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Ok, like we talked about in our backlinking for reputation management post, one of the easiest ways to start building your online reputation is to make profiles on the best Web 2.0 profiles available in your name. These sites have inherent domain authority in search engines that we can piggyback off of to easily rank for our keyword (your name). Web 2.0 sites and social networks are also built to have a great deal of share-ability and large user bases to share that content with. Thus Web 2.0 sites are great for online reputation management because of the social link building you can do- the audience is literally right at your fingertips!
So what were our criteria for picking these 10 Web 2.0 properties as the best for personal reputation management and web branding?
High domain authority and PageRank. Many social networks have massive authority because of the sheer amounts of users, content, links, and general reputation for being great sources of information. Search engines like information. For those unfamiliar with PageRank, its a factor Google considers and basically looks at the number of inbound and outbound links your site has in relation to the established authority of the other sites linking to it. We could write thousands of words on PageRank, unfortunately now is not the time. Just know that the higher the PageRank number (0-10) the more authority a domain has. Thus we're looking for social networks with a high PageRank.Quality outbound links. That said, a site with extremely high authority is much more difficult to use for web branding if it doesn't give you quality dofollow links (as opposed to nofollow) to your other social profiles. Remember, the core of our strategy is to carefully interlink our social profiles to boost each other's rankings; this is hard to do if the sites you pick don't give you any good links to work with. Profiles that allow for anchor text links are especially attractive.
A customizable URL. Remember, Google gives a slight search bonus to URLs with your name in the domain, so we're looking for social media networks that also allow for this level of customization. Most major sites do allow for it these days, but oftentimes you only get to change it once so choose wisely.
A place to put CONTENT! Search engines love content, so key sites should have a way to post lots of it! Either a solid biography section or something that allows for blog-style posts. Being able to post is incredibly useful, not only for connecting with a larger audience but for helping a site gain authority and top the search results.
Limited personal information required. Some people want a web presence without giving away key facts like address, age, email address, phone number, etc. Most profiles require some form of this information, but most allow you to make it private. Moderate privacy is the norm, so we're excluding profiles that require a gratuitous amount of personal information.
The X-factor. Some of these choices won't be obvious based on the above criteria. The X-factor is simply anecdotal experience from our ends on what ranks and what doesn't. After all, a site can look great on paper (on laptop screen?) but not actually rank well for some reason or another in Google. Likewise some sites are pretty vanilla at first glance, but simply outperform some larger social networks.
So with that out of the way, lets get to it:
Honorable mentions:
Businesscard2, a professional site that provided a virtual business card. This site allows for a custom URL, has a biography section, built in links to a handful of the top social networks, and allows for full length post updates with anchor texts links, and sits on a cool PageRank of 6. The downside? Businesscard2 is merging with Workface, another professional profiling site sometime in early 2012. If Businesscard2 were to stick around it'd probably be around #5-7 in the list. Workface is great and all, but it requires more personal information and generally doesn't perform as well as the ole Bee-Cee-Two did. That said, workface would still probably make our top 20 list, so check it out!
Posterous. This could have easily been #10 instead of Tumblr as they share a great deal of similar qualities. Both are microblogging sites that many other wbe 2.0 profiles allow you to link to. In fact, based on our anecdotal experience Posterous typically ranks higher than Tumblr in search results. The reason preposterous didn't make the list was simple: even though it was a better star solo than Tumblr, Tumblr allows your to send far more quality links and updates to the rest of your sites.
10. Tumblr - the team player. Tumblr has a lofty PR8 and allows you to post tons of content of a variety of types (text, pics, links, podcasts, videos etc) extremely easily. It ranks well and it helps your other profiles rank well. 'nuff said.
9. Professional on the Web - We don't really have an explanation for this one. X-factor all the way! It doesn't allow updates, and it has a semi-customizable URL, but it also has some extra junk characters in there. Professional on the Web does have a PR6, and it allows for a lengthy about you section, and it has an open-ended quality link section as well. There's just something about this site that works. It just ranks well, and its links are extremely high quality. We can't put it higher in the list because it simply doesn't meet many of our criteria, but try this one out and you'll be pleased.
8. Google+ - the red-headed stepchild of social networks. Google+ is awesome for a few reasons- number one being awesome functionality and developers behind it. That said, the main public hasn't fully caught on yet and as such Google+ is definitely lagging behind the other social networks. They did just allow for business pages recently, so it isn't just for social users anymore. That said, the biggest penalty comes from not allowing a custom URL. You have to spend a lot of time on Google+ to get it to rank well. It works great if you have the time to be on it a few times every week and connecting with people, but not for your average busy professional. It does have a PR8 and is the spawn of the practical owners of the internet so you should still probably at least sign up for one, or something.
7. Multiply - Another social networking giant with a PR7. Multiply is a site that really has it all- massive user base, fully custom URLs, photo, blog, and video sharing, a completely customizable profile minisite, and great outbound links. In fact, multiply is probably the single best site that meets all our criteria to the letter. So why isn't it #1? Because there are bigger fish out there that, despite not being perfect on paper, perform much better in real life.
6. Profilepond - This is actually split sites joined together- Peoplepond and Companypond. You sign up for a generic Profilepond and then set up individual pages from there. This is another profile that is a little weak in some categories, but strong in the X-factor field. Profilepond just ranks well. It has quality outbound links, and allows for RSS feeds of some of the top social and Web 2.0 profiles also on this list. It doesn't allow for updates, and only has a PR4. Guess this is proof that PR isn't everything, eh?
5. Twitter - The undisputed microblogging king. There's been some debate as to Twitter's PageRank- the first half of the year it was a lofty PR9 but recently Twitter actually shows a PR of 0. We'll just call it 9 for all intents and purposes. And in terms of accessible user base, Twitter is probably on top, yet the reason we only put it at number 5: nofollow links. Every link on twitter carries no link juice; they simply don't count for helping your other profiles rank. In order to get a twitter onto page 1 of Google you're going to have to sink a lot of backlinks into it with no hope of return on those links. The good news is twitter ranks pretty damn well on its own off the strength of its own name combined with relatively steady tweeting. So yes, its good but not nearly #1.
4. Xing - Another allstar social network, only this one is from those crazy Germans. Quality outbound links, good network base, pages for company and individuals, and sittin' on a PR8. Not much to say, this is pretty vanilla. It ranks well, it helps your other sites rank, and it is a great social pillar to add to your online empire.
3. WordPress - We want the.com variant- WordPress.org is for hosting the WordPress software on your own website. WordPress.com is just a great free blogging site that you can name after yourself and use to churn out high quality content. WordPress is incredibly easy to use, and can rank for your name with just two or three posts on it. Not to mention the fact that you can add tons of great links as anchor text and a svelte PR9? Sign me up. And sign yourself up while you're at it.
2. Facebook - Some of you probably expected this at #1. Facebook is the undisputed king of the overall social scene - but it is by no means the best network for reputation management purposes. It suffers from the same problems Twitter does: lack of quality outbound links. That said, Facebook ranks so damn well on its own with just a bit of content and a few posts, and the traffic it can drive to your other profiles makes it an absolute must. People almost EXPECT you to be on Facebook these days, whether you're an individual or a business. Besides, it provides a great way to interact and is one of the best online reputation tools out there. And you don't have to sink a ton of extra backlinks into it to make it rank; most sites have Facebook-specific link and RSS feed spots anyways. BUT you're probably on Facebook anyways, so this point is probably moot =D
1. LinkedIn - The mac daddy of social networks for reputation management, lets take a quick look at why this at #1 over the almighty book of faces:
Both are a lofty PR9 and have massive built-in user bases to interact with.LinkedIn is more professional in nature and potential employers, customers, and business partners almost expect you to have a LinkedIn the same way your friends expect you to have a Facebook.
It allows for 3 dofollow links of your choice, along with a spot to sync with your Twitter account. That's 4 MEGA quality outbound links to Facebook's 0. This is the main reason LinkedIn edge out the #1 spot, in case you were curious.
No full post functionality as of yet, but you can update your status and join plenty of groups and networks to add content and links to your profile to help it rank.
All that said, we like to think of LinkedIn as Facebook's slightly older & more grown up big brother; a lot of the same desirable traits, just a little more professional and grown up. And LINKS- juicy, juicy outbound links.
So that's our list! Got any points to challenge? Favorite sites that didn't make the cut? Let us know in the comments! Look us up on any of these networks for more tips on how to use it- we're on all of them and more!
This article was written by Clark Jameson, member of the Clean Name Blueprint staff. For more web2.0 tips and online reputation management strategies visit our blog at Clean Name Blueprint.