Recently in Reputation Management Category

We all want to look our best. I have some particular needs regarding health and beauty that I think any and all readers should get something from. I am writing this after doing some meal plans and reading up on the latest findings on food and nutrition as it affects bloating, water retention and other nagging things which undermine self confidence.

Don't skip breakfast. Drink things that contain lots of water, no alcohol. It's Sunday. I may break that rule on alcohol. The key is moderation in all that I do. Since I have goals, I sometimes really plan out what I'm going to have. I am lucky enough to have a grocery store in my building. I don't have to plan very far out.

This morning, I knew I had some wheat bread for toast, a tomato and a little yogurt in the refrigerator. That doesn't sound like much. It's fairly well-balanced though, all in all. I also had one serving of Kashi cereal left. That's actually all that I have save for coffee and tea. I tread lightly when I can.

Nutritionally, the wheat toast gives me carbs for energy and mood balancing serotonin. The cereal adds fiber and additional carbs from the grains. It also contains protein and omega-3 from flax seeds. The main thing I'm missing, I can easily make up for at lunch time. I'm missing protein.

Eating flax seeds is not the ideal way to get any of the nutrition, since they should be ground up and not whole. They are whole in the Kashi cereal. That's no good. Grinding causes them to deteriorate within 8-hours, and it's messy. I don't enjoy grinding flax very much these days. I used to a decade ago.

I still have a dedicated grinder for when I might use it for a meal. It goes well with yogurt, on cereal or salads. It adds good nutty flavor and a load of fiber and nutrition. The yogurt, with it's probiotics, is really good for digestion and reducing water retention weight. Avoiding sodium and eating Potassium rich foods will help balance this.

For lunch, I should prepare something like a baked potato and something that will add to the protein for the day. I'm actually looking at new recipes now, planning a trip to the store. It's too hot for Lollapalooza. Maybe next year. I want to stay in the cool building and do some development work today.

Stay tuned.

Powerful words must be in your copy. Make it real copy. Use subject matter that you get to write about authoritatively. Speaking of subject matter and good writing, one fascinating thing about how we grow as people living the cultural life, wherever we are, is that our use of language shapes the very essence of our being. Words are that important.

Language affects the attributes of our life skills. Choose good words. This should come as no real surprise. That is why there is no glory in being proud that one can't write or spell correctly. It amazes me that that has any cache, especially in an industry that is so strongly tied to business success as online writing and marketing. It's the very unruly nature of the Web that allows for this.

The power of the medium actually allows people with little to no writing skill to write and appear authentic or smart, no matter if they really are. Don't get caught in the trap of playing along, silly. It's short lived success with a glass ceiling at best.  Be authentic without showing off any inability to spell correctly, not without true wit. It does not come across well to the right sort who can see through it.

Words are seriously powerful. They can affect how you live your life. Words have already probably shaped how you are. In a Newsweek article, I read about evidence that our language has an influence on our very abilities, our skills with living in this world. That means the higher the language abilities that you can attain, the better odds you have for achieving greatness.

Don't shy away from learning to write better. Read from those whose prose speaks to you. It'll help define you and your style. If your style is about celebrating the heights that you can reach, versus cashing in on darkness and deceit (as search marketing is so often accused of doing), then you can operate on higher levels and succeed while enjoying the good life.

Stay tuned.

It's been a while since I last optimized my Tweets. It was back in February when I needed some fast rankings for Disa Johnson. I recall looking at the current rankings for my name, noticed rankings appearing quickly for a negative blog posting about me, I immediately commenced my reputation management campaign using Twitter.

It only took hours for Twitter to rank above the blog post that attacked me. Not bad at all. I recorded everything from then on to document the entire process. The thing I didn't like was my Tweets weren't all that natural anymore. I wanted to stop tweaking them for my name. Above all, you have to be authentic in Twitter.

In an interview I gave last Friday, I stressed the authenticity factor for success with Twitter above all others as the most important thing. Sure, there are ways to get your message in. It falls on deaf ears though, unless your Tweets are natural and authentic. Then you can succeed, like I am succeeding.

After I got top rankings by changing my name at my company site Search Return LLC, and I got this 'Disa Johnson' blog started, (started unexpectedly for Reputation Management needs, can you believe it?), then I started another personal blog and a Disa Johnson Bio site. I populated every profile that was ranking in the top 30.

It all worked perfectly. I no longer had to juice my Twitter profile with Disa Johnson. I was ranking perfectly well and basically legally flooding Google, which was the only place the negative post appeared top 10. It's still in the top 10 results but is now slipping again with Twitter. The more the guy writes about me anymore using nasty headlines the more a fight will continue.

Luckily for me, it would now be a fight where the purpose has been successfully usurped by me. The more attention the matter gets from now on, the more my real story gets out in the face of his false facts and hate speech. As long as there is no fight, then I get to make it just a sidebar issue in my life, and simply refer to it for fun every now and again.

To me? That's perfect Reputation Management. I sustained the onslaught of personal attack by a blogger and his fans. I survived intact, lived to tell the tale and at my own pace. Is there a negative ranking? Yes. It's slipping away into the past. Maybe soon it will only surface top 10 using advanced search.

Who knows? Who really wants to promote falsehoods? I'll just point it out where people do, including the original post itself without promoting it in search engines. I think it's become a nasty little liability for the author, not me. That suits me fine. What was strange for me today, was noticing the Twitter ranking is number one again, just like before I changed my name at my company site. Twitter is beating us all on my name even after I started flooding.

I'm not the only one who noticed this new Twitter ranking power. I thought it was just me yesterday when I recorded the ranking change for my own purposes. Then I noticed this Tweet from @ogletree and realized that it isn't just me. That's an interesting development, but not one of great consequence (except a positive thing for my little campaign). It's great for me.

Stay tuned.

Lifestyle Lift (to employee): "Put your wig and skirt on and tell them about the great experience you had." This is taken from an email discovered by the New York State Attorney General's office during an investigation into 'Astroturfing.' You can read more about it here: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/july/july14b_09.html

How many times have you been paid to consult on Reputation Management? How many times have you heard some bad ideas coming from your client? Did you decide to do the right thing? Did you decide to advise them against acting poorly in response? When you have a gut instinct that what they're asking you to do is bad then always choose the right thing to do. It can come back on them. It may come back on you too.

For this one case, (there are many cases where companies have gotten away with Astroturfing), how many times have you heard your clients complain that their competitors are doing bad things in posting reviews? Have you heard clients say that they're considering doing bad things themselves as a response? Have you advised them against it? I hope so. They would be acting in a disingenuous way and you would be party to it.

What about those companies involved in competition who decide to post negative reviews about others? You wouldn't want misinformation written about you. Would you? It's happened to me. Misinformation is finally out there about me too, after more than a decade in business without it. It's hurt my search business. It's really not funny to have happen. It can mean the difference between staying in business or not.

The thing to remind people, is that while they can get away with it while they do it, there is a chance that down the road they could be looking at a hefty fine or something else. Who knows? It's just really never a good idea. I have not quit my own reputation business. Stay tuned on that. This is part of my message in response.

I found myself in a situation where I've had to defend myself for months. It hurts my ability to operate freely. It happens in my rankings where potential clients and partners look for me. A person with the means, decided to attack me in my rankings. He decided to attack me in response after I beat him in a relatively small, private legal matter regarding his use of images that belonged to me.

Can you imagine that I asked for a call to correct his mistakes? I demanded he take down images that belong to me. I have that right, don't I? He never called me. Instead, he posted additional misinformation that spun it to make himself look like the victim. As if! He promoted his posts with Twitter, Sphinn and Digg. At least it was deleted from Sphinn as (personal attacks) should be. It still ranks on search for my name. Damage done.

It's mean. It hurt. His audience could care less about what's real. They thought it was all pretty funny, funny that it was even happening at all. Never mind how I felt. Never mind the truth getting in the way of a funny, viral joke. Some of his friends thought it was fun to participate. It was actually very mean-spirited. One of the comments from the OP called me an 'it' (as if I didn't belong to the human family).

There was much worse from his audience. I had an actual privately delivered threat which hinted at physical attack. All of this (except the threat) is still online, ranking. His headline makes sure it sticks by clicks. The trick post has staying power that way. It's SEO gone bad. It's when reputation management goes wrong. He lost a small legal matter. He chose to attack me publicly in response.

It's never a good idea. He spun it around and attacked me as if I had a problem. I have a problem with him having used my images, posting misinformation, then continuing to publish additional misinformation, promoting it to the point it resulted in physical threats against me. Imagine asking someone to stop using images of you that were used without permission, then ultimately being physically threatened for it.

Imagine being told to never show your face in public again. It was pretty frightening, actually. I was called by some really hateful names. All I could do was gather evidence of what occurred, keep myself from responding anywhere but with my own websites. That way I can rank alongside it all with my message, just as I would suggest to for my clients.

I don't need to promote this article in Twitter, Sphinn or Digg. It wouldn't really matter if it was promoted. It would result in more people searching my name and clicking whatever result, including the bad one just to read the tabloid. Patience and discretion are virtues I have from acting professionally for decades.

A few clicks and a little attention to this isn't going to hurt me any more than I've hurt already. It'll rank just fine. I really don't need to promote my personal brand. Read about who I really am here: Disa Johnson. Time is on my side. As the Rolling Stones would say: "Yes, it is."



I recovered my composure. I quickly began ranking on words I originally had no use for, (including my own name). It's useful to me now. I'll make it so. One thing is true: I kept my cool as much as anyone could under the circumstances. I felt like I had ended up as my own client, (but without the pay).

I managed to effect some positive change so that the other postings at least stopped ranking well on my friend's name. It's still ranking on her name, but at least not on page one anymore. Once indexed, these things can last practically forever. That's why I have ample opportunity to pull anything up as examples, even if he chooses to delete all his stuff. He dabbled in hate, which is dangerous for him long-term.

It's still ranking in the middle of page one on my name. I am the one with the story to tell since the truth resides with me anyway. I did what I could to minimize it. I'll do what I can short of refraining from telling my story. I had always planned to write a book. I can afford to do way more than he can. It still hurts.

The thing that really had me decide to write about this again on a blog (at this point), was that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch decided to publish materials that were sent to him by a hacker who stole email from the founders of Twitter. I really think that was crass of Arrington, (crass like what happened to me), but to a far greater extent more damaging to Twitter than what happened to me.

The communications Arrington published were meant to remain private, just like my legal notice was sent privately. Arrington and the nuisance blogger both share that they decided to publish stuff they shouldn't, just because they can. They both claimed that the 'newsworthiness' of publishing the materials gave them the right to do so. That's the same instinct that attracted my harassment in the echoes of later commentary.

From a criminal legal standpoint, it may be true that they're safe from prosecution for this behavior. At least their attorneys seem to be reassuring them they can do what they want without worrying about criminal liability. They may be confident too, that the likes of Twitter wouldn't file a civil suit, one which they wouldn't be perfectly happy to defend.

That's just rich. The attorney's are going to make a mint off the case if a Twitter civil suit ensues. The whole thing has lost its integrity a long time ago. There is very low journalism here except that which would interest a tabloid 'newspaper.' Arrington has profited greatly at the personal expense of Twitter and its employees.

It all came at a cost, in my opinion at least, that TechCrunch has become a 'popular' online tabloid to me. Perhaps that was the hacker's aim? Arrington even claimed, wrongly, that he had been given a green light to publish it. This is much like what I experienced with false claims about what I had said and done in private.

People are gullible. There were no discussions with me whatsoever. I can only imagine what may have not transpired with Twitter ...which Arrington claims as fact. Citizen journalism at its best? My personal experience drove me to such sarcasm about blogs and using my newest blog for it. Love the irony in that.

I am not happy about these transgressions happening to us and the Web. It's further evidence to me that people will do anything to promote their personal brand at the expense of others. I don't think the personal email correspondence from Twitter should be in the hands of a hacker, much less a bad actor like Michael Arrington.

Arrington's personal brand increases at the expense of Twitter and its employees. The Web's gawking users lose too. This brings me to my latest musings on the industry. I hope given Google's good financial news that this moment ushers in more signs of economic recovery for us all. Maybe we'll all act better if there's ample business for everyone.

It's a wish. I think Internet marketing has its place. Even when I came into marketing during the mid-1990's without any sense for marketing, (but from technology), marketers were paying the bills. I had to overcome an automatic disdain for marketing. I learned it. Don't fall for the 'All Marketers are Liars' sense for marketing things. Don't trade integrity for cheap plastic thrills. I've done my best to avoid dressing anything up too much.

Take this stark contrast between images of fast food in advertisements, versus images of the real food. Makes me feel queasy, looking at that. It just shouldn't feel right to market things with lies. Intentional misspellings hurt me a lot during the assault on my personal being. Leave lying to the unscrupulous. Listen to your instincts and act with the better nature of your personal being.

Let the lying marketers lie. They lose in the end. I might have made more money in my life. I chose to avoid marketing anything that doesn't seem right to me. Some would say, leaving money on the table is not smart. I would challenge them to a game of marketing chess. I can whip them on that point. The fact is, wealthy living with money has its own costs. A tabloid life of plastic thrills doesn't appeal to me.

A greater experience from doing things smartly, a person ends up enjoying a higher sense of being a class act. That's my way of living richly with what I have, within adequate financial means (that affords me plenty of life's luxuries). I don't have actual needs that aren't satisfied. There's room for me to grow financially, too. It should be thought of as part of the whole that makes a life of intention.

I argue it's a far better pathway to improve one's personal abilities for life, than to work like the Dickens to afford an excessively large house, (especially with today's economic environment). Most of these things people do, especially to obtain cheap plastic thrills including the all out assault on my online personality, seem to require them to increase their own personal brands. All too often, this comes at someone else's expense.

You'll see people with a gullible audience talking about how it's 'all about your personal brand.' These tend to be the sort that attack others. Don't listen to it. Make sure that your own personal brand has nice qualities. It's about authenticity. Not all marketers have to be liars. Not all personalities have to be offensive.

I would think you want your brand to promote an amalgamation of the better parts of society. Promote life online where life online meets the reality out on the street (or in the countryside). Discover where you truly fit in the scheme of this modern life. Live a life of good intentions. It's your ultimate marketing message where all others originate.

If you've followed my story at all, (chances are that you haven't), but you might see some strong hints about how I really feel about what happened with my own little saga. So, let it play. If you have 30-minutes or so, I highly recommend taking a look at the following video: "The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture, Politics of Authenticity."

Stay tuned!

 Coffee post for the day!



So, reading my Sunday copy of NYT, I was informed as a 'discerning reader' that my rate for home delivery is going up. Fine. Damn. So, how do I really feel? I'm much better thanks. You can expect a few more blog posts as I return from being sick with the flu. Not *that* flu, mind you. By the way, that coffee was taken to go, and back on the 18th. I have some catching up to do! Do you like my orange thongs?

The flu. Mexico City must be commended for alleviating what could have been a much worse and far wider flu epidemic. I'm sure people are tired of hearing news about it, and some actually think the whole issue was overblown. It makes me upset that people think the news was overblown, that it was too much. It really got the attention it should have gotten, that's the underlying truth on the matter, regardless what less scientifically inclined people think.

You know what I think? The increased access to sources of information has created an atmosphere of information overload more now than ever before. People used to wonder about the Internet causing information overload, and that was long before now. The people that were noisy about it in the past, have since been silenced because of search engines. Search engines were to find the needles in haystacks of information glut, and served to shut them up.

Now the noise has has reached a fairly serious fever-pitch level today. I'm not on an anti-freedom rant here, but I think it's too much nonsense. Don't mistake what I'm saying. Information overload is a well-known way to obfuscate actionable information. I continue to subscribe to my physical copy of The New York Times because the information in it does not need to reach me at the speed of light.

The journalism in physical papers tends to be superior than anything the Internet can produce, unless a valid journalist produces it. If I go looking for some special piece of information, the Internet usually is a great source for that, for it is incredibly vast. The news? Other than for stupid pet tricks. I don't need the Internet for news other than anything big and quick breaking and serious all at once, like some new freaky storm about to blow my house down. Global warming will kill us all in the end.

The Internet is great for fast breaking news. It's the news in the middle where the Internet leaves me wanting. The middle is where I can read about who President Obama nominates for the next supreme court justice. I'm not in politics (yet), so I don't really need to know the very second he makes a choice like that. I want to read about what people think after Obama makes his choices.

People write utter nonsense and speculation on the Web (like what produced my recent Reputation Management crisis), it pollutes the world with misinformation and utter nonsense. Some people spam dating sites with posts and one liners in order to find a wife. I see that junk all the time. I'm amazed how gullible and naive people are. Has everyone given up? I think all this has corroded the Web and blithe bloggers with little to no HTML skill are largely to blame for wrecking it. Thanks.

I'm not going to trust any blogger on the Internet to tell me what to personally think (I'm amazed how many do). I'm going to make sure I get my view from the thoughts of people that I trust to give me a perspective that I can believe in. As for Obama's supreme court justice choice? I'm going to see it, hear it and read about it in my sources of information (radio, print, TV *and* Web).

It's the thought provoking analysis that beats the immediacy of the Web in my opinion. The Web is great for stupid pet tricks and entertainment news. It sometimes breaks newsworthy events that are then properly supplemented by traditional media perspective shortly afterwards. I view it all. That's me, in a nutshell. I'm a savvy information consumer with today's news sources (worried about the future of newspapers).

Stay tuned.

I've known Daron Babin of Webmaster Radio for over a decade. I've had the pleasure of being on many shows from hosting the Daily SearchCast (when Danny was unable to make it), to various SEO RockStars shows and appearing on the original RainMaker - (the very first show).

It's usually the case that I'll get a call from Daron or one of the fine WMR folks (Brandy, Brasco or Eddie), and jump on air with them live totally impromptu. I love supporting my friends, and they fully support me back. It's great to have such awesome confirmation.

When I made my announcement about Disa Johnson (Detlev 301 redirects to Disa Johnson) it caught many by surprise (including Daron). He sat for a minute or two and then came back immediately with the most awesome, the warmest welcome I could imagine. Special thanks to Oilman. I come on air 45 minutes into that show. Brandy also rang me up and she is just really fabulous for it. Thank you!

For all this time, since that original RainMaker episode, Daron and I have talked about doing a show. I was hesitant for reasons that the whole '301 redirect thing' was personal, and there's no need to drag my friends through it in a more involved way than it needed to be before now.

So, now that I'm Disa Johnson - @AirDisa - on yesterday's SEO RockStars about a major Pagerank update, Daron and I got all fired up and raring to go. I have worked incredibly hard on my transformation, looking after my reputation along the way and at the same time delivering those important results for clients. All this while I've been confirming really exciting guests for the new show.

We have a serious line up that includes the best names in search and beyond. Operative word: Beyond. In fact, last night I was so excited and happy about the Chicago scene, music, art and online, that after I got home from the office, I took a picture of the Chicago night sky to commemorate the feeling I had after confirming a special guest (that I can't wait to announce).

It's going to be fun, really fun.



It's exciting. Seriously. Want to be on air with me? Get in touch. If you pitch something interesting, you could be featured on an episode and or extended versions of the audio tracks. If you like just lurking, then listen in live and use chat with us when we're on the air. Or just lurk completely and have fun in your own way! I have other announcements regarding what the show will include - coming soon :)

Stay tuned.

I was struck by reading in today's Chicago Tribune Business Section, the front page story about sponsored blogging. Popular bloggers can have a very real impact on sales and information. Their views are very often authentic. And when their views are not authentic, be aware that they may have incentive for that entry. Even if they are flown to a conference for coverage, that is a material gift that drives posts about the sponsor.

Bloggers who don't hold themselves accountable to their audience with respect to genuine views are becoming prevalent enough, that WOMMA has a code of ethics about bloggers accepting sponsorships. If that sponsored blogger doesn't write or doesn't write glowingly about the product, they risk losing the sponsorship in the next round of gifts or cash.

Ethics are left up to the lone discretion of each blogger in question That's true whether they choose to irresponsibly deceive their audience, and or they decide to post about something without disclosing the nature of a sponsored relationship with a vendor. They are still free to operate any which way they choose. That can include using their platform for personal reasons and financial gain.

The less authentic they are, the more they risk losing their most aware audience members. Genuine authenticity is only going to become increasingly important, because the more that is written for commercial purpose, and the lower quality of that writing, the immediate nature of the blog and the Tweet can turn into liability for the blogger. Be genuine. Take care to choose the support you get for your efforts wisely. Maintain a high degree of integrity.

Stay tuned.

Disa Johnson is fondly recalling her trip to the Dark Side of SEO, and Chicago politics. While we now have a president in office from Chicago, (which is fantastic!), we also have a rather frightening history of the gang known as the Chicago Outfit. They were brutal, and members have recently been sentenced by the Justice Department's Operation Family Secrets. Some of the characters, and the most violent scenes in the movie Casino were based on real events and people from "The Outfit."

Chicago, famous for crime is also famous for having corrupt officials. Purely for tongue-in-cheek fashion, I'm going to point to this post on our disgraced Illinois governor that said amazingly naive things on television. He lived just outside Chicago and will eventually have to settle in a cell. Even after such amazing hubris on the air, the fellow still has fans! Remember though, it's the quality of what you write in a blog that matters if you want your stuff to last more than a day (or less than a day as in last week's attack).

This entry is not something worthy of submitting to Sphinn. It's not meant for Digg. There is lots of material out there from bloggers that really isn't worth promoting - oh, but they do! It's stunning to me that people can continue to be fans of someone like Blago. Just remember, free speech is a guarantee that you can speak up about whatever you want. You are free to write things that are pure speculation so that you can create Digg or Sphinn worthy entries for traffic and hits. Social Media optimization has its brutes. Don't promote everything you write automatically just because you can.

This isn't an entry for Sphinn. For me, the Disa Johnson "Chicago Outfit" is something I want to associate with something entirely different than bad behavior and character assassination. I want to write about fashion! So, of course, I'll weave some of that into AirDisa. Search Return is all business, AirDisa is more like Danny Sullivan's Daggle in that AirDisa is purely about Disa Johnson. I also plan to write about the whole transition process (for those who are interested and care about that stuff) but not here. I have more domains coming online.

With respect to my Reputation Management campaign, incidentally, it's going extremely well. I secured my place at the top with the first true number one on Saturday (first time I know of that anyone but a volleyball player named Disa Johnson has had it). Just between you and me, I'm happy to promote her for Disa Johnson, aren't you?

Some got caught up in a series of personalization confusion and pathetic speech against me last week. It's all recorded for posterity (and as a fascinating case study on the matter). Watching this unfold was none other than Fantomaster of course! After my visit with him and Disa Johnson's Trip to The Dark Side of SEO, Fantomaster was witness to events as they unfolded. Fantomaster and I, we know our SEO. A blogger like Blago is allowed to write a title with anything in it to bait readers and get hits. It's done on purpose.

So, what would Disa Johnson write about style? Well, I'm officially the newest Chicago Fashionista! Look for upcoming  material - Disa's got plans. I expect I'll write about the Chicago Outfit. My gang here isn't violent, we're not into character assassination. You'll find no cheap thrills here. We're into style! My style, what Oilman calls my "snappy" style, is my initial Chicago Outfit Disa Johnson put on display in Santa Clara at SMX West. Look for the next physical installment in June at SMX Advanced.

I have goals and inspiration to make them. I'm diligent about recording things accurately. I've recorded my weight loss on a daily basis since last July 2008, and recorded my caloric intake everyday. I've charted it all, and my physical trainer has started to record my workout progress since last January. I weigh less than I did at anytime in my thirties. I wrote some Excel Macros that calculates the amount of caloric intake I can have in any given day. I track the whole thing start to finish, just like I record rankings (sans personalization). Who says search marketing skills don't come in handy for your personal life?

Stay tuned.

Well, Disa Johnson is just going to get on with it now, and act like the Queen of Cool whatever may come next. Things are looking good today. I applied some pressure that resulted in a targeted edit, even if more blight was added. It didn't last an hour. My SERPs are safe enough to just fill them up with Disa Johnson ad infinitum. Interesting stuff about me and SEO on the way. It's too easy when you are a smart enough SEO to choose a field of battle and mind your own business just kicking ass. I can relax now and just succeed with text.

So, people have asked me about the name Disa Johnson. It's true, they do! Well, let me tell you. The name Disa originally is a heroine of Swedish legend. I do herald from (northern) European descendants with a bit of Scottish tossed in for good measure. There is also a Disa Orchid, and I find it rather fun to read about them. Anything new that comes along which I discover, either on Disa the legend, or the Disa Orchid, I promise to make an entry.

Both of these references can be found searching Wikipedia. I just thought I'd include links above for your convenience. Sure, it'll influence AirDisa in Google search for Disa Johnson. People who want to search Google and navigate to learn more about me, or someone else that carries the same name, they might want to know more about the origin of the name itself. For me, I own the name. So I can write about it authoritatively. My own bio can be found at Disa Johnson (.com).

This is how you do legitimate SEO. When appropriate, you can write about the keyword you're interested in ranking for. Just start by writing well and doing what comes naturally. If I have a bona-fide interest in the subject, as I have a bona-fide interest in my name, I can write about Disa Johnson all day long. In fact, the word: blog, (short for Web log) is meant to be rather like a journal. I can journal ad infinitum and I don't always have to refer to my name. It's the quality of writing, the intent of an entry, and moderating comments that can make a blog outstanding.

So, there you have it. Disa Johnson: Queen of Cool. She's smart, dresses smartly (or is a snappy dresser according to Oilman) and tries to keep her smart ass in check when under duress. It even sometimes works. Disa Johnson has the courage to continue, stand up against naysayers to make it to SMX Advanced in Seattle no matter what happens next. I am working hard towards looking my best when I'm there and putting my best foot forward.

I have always been open and free with my SEO expertise, offering my help in conference settings for a decade now. That's how people know me, respect me and they count together as reputation equity. Whatever happens from here, I intend to continue to thrive with dignity. You should want that too. You should want that both for yourself, and perhaps wish it for me here and now. That would be good.

Stay cool.

Updated March 11th, 2009



I can only ask that ShoeMoney delete his entries and quit polluting my name. He continues to publish bad info (using Heather's name is wrong on many levels) and it is still ranking. I'll repeat myself from below: If you want to work in a professional setting, people will Google you. If you plan to go out on a date, people will Google you. It's personal, and it's important.

The next time I sell Reputation Management services, I am going to use myself as an example of someone that pulled the trigger under great duress and spent resources during the economic crisis to defend my good name. Despite that I have succeeded in bringing it down six positions in Google after three weeks of work, it's work that I wouldn't have otherwise had to do.

Less than a month from Jeremy's original publish date, with some three weeks of online actions, my query is recovering fairly well. Jeremy is obviously blissfully unaware of the strife he caused me with bad facts and a complete disregard for respect towards me, his elder in this industry. It's a shame, really.

Original Post March 7th, 2009:

Medium-term plans for Reputation Management with [Disa Johnson] are paying off within three weeks of starting concentrated work. The story unfolded with quick rankings via Twitter, which I can now relax a bit and stop using my query in all the messages. That will come as a relief to my main followers, and Danny Sullivan.

Other short-term strategies, getting profiles up at various social media sites also paid off relatively quickly. The Google search engine fancies these sites for navigational queries, the most personal of all reputation management needed. If you want to work in a professional setting, people will Google you. If you plan to go out on a date, people will Google you. It's personal, and it's important.

The number one spot is a neutral listing. If someone is looking for the volleyball player, they deserve to get her. I like volleyball a lot, incidentally. Having a listing like that is like Danny Sullivan, the race car driver on the Indy 500 circuit. He deserves to be in Danny's result set.

I've owned number two (and sometimes three with a folded result) using Twitter within 2 days of starting optimization, just by tweeting a lot. I solidified that ranking fairly well using 'Disa Johnson' in my messages. It worked like magic. I also published some quick domains that were on idle, and bought some more to flood the result set.

I do *not* recommend flooding as a tactic. If you find your name polluted by an idiot, like Jeremy, perhaps it can make sense. It's dangerous. Be forewarned.

This is where the medium-term strategy started kicking in. It's almost 3-weeks. I previously owned several domains without content, and I put quick bio HTML pages up in a directory on my webserver. I then pointed DNS settings for various domains at the folder. That meant that there will be content to crawl under new domains. This works particularly well for Microsoft's Live Search.

I then started this blog with another domain name (AirDisa) and began blogging as much as I could under the circumstances (full-time work load). This whole thing has turned into quite a little catalyst for getting me out of my dark SEO cave from the past several years. I really hope you like it in the long run.

Anyway, the medium-term plan has started to pay off. Now I own 3 of the top ten domains showing up. I influence 3 more via social networking profiles, I influence 1 additional (SMX bio page) and 1 site is friendly to me (Danny's Daggle post). The top listing is neutral, and only number 4 is an irritant that I hope to knock out soon or have the author delete.

Search Return is also number three - thanks at least in part to a new link from my friend Eric Ward. We've been working together on our Link Building application called Squid, and now I have links pointing in from his website. Search Return began at number 9 and within a day of Eric linking, the listing jumped up to number three - ahead of the offending post.



My long-term plans? Now that sites which aggregated the offending post have faded into page two and beyond, I've gotten the main ranking to move down a couple of positions. I intend to apply pressure regarding the inaccuracy of the entry. I might persuade it's deletion. He should remove it as a gesture, an acknowledgment of messing up and in apology.

Since the sites outside his control will never delete the content, he can never make up for his bad judgment, but he can delete his own entry. I can use the power of the pen. The basis of the offensive ranking includes Heather's name - and it shouldn't. Including Heather was and is totally crass and just plain wrong.

In fact, I can talk about it on the air, write about it in blog entries, and tweet about it in Twitter all day long. I have far more energy to protect my name than he does for sullying it. The fact is, it is all due to ShoeMoney's violation of Intellectual Property ownership.

Stay tuned.