Business owners need to be especially conscious of their online presence.
Your business website and the other sites that you have control over are just part of your online footprint. While you won’t necessarily have full control over every online entity that mentions your name or your business, there are some things you can do to ensure that your online footprint stacks up favorably.
When looking for people to model your online presence after, it can’t hurt to take a look at the super wealthy. Digital consulting company Five Blocks recently put together an infographic compiling data about Google results of the wealthiest One Percenters.
There were a few things that most of these wealthy Americans, who were selected based on the most recent Forbes list, had in common. First, 99 percent had at least one Wikipedia entry about them, their company or their family. These Wikipedia pages usually appeared first in Google search results for the person’s name.
In addition, most of them have at least one website that they “own,” such as a company or foundation website. However, these websites only made up about 16 percent of the search results.
Aside from main company websites, there are plenty of online platforms that can give business owners more control over what appears in their search results. The ultra wealthy don’t necessarily put a lot of stock in social media though.
Just 10 percent of wealthy females and 22 percent of wealthy males had at least one social profile show up in their page one search results. Of those social platforms, Twitter was the most popular, followed by Facebook and LinkedIn.
Check out the Five Blocks infographic:
But even though few of the wealthiest Americans take advantage of these platforms, they have the ability to positively influence their online footprints. Since there are so many different sites and platforms offering input and opinions about business owners and wealthy Americans, any platform that can give you some control over what might appear in your search results should at least be considered.
While you can’t have control over all of the third party content out there, there might be some offline things you can do to nudge your reputation in the right direction. The wealthy Americans who had mostly favorable online representation tended to be more philanthropic, according to Five Blocks.
You’ll never be able to fully control all of the online search results that mention your name and your business. But if you learn from some of the most successful entrepreneurs out there and try to take control of the platforms available to you, your online presence could benefit.
Image: Five Blocks
Is this another example of the Pareto Principle? 😉
Annie Pilon
It just might be!