan, president & CEO, Efficio, Inc.

I have never been one to have a big ego, but lately I have been ego-surfing.  If you use the Internet for business in any way, shape or form, I suggest you do the same.

Ego-surfing is the practice of searching one’s own name and company name on popular search engines.  For example, I regularly search “Sherese Duncan” and “Effició,” on search engines, such as, AltaVista, Google and HotBot, just to see what results I will get.
Why should you ego-surf? With the influx of blogs, article directories, social Websites, networking Websites, etc., you have to ego-surf on a regular basis to first make sure your efforts are paying off and second, make sure you are not getting digitally put down over the Internet!

Do your friends surf the Net? How about your business colleagues, your family, or any potential clients?

Wouldn’t you like to be aware of what they may be reading about ‘you’?

Shouldn’t you be aware if you are being libeled on your networking sites or forums you participate in?

How about if people are misquoting you or giving your articles bad reviews?

Business owners are ego-surfing you, potential clients are ego-surfing you, your clients are ego-surfing you and maybe your advisory board is ego-surfing you.  Ego-surfing is something that can impact your Internet presence and your ability to generate cash from the Internet.

Basically, wouldn’t you like to know your cyber reputation?

You might as well face the Internet and the fact that you have to have one if you want to increase your market share as a business owner.  People are ego-surfing you and you should be ego-surfing yourself on a regular basis.

In order to positively impact your ego-surfed profile, here are some quick tips to start your ego-surf campaign:

Example: the many faces of Sherese Duncan

As a business owner who uses the Internet to generate cash flow, exposure and visibility, I perform searches for my name (ego-surf) once a month.  To get you started, I will share with you what I do on a monthly basis:

Going in, I would expect to find my name in several contexts but for the purposes of this article, I will break it down to three: Websites that I own, articles that I have written that are posted in directories and other sites and speaking events that I have participated in or hosted.

To begin my ego-surf session I go to www.google.com and search for ‘sherese duncan’ – putting my search term in quotes so that it searches for the phrase and not each word individually.

My time is critical, so I only look at the first two pages for relevance – how many are really about me and my company?

Sometimes I refine my search depending on what I am looking for or if I only want to see my article submission or just my company Websites, etc.  In addition, I also search ‘Efficio,’ ‘street perspective,’ ‘swift,’ etc. – all Effició brands.

Why should I pay attention to what I see?

-To make sure my online activities paying off and

- To keep a watchful eye on who is linking to me, commenting on my work, and any other links that I do not personally create.

The business world has become digital.  Your online profile has become an important element in creating a positive and profitable online presence.  To see what I mean, ego-surf your ‘First Name Last Name’ and see what comes up. I hope you are not surprised at what you see, most of all I hope you see something there!

Small Business Strategist, Sherese Duncan, “the Entrepreneurs’ Strategic Partner,” is President and CEO of Efficio, Inc., a business education and consulting firm.  For more information about Duncan and her company, go to www.shereseduncan.biz or if you have a burning business question that needs to be answered www.askefficio.biz.

© Effició, Inc.