With the speed of information travel on the internet, it’s more important now than ever before that you monitor what people are saying about you. In addition, you need to add to the online conversation so that you have a presence and forum for building your own reputation.

What follows are 4 suggestions to help you not only track what others are saying about you online, but also how you can help build your reputation and position yourself as a thought leader.

1. Write a blog – You must actively participate in the conversation. Make sure you or your firm has a blog that is regularly updated. This will help to establish your expertise and develop your law firm’s brand.

2. Use Google Alerts – Google provides this tool to everyone for free. This powerful tool enables you to enter words you want to scrape the internet for. It will email when a new instance of the word you are tracking appears. You can track your name, the name of your firm, and much more.

3. Use Twitter Search – By searching in the Twitter stream for your name and your firm’s name, you can track in real time when others tweet about you. You can also respond quickly if a criticism or complaint is found.

4. Participate in social media sites and discussions – Getting active in social media is a great way to build your reputation online as well as keeping track of what others might be saying. Answering questions in your area of practice on LinkedIn or submitting new articles on Digg is a good way to build relationships as well.

The online community is an extension of how people interact in the real world. If you take time to establish yourself and gain credibility, it will benefit you should anyone attempt negative conversation about you.

People will sometimes write negatively about an experience with you or your company. The best part about establishing a reputation and setting up tracking is that you can quickly respond to any criticism. This reflects well on you and can turn a negative into a positive quickly.

Taking the time to monitor your web presence and developing a following as a thought leader in your field will pay big dividends later on. To convert prospects into clients, there is no better tool than establishing trust and expertise.

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