by Michy Lynn

Created on: September 19, 2009

Today, almost everyone has some form of a web presence. Whether it's a dating profile, a personal website, a social networking site, email, a blog or a business website, everyone seems to have some online presence, with at least minimal personal information. It's bound to happen when on
the internet that a person, much like in real life, can get a bad reputation.

Unfortunately, unlike in real life where people eventually forget, the event diminishes, and life moves on, on the internet, everything we do can come back to haunt us. What gets indexed in search engine giant Google is not easy or likely to get removed, and Google has no real obligation to do so, since they aren't the one who controls what is said or the websites where things are said. Google simply indexes those things for people to find.

Even if Google removed the indexing, anyone can still stumble upon something with a direct link. So how can you protect or repair your online reputation if there has been damage done to your name, image or likeness?

It's almost too obvious to mention that you need to be careful with your online reputation and choose your words that flow from your fingers carefully. Preventing damage to your online reputation is the best way to keep a good online reputation. Still even with all your best efforts, there will be others who can take anything you do or so, offline or online, and use it to damage your online reputation.

It's tough, but it's not impossible to repair an online reputation once it's been damaged. The first step in the process is to determine what damage has been done. Has someone said something bad about you on a blog? Is there a picture of you on the internet that was put there without your permission?

After you've assessed the damage to your online reputation, your next step is to consider whether or not you have a justifiable cause for legal action. If the reputation has been damaged through slanderous activities or libelous writing, and that has in some way caused you monetary
loss-loss of a job or the loss of a promotion or turning clients away from your business-then you might want to consider hiring an attorney and taking the libeler to court to recover those damages and seek financial remedy.

Now, if you determine that the damage to your online reputation is not a financial damage, but nothing more than damage to your name that is embarrassing, untrue, or being done to cause you pain or suffering, you might still have a legal course of action to seek a

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