The Reputation.com team had a great time over the weekend meeting all of the great folks at the National Association of REALTORS conference. In fact, we had so much fun that we decided we would keep the conversation going here on the Reputation.com Blog.

If you attended the NAR conference and stopped by our booth, you probably got a copy of “Owning Your Digital Real Estate – Online Reputation Management for Realtors.” To help spread the Reputation.com mission, we’ve decided to share it for everyone else here. Let us know what you think in the comments. And don’t forget you can win a free subscription to our latest product, NameGrab!

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Owning Your Digital Real Estate: Online Reputation Management for Realtors

In 2008, 87 percent of homebuyers used the Internet to assist them in their real estate search . Are you doing everything in your power to make sure that the information they find about you is accurate? In the digital age, nothing is more important to your career than how you look on the first page of Google. Check out our three tips for making your search results an asset, not a liability.

Monitor Your Name Online

Realtors live and die by their reputations. If someone is spreading bad information about you on the web, you need to find out fast. For an easy way to track of your reputation online, set up a Google News Alert in your name. This will provide you with a daily snapshot of where your name appears in public search results. There’s more to the Internet than just Google though, which is why we created MyReputation. Our MyReputation agents will search for your name everywhere online, including social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and provide you with an easy-to-read monthly report of their findings.

Become a Social Media Master

According to a 2009 National Association of Realtors survey, 84% of realtors use social media to some extent in their work . Congratulations, that means you and your colleagues are some of the most web-savvy professionals there are. Don’t pat yourself on the back too much though, there’s always more you could do. Have you fully optimized your social networking profiles for search engine visibility? MyEdge from Reputation.com will help you shine in search results with elegant, professionally written, and search-engine ready biographies custom tailored to your specifications.

Separate Work and Play

Because so much of a realtor’s success comes from his or her personality, it’s important that you share yours online. Remember though, there’s a fine line between sharing and oversharing. You should consider the content you share online the same way you would a tattoo. Will you be happy with it in five years? Ten years? Before you post anything online, ask yourself the following questions. Does it matter to me that this information is on the web for anyone in the world to see? Is there a chance that this content will come back to hurt me personally or professionally? If the answer to those questions is no, then you’re probably okay.

To learn more about how you can manage your reputation online, call 877-720-6488 today to speak with one of Reputation.com’s trained Online Reputation Management consultants.

In a press release today from executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, CEO John Challenger proclaimed that in the Internet age “technology serves to instantly connect seekers with employers, recruiters and job leads.”

The report offers tips for engaging social networks in your job search, including building your personal brand by starting a personal blog, joining professional networks like LinkedIn, and using Twitter to share your professional insights. But, be careful not to mix your personal social networks with your professional networks too much — a recent CareerBuilder study found that 35% of HR professionals had turned down a candidate due to inappropriate photographs, their poor online communication skills, and other poorly-chosen content placed on social networks.

For more information, and tips on how to use social networks to find a job, check out the report here. In Challenger’s words, make yourself “a product employers must have.”

This weekend I had the pleasure of being able to see our customers and potential customers face to face at the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) Conference in San Diego. There is no substitute for seeing the faces of potential customers and their real time reactions to our products.

Every time I talk about Reputation.com, people’s reactions amaze me. Seeing people reach that moment of discovery when they understand what we do and how much it is needed on the web is fabulous. Now, sometimes it takes a little while to reach that moment of discovery but when it happens, it gives me a warm, tingly feeling inside.

Over the course of the conference, we have had conversations with a wide range of people seeking to control and improve their online reputations. Some have been looking for information on how to improve their search engine results. Others have asked how they can incorporate social media into their marketing strategies. It’s been great to say how positive everyone is about the work we do each and everyday. We’ve even had people sign up for our services right on the spot.  Oh, and the shirts. Everyone loves the shirts. We’re proud to report that many NAR members are now sporting some sweet Reputation.com threads.

What was really great about being at the NAR Conference, though, was helping so many REALTORS improve their digital lives. In many ways, Reputation.com is the perfect product for REALTORS. Many REALTORS that I spoke to told me about their marketing budget and what they were getting from their team. I spoke to one individual who told me that his marketing budget was $7,000 for the year and his marketing team was making sure that he was represented on the web the way he’d like to appear.

I was flabbergasted. His team wasn’t building web properties for him, wasn’t giving his google results a competitive edge, and wasn’t writing professional bios for him; all things we do for our MyEdge customers. I couldn’t figure out exactly what his team was doing. When I told him all the things we offer at a considerably lower price, he refused to believe me. He ended up signing up on the spot 10 minutes later. It was an eye-opening conversation for him, and one that we’re happy to have with new customers on a daily basis.

As the NAR Conference comes to a close today, we hope that all of our new friends will take something valuable away from their interactions with us. Whether it’s one of our products, or just information about how they can improve their personal and professional reputations online, all of us here at ReptuationDefender were happy to have met you over the weekend, and we hope to hear from you all again soon.

Do you remember what you were doing on the night of June 12th, 2009? If you are one of the 300 million people who has a Facebook account, you might have been waiting by your computer for the clock to strike midnight so you could be among the first to claim your custom url. I admit that I went to a party in honor of this big event. Yes, twenty of my friends got together and logged in simultaneously at 12:01 am to emblazon our real names in social network cybersapce. The excitement spread and soon hundreds of social networks were offering the same–people rushed to ensure that they were the first to declare their true selves online.

At Reputation.com, we just made this process a whole lot easier. Now, you can dominate your search results by using our newest product, NameGrab.  NameGrab scours hundreds of Websites and social networks and tells you which are available for your chosen username. Then, it automates the process of claiming the ‘real you’ on the sites of your choice. By controlling your personal and professional brands online, you ensure that your online identity isn’t stolen and that no one cybersquats your name.

We want you to be a part of our NameGrab launch. On Friday, we will randomly choose five people who comment on this post to win a free subscription. We will announce the winners on the blog, so let us know what you think below and check back to see if you’re one of the five!

No purchase necessary to win.  Odds of winning depend on number of entries received.  Entry deadline is 3:00 PM (PT) Friday, November 20, 2009.  USA residents 18 or older only.  One entry per person.

We work hard here at Reputation.com to bring our customers the best online reputation management and personal privacy protection products in the world. It’s a job that we take very seriously, and we’re proud to do it everyday. In order to help our customers, business partners, and blog readers put faces to all the hard work and dedication that goes on behind the scenes, we’re starting a new weekly feature here at the Reputation.com Blog called Meet The Reputation.com Team.

Meet The Reputation.com Team will feature profiles of people in the company, insight into company events, and an occasional look inside the Reputation.com headquarters. In our premiere installment, we’d like to introduce you to our Senior Business Development Manager, Noah Lang. You may already know Noah from his occasional posts here at the Reputation.com Blog, but we thought this would be a good chance for you to learn a little bit more. Enjoy!

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Noah Lang, and I champion channel sales development and technology-based partnerships for Reputation.com.

What did you do prior to joining Reputation.com?

I studied Product Design at Stanford University, focusing on need-finding, user interaction and product development cycles. I then spent some time as an intellectual property and financial litigation consultant before joining the Reputation.com team.

What attracted you to Reputation.com?

First and foremost, I was attracted by the people and the products. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by smart, innovative people who are building products that they care about.  This passion and energy has created products that help individuals solve everyday problems and increase their personal wellbeing.

Why do you think it’s important for people to manage their reputations online?

Managing your online reputation can ensure that you keep your most valuable asset, your name, in good shape online.  By monitoring your digital footprint, and remaining vigilant of what others say about you online, you have the advantage of cleaning up any negative and defamatory information before it can affect your livelihood.  Moreover, proactively building your personal brand online can help you to get a job, get promoted, get into the graduate school of your dreams, or even meet your future spouse.

When you’re not helping individuals control and protect their good names online, what do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to consider myself an avid triathlete, occasional skier, and all around endurance-sport junkie.

What’s your all-time favorite website?

I’m a bit of a cycling-geek, so you can catch me on VeloNews.com on a daily basis (unless its July, in which case the Tour de France is probably already streaming on my computer).