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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> Your "Web Reputation"
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07/23/2008 12:02:29 AM · #1
Did you ever stop and think...

"If I choose to make photography my business, my clients will likely be web-savy. If they are web-savy, they will evenutally google me before they make the decision to spend their hard-earned money with me. If they google me... what will they find."

Think about the places you post online. Think about the things you say. If you are presenting yourself as a professional in one place, yet posting in an unprofessional way in another.... what's to stop your clients from finding both...and being confused, or downright put off.

Professionalism should cross all boards and boundaries. Its your reputation.
07/23/2008 12:10:28 AM · #2
Hmmm, is that about me? I googled my name and I'm there! Well, so are a LOT of other people with my name.
I get a map of some hair salon, then a listing, then an indentation then my website! Cool!

When I do the shorter version of my name i'm not on page 1..there are many athletes though and a photographer too. I am #2 on page 2 though.

So while I'm not john smith i may not be far behind LOL

It is a consideration these days I suppose.
07/23/2008 12:15:19 AM · #3
With my name, it is definitely something to consider. If I google my name without parenthesis, I am like the first 4 or 5 pages of google returns before you get some weird stuff.

WITH parenthesis, it is even more. Tack photography on the end of it, and well, it's me.

Of course, I don't bill myself as a "professional," either, but I do try to at least be "nice," when I visit places on the web. Silly, perhaps, but nice.

:)
07/23/2008 12:20:04 AM · #4
Very interesting point... I go by "Jimmy" (and always have), but if you Google "Jimmy Carter", you'll find EVERYTHING BUT me. So as a professional photographer, I decided to use my first two initials "S J Carter", for several reasons: 1) it's unique, 2) it doesn't distinguish gender, and 3) it was available as a domain. I've checked Google (and a number of other search engines) and found that it is far less common than "Jimmy". Plus, I have found that it has worked to my benefit by "isolating" me from the rest of the crowd (including that "other" guy who shares my name). ;-)

I've actually been pleased with the SJCarter search results and hope to capitalize on them from here on out!

Great post idnic and good advice! :-)

Jimmy
(aka SJCarter)

Message edited by author 2008-07-23 00:22:53.
07/23/2008 12:20:13 AM · #5
Temperamental artist - the more temperamental the better -the artist that is. The truly tortured ones are great. And hard to live with and get along with. Or so i've been told.
07/23/2008 12:29:12 AM · #6
I think "artist" and "professional" are two different things. But that's just me.

And no, Chris, this thread isn't about you (why do I hear Carly Simon in the background?), I was just thinking about online posting in general.

I post to several sites and if you google me DPC comes up before my own website... so I try to be careful. Thats all.
07/23/2008 12:35:57 AM · #7
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

Hmmm, is that about me?


Wow. I mean, just, wow. That's quite a leap.

Anyway, back on topic ... I agree to some extent, Cindi. But as someone who's had to hire people, I don't hold their informal Web persona against them if they're goofy. I mean, we all need a place to relax.

Now, if you're an ass in a forum about a particular industry or service, and then try to sell your services in a similar industry, you may be in trouble.
07/23/2008 12:38:12 AM · #8
The ones that make me nervous are those who go online to gripe about their customers and giving such specific details that it could be immediately obvious who it is.

That kinda makes me shudder every time I read it.

Fortunately, we don't see it a lot here, but there have been a couple of instances.
07/23/2008 12:43:35 AM · #9
Originally posted by karmat:

The ones that make me nervous are those who go online to gripe about their customers and giving such specific details that it could be immediately obvious who it is.

That kinda makes me shudder every time I read it.

Fortunately, we don't see it a lot here, but there have been a couple of instances.


Oh Karma, take a peek over at ILP.com. They do it all the time. Kills me. I cringe every time knowing that client is likly going to find that post.
07/23/2008 01:09:19 AM · #10
Oh man....

I gooogled myself and couldn't find me. There's even an AlexBakerPhotography.com that ain't me. Worse yet, he's better too.


07/23/2008 01:21:54 AM · #11
If you google yourself and nothing comes up, do you still have to go to work in the morning?
07/23/2008 01:25:12 AM · #12
Originally posted by ambaker:

Oh man....

I gooogled myself and couldn't find me. There's even an AlexBakerPhotography.com that ain't me. Worse yet, he's better too.


You're lucky. Try having a sex offender web site pop up under your name as the first listing. I don't recall seeing that before when I've googled my name. SOB! At least his middle name is different.
07/23/2008 01:55:24 AM · #13
I get some actor who was a vogon soldier in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (that's the entire first page) and someone else's concept art on deviantArt. I need to start typing my name more...
07/23/2008 02:05:40 AM · #14
Mike Wong isn't a very original name. Fortunately I'm on the first page =)
07/23/2008 03:43:29 AM · #15
I'm SCREWED.

...oh wait, that's not my real name.
07/23/2008 04:01:04 AM · #16
Eric Gamble Photography takes me right to my page...listed number 1 on page one of google...too bad my website is LAME and still needs to be worked on in a major way.
I think I will do that tommorow..
07/23/2008 04:07:51 AM · #17
I'm a ski instructor in New Hampshire as Jeb Boyd, but as NikonJeb I first show up at JPG Magazine.

On the first page of results, my DP Challenge participation doesn't even show!

Funny that, considering how much stinkin' time I waste here! LOL!!!

Gee, I believe I hear Carly Simon, too......
07/23/2008 05:36:17 AM · #18
I've worried about this before but you know what, I'm me, and I'm going to do what I want and say what I want. I do not think there is a reason is this world I would pretend to be something I'm not because anything I gain that way, I didn't actually gain, it was someone else, someone else stealing and using my body for their own purpose, even if I get in on the deal it isn't my deal or my terms. So I am staying myself.
07/23/2008 08:06:12 AM · #19
I'm a retired professional boxer who owns a fitness center.
07/23/2008 08:45:36 AM · #20
I am the man who will never get into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY....
07/23/2008 08:52:11 AM · #21
Originally posted by bassbone:

I am the man who will never get into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY....


And for this reason alone

"In 1980, despite a disappointing .282 average, he led the Phillies to the World Series and helped them win it for the first time in their history. In fact, in the last game of the series, in the last inning, with the bases loaded for the Kansas City Royals, a fly ball popped out of the catcher's glove but Rose luckily caught it before it hit the ground. If he hadn't caught it, there was a possibility that they could have lost the Series."

I say quite right too!!!!!
07/23/2008 08:55:33 AM · #22
Eight links down and you find this badboy...

Dr. Bukk Gallery

I actually had a friend who I hadn't talked to in a long time send me an e-mail because of that picture. He was like WTF IS THIS???

I changed my last name in my profile because of some of my entries. I don't need anyone loking for me to see half naked pictures of my wife....
07/23/2008 09:02:12 AM · #23
Luckily, I don't use my real name, so I'm free to make as big a fool of myself as I want!
:-D
07/23/2008 10:08:18 AM · #24
Originally posted by Strikeslip:

Luckily, I don't use my real name, so I'm free to make as big a fool of myself as I want!
:-D


OMG That's not your real name?!?!?! I feel so cheated & lied to. That's okay, though. We have pictures of your wife and your car.... we can find you! ;)
07/23/2008 10:08:49 AM · #25
Wow. I can only HOPE someone googles me LOL
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