Carolyn Capalbo – why online reputation management matters
May 27, 2010
Why does online reputation management matter? And why do I urge people to protect their online reputation? Well, if you Google Eric Blackwell, you will see this blog, and several others that I do. And you will see another Eric Blackwell who is a gospel music singer.
I am happy to share the stage with him!
There’s also another more unfortunate Eric Blackwell who died a few years back and a tribute page to him is on the first page as well
I am happy to share the stage with him, too!
But what if you are:
Carolyn Capalbo
Carolyn (the one I am referring to), is a hard working REALTOR in Northern Va. Carolyn invests in a web presence that reflects her desire to serve her customers by providing them the best search for their homes. I respect any person who cares enough about their business to invest in themselves and their business to do it right. No shortcuts. No gimmicks. Just great service.
If you have read Carolyn’s recent account: “How many Carolyn Capalbo’s are there anyway?” of what it is like to have your good name taken from you, it is a textbook study in why reputation management is CRUCIAL.
She did nothing wrong and yet because there is another person with her name who is the mother of someone infamous, her business has been damaged.
Some people look at this as Google’s fault. I do not. Google and the other search engines MUST algorithmically determine who is the most relevant site for a given search.
Notoriety often brings more searches and relevance than a small business person, working hard and doing their job everyday. SERIOUSLY. Let me repeat that. Notoriety often brings more searches and relevance than a small business person, working hard and doing their job everyday.
So how do you combat that?
You make friends and have your friends write about you. The community at Real Estate Webmasters started an Online Reputation Management Contest to incentivize REALTORS to help her out. Including some bodacious prizes! And folks have responded.
Will it work? I think so.
But as EricOnSearch, I want to go a step further. It is time to
Help Carolyn Capalbo
I want to fill the first three pages of the search engines with all of the contestants and I want to reward ALL of those who pitch in to assist Carolyn in a significant way.
Anyone who finishes on the Top 3 pages of Google at the end of the contest wins an hour of consulting with me. That’s potentially $3,000 worth of my time. (well…$2,900…you KNOW I am gonna be up there…grin) While it is nowhere near the sweet package that Morgan has put together, I hope it helps.
UPDATE:
It is great. People Are Joining the Our Effort to Help Carolyn reclaim her name. They are:
The not so real Carolyn Capalbo Website.
We will update this list as more people join in.
UPDATE #2:
Contests are a GREAT way to play around a little with onpage optimization. When I first started the contest, I “over-optimized” my post. It was horrible for the reader and was basically mostly formatted for the search engines.
I now have taken the time to write a proper post. Titled it correctly and will promote it effectively…and we will see how I do. 
Great to see you are adding a little bonus prize for everyone. Without the prizes though, I am always trying to help a fellow Realtor out. Good luck.
Hey Preston;
Good of you to drop by. And yeah…I feel the same way about what she is going through. Could have happened to any of us.
Best of luck as well.
Did you see my invitation on my comment to Morgan’s post?
[...] did put together a Carolyn Capalbo post on EricOnSearch. It is sitting right now at #11…I will be working on [...]
I saw it there. I have read and visited your site, Blood Hound Blog and other sites you contribute to over the years. Posting on Blood Hound Blog is a great place to get a lot of recognition for Carolyn. Congrats.
This could truly happen to any of us. And well, the fact that the real estate community is rallying behind her is a testament to the type of compassionate professionals who are involved in real estate.
Btw, those are some AMAZING prizes.
Here’s some feedback for everyone…I received a call from a prospective Seller yesterday. Her co-worker gave her my name and she had collected a few other Realtor’s names. She Googled my name and read about my situation. When she called me to discuss her home, she chuckled about the other Carolyn Capalbo and marveled about how an entire Real Estate community would rally behind one of its own. I asked her what she would have done if she only saw the other Carolyn Capalbo, she said she didn’t know if she would have called me since she had other Realtors to consider. Thank you for making it clear that there are more than one Carolyn Capalbos out there! It looks highly likely that I will work with this Seller. That certainly would not have happened if she called someone else instead! Carolyn Capalbo
Carolyn-
What goes without saying, but shouldn’t is that you are a class act in our industry. I am happy to have been able to help you where I can. I am really glad that you are likely to do business with this potential client.
For the record, you are the REAL Carolyn Capalbo…the rest are posers…grin…
Have a great day!
Eric
Carolyn congrats on all the support around you! With the A team (Scott, Jon, & Eric) on your side, you’re in good hands!