Online Reputation Management For Dummies®

by Lori Randall Stradtman

Online Reputation Management For Dummies®

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012946057

ISBN: 978-1-118-33859-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-35204-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41665-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-42004-1 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Lori Randall Stradtman has been a passionate fan of social media and blogging since 2005, when she first went back to school at the University of Georgia to earn a degree in Communications.

After graduating from college in May 2008, Lori started Social Media Design and soon after began guest posting on Social Media Examiner, BlogWorld, and SmartBrief, and has been quoted in Huffington Post.

Lori loves the idea of training business owners and C-level employees on the power of a strong and positive online reputation.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my kids, Phil, Sally, and Josh, who have always inspired me to be strong and to do things that feel impossible in the moment. Seeing myself reflected in their eyes motivates me more than any amount of money or accolades.

I also want to dedicate this book to my hubby, Chris Stradtman, without whose patience and support I could never have interviewed all the experts and engaged in so much research. He’s also been known to take me out for awesome dinners during my writing frenzies, shameful places with food no trainer would approve of. I love him for it all.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Ever since I witnessed firsthand a new friend’s misery and fear connected with her online privacy and reputation, something transformed inside of me and I couldn’t just do social media design anymore. My life changed as I listened to her plight, enlarged with a rapidly evolving sense of purpose. I knew I had to help people to take control of their lives online.

I’ve spent the last year interviewing heroes and villains, quiet SEO & analytics geeks and celebrities, white- and black-hat hackers, defamation litigators and neuroscientists, and world-class online reputation management leaders and bloggers, as well as the people who work for social media departments, everywhere from start-up size to the biggest brands online for the information I share with you in this book.

I’ve even been lucky enough to interview world-class Internet Security experts and two actual founders of the Internet, Karl Auerbach and David J. Steele.

I wish I could give credit here to every expert and every person named in a case study. As it is, I can only list people according to how pivotal their contribution was. I’m also overwhelmingly grateful to L. Lin Wood, celebrity defamation litigator; Lin Milano, celebrity online reputation expert; Andrew Bates, Social SEO analyst extraordinaire; Shashi Bellmakonda, and more.

And most inspiring, most patient, loved most of all are my hubby and kids. They are like breath to me.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Cover Photo: © Lane Oakley/GettyImages

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