Clearly, you have a number of options for improving your online identity. Try to do as many of these activities as are appropriate for your brand and interlink everything. It's not enough to create a Web page with the same information that your contacts already have offline. When you use these tools wisely, you cultivate a Web presence that ensures you'll show up in search results the way you intend.

Be Transparent

Your online branding efforts won't do any good if you don't have a good reputation in the offline world. When you behave badly in the real world, others can out your behaviour, mistakes, poor decisions and bad judgment by leaving comments -- often anonymous -- on blogs. If you find someone has aired your digital dirty laundry online, attempt to get it cleaned up or removed. If you can't, add your own positive content alongside it and let readers draw their own conclusions. Responding constructively and directly to negative comments is worthwhile. Building up your volume of high-ranking positive information will also help push the dirt to page 27 of your Google results.

Be Constant

Even when you've achieved digital distinction, remember that your search results can change rapidly. The lesson? Regularly egosurf to monitor your online ID. Set Google Alerts for your name so that you are notified when something is published about you online. This will also help you stay on top of any digital dirt that may sully your brand. Put online branding activity into your to-do list every week. No matter what your digital profile is, you can always improve it.

The Payoff

Since only 20 percent of executives have taken proactive steps to increase the positive information about themselves online, according to ExecuNet, you have a huge opportunity to stand out. "The greater the visibility enjoyed by an executive, the greater the value of his or her compensation," says Howard Nestler, CEO of Executive Options. By steadily building your brand online and connecting it with your real-world visibility, you put yourself directly on the path to true career distinction.

This article is based on excerpts from Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand. Copyright 2007 William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. Published by John Wiley & Sons.

William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson are the authors of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand and partners in Reach, the global leader in personal branding. You can reach them at authors@careerdistinction.com.

SIDEBAR: The Scale of Digital Distinctness

Digitally Disguised: Your vanity search does not match any documents. There is absolutely nothing about you on the Web. To those who google you, you don't exist. This is an easy place to start. Determine what you should be communicating online and start steadily building your volume of relevant results. Begin quickly with an optimized profile at Ziggs, some thoughtful comments to relevant blog posts, and an Amazon.com book review related to your area of expertise.

Digitally Dissed: Entering your name into a search engine yields little about you on the Web, but what exists is either negative or inconsistent with how you want to be known. In this case, attempt to get the off-brand content removed or remove it yourself if you have control over the page. Bear in mind that it will take time to disappear from the search listings, and remember that nothing on the Web is ever permanently deleted. Next, begin to create online content that will help you reach your goals. Sometimes the best you can do is present the positive side of the story next to the content you cannot remove.

Digitally Disastrous: There is much information about you on the Web, but it has little relevance to what you want to express about yourself. The information may also include results about someone else who shares your name. If your name is common, try to make it less common by using a nickname or middle initial. Use the same name consistently in all your communications, both online and offline (on your business card, resume, etc.). Also, register your name as a domain name. When you use it for your own professional blog or website and people search for your name, it will very likely appear in the top search results. This will help ensure that you paint the right picture before any confusing or disastrous content is seen.

Digitally Dabbling: There is some information on the Web about you that supports the personal brand you're trying to communicate but not a ton of it. What you have to do here is beef up the amount of on-brand information about you on the Web. You can do that by starting your own blog and updating it at least once a week, as well as creating a public LinkedIn profile and writing articles for online publications.

Digitally Distinct: A search of your name yields lots of results about you, and most, if not all, reinforce your unique personal brand. Make vanity searches a regular practice so that you can keep tabs on your online identity. That way, if something negative, such as an anonymous ad hominem attack on your character on a blog, crops up, you can address it quickly, before it gets out of hand. -- K Dixson and W Arruda