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Every day, about 2pm, my Google Alerts pops into my inbox. It’s my free, easy and automated Web search tool that gives me real-time information on the appearance of my name on the Web so I can monitor what is said about me online.
With Google Alerts, I get links to some of the stuff I have said and sometimes to what someone else has said about me.
Through these alerts, I have also come to know some of my name-alikes. (Because Google Alerts can’t tell us apart, we all appear in the same report.)
The other Judy Dunn’s hold a strange fascination for me. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live their life instead of mine.
Take Judy Dunn, distinguished professor of psychology, author and expert on sibling relationships. She wrote a paper on “A cross-study of prosodic modifications in mothers’ and fathers’ speech to pre-verbal infants” published in the Cambridge University Journal. Not sure what that even means, but I’m impressed.
Okay, I might have been tempted to spend my life wandering the walkways of an ivy-covered campus like the other Judy. Or sitting at my desk, reading freshman research papers. I can see my name etched in brass on my office door: Dr. Judy Dunn. Sounds safe—comforting in a way.
Then there is Judy Dunn, writer of kids’ books: The Little Duck, The Little Pig, The Little Puppy. She has a franchise going there, this animal woman. Still, I could get bored and decide to write a book called Mean Old Stingray. And that might frighten the toddler crowd.
Or Judy Dunn, polymer clay artist. Necklaces! Origami clay cranes! Sparkly stuff! This Judy Dunn actually sounds like she has way too much fun.
There is even a Judy Dunn in Canada who thinks her condo association is spending too much money on carpet cleaning. In a strange way, I bonded with her on that.
The day I died
Sometimes a Google Alerts comes in that wakes you up. Like last Wednesday when I found out I had died. It was kind of weird because I wasn’t really expecting it. Just reading along and, bam. There it was.
In the days before Google Alerts, Paul, Jamie’s husband on the TV sit-com Mad About You, had his credit card gobbled up by the ATM machine. When he went into the bank to complain, they checked his account and said he couldn’t have the card back because he was dead.
He spent most of the rest of the episode trying to prove he was alive. (The woman at the bank just wasn’t buying it.) At the end of the show, he attends the other Paul’s funeral. It is that morbid fascination some of us have with death. What will my funeral be like? What will people say about me? A touchy topic played funny.
Today, we don’t have to attend the service. We can read about in Google Alerts. The Google Alerts link took me to my obituary. It was all there in black and white.
I was born in Birmingham, Alabama. I stayed a hometown girl. I was a banker (-e-e-ew!) and worked at six different branches over the years. I had a husband, a son and a granddaughter. And I will “intern” (Don’t think that’s the right word. Isn’t that what college students studying to be doctors and teachers do?) in Austin, Texas to be close to my husband and son.
Okay, now I’m curious. Why is my funeral in a church in a little Alabama town, but I’ll be buried in Texas near my husband and son, who are evidently still living. Why are they in Texas? Are there going to be two funerals?
I feel like I deserve answers.
Are all the other you’s behaving themselves?
If you are a solopreneur or small biz owner and people totally relate to you—your name—rather than your business, it makes sense to keep an eye on the places you are appearing on the Web.
You may not have died like I did, but one of your name-alikes might have done something truly awful, like embezzling the company receipts or breaking into a house and drinking all their Scotch.
Some things you can do to separate yourself from them:
1. Set up a Google Alerts account.
It’s fast, easy and free and lets you keep track of the real you and your name-alikes.
2. Be more focused in your search requests.
Put quotation marks around your name when you fill out your Google Alerts request, so the search engine reads it as one phrase and not two unrelated words. It’ll save you time going through a bunch of irrelevant results.
3. Consider using StepRep, the free reputation management tool.
Having a common name can be a curse. But with StepRep, you can use your widget and profile page to aggregate and link to all sites that refer to the real you, instead of that banker in Alabama who died. And you can influence Google so it’s more apt to put your real results closer to the top.
4. Distinguish yourself.
Try using a middle initial or middle name in your online identity to separate you from the others.
5. Get your own name and brand out there.
Start a blog and post regularly. Comment on other blogs. Participate in forums. The more active you are online, the more Google will want to elevate your results in the searches.
Do you know what your namesakes are doing online?
What tools do you have for managing your reputation on the Web?
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WOW – that must have been some experience reading about your own death. Yikes!
I know there is another Julie Weishaar who is a music teacher in Wisconsin (I think if I remember correctly). Can't find her now as this Julie Weishaar has been plastering herself all over the Internet. Just did a quick Google search and my name came up under Article Niche Wisconsin criminal records! Can't figure that one out as I don't appear on the linked page (thank goodness) and have never even been to Wisconsin, but I do have articles on Article Niche. ??
I was once playing around with Google and found an ancestry page that listed both my parents as deceased which thankfully they are not. Neither my parents nor I had any idea who the person was who posted this information. I did contact her to advise her that my parents were indeed alive and well and to find out if we were somehow related. It was a while ago and my memory is fuzzy, but I think she was the next door neighbor of my father's uncle's butcher or something like that. Just goes to show you can't always believe what you read (or hear) and probably shouldn't.
Thanks for sharing your story and for the tips you offer
It can be interesting, indeed, when googling your own name, as your story shows.
Guess it just shows the truth of Mark Twain's statement, "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
Thanks for weighing in and telling you name-alike stories, Julie.
You really turned that alert into a great blog post, Judy!
My main competition on the web is Betsy Talbot Blackwell, who was editor of Mademoiselle Magazine for a long time. She died before the Internet was fashionable, but she still somehow gets great SEO. I always smile when I see those alerts as I sit at the laptop barefoot and in my cargo pants and fleece.
Wow, Betsy. A name-alike who is a magazine editor. I should be so lucky.
My friend Paul Simon (editor extraordinaire and former regional bureau chief for the Associated Press), fights both the Graceland recording phenomenon and the late bow tie-wearing U.S. senator from Illinois.
Guess we don't have it as bad as it could be.
How do dead people continue to get great SEO, I wonder?
Judy, FYI http://www.newhorizons123.com/wordpress/?p=972 based on and pointing to this article
For many of the years working at my job I sat alongside a gentlenan named Michael Jackson… Every one of his phone calls began with yes, "The Other One".
Having a common name cane help or hurt your name, or brand. I think it is best to clear any smoke, I strivie that my business targets know me from any other sound alikes.
@Julie: Thanks for linking to my post!
@gary: Boy, there must be a bazillion Michael Jacksons. Would hate to be stuck with that.
I love Google Alerts. I have them set up for several personalities to keep up with their buzz and for businesses I on which I am doing market research.
I am fortunate to have a unique name, but I have seen the situation where a local artist was showing her work at the same time an eponymous public official was arrested for fraud.
I read yesterday (on jimsmarketingblog.com) that some parents are choosing unique names for their newborns and registering the .com domains at birth. What a world.
Great post!
Tammi,
Great to see you here. You are indeed lucky to have a somewhat unusual name. That's an amazing piece of information: parents registering .com domains for their babies. Wow. That might work if technology hasn't moved on to something different from dot com's be then.
Very interesting. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi there, I am the Judy who is having fun with polymer clay…found you through a Google search! It is a bit shocking just how many Judy Dunn's there are out there. Nice to know a bit more about another one. All the best.
Judy Dunn too,
Now that's hysterical. I wrote a blog post on Google searches to keep tabs on your name-alikes and you found my post by doing just that.
So very glad to meet you! I've been reading about you for some time and I just have to say: if I had one more life to live I would be a visual artist (given the skill set, of course).
Either that or an animal activist.
Thanks, Judy Dunn too. That was fun.
So glad I read this article. It’s easier for me to establish myself as Bexy, even though I prefer Bex. I’ve just done a little search to see what my name pulls up though, as Bex and Bexy and I’m so glad I read this article and did a search. My Windows Live profile is very much out of date and quite embarrassing. Based on information I gave, I’d hasten a bet that I was 18 when I last updated it, or created it – and I’m 26 now! Dear me.
Bex recently posted..Godaddy .co coupon code
Sorry I completely missed this comment. Your name is quite unusual. And, yes, it’s a good idea to go in from time to time and update your profile because things do change. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here.
Judy Lee Dunn recently posted..A Blogger’s Dictionary: First Edition
Hello, Judy.
Just had to have a look at this after you mentioned it in the comments on today’s post. Sorry, but it did make me laugh – my warped sense of humour coming to the fore.
With respect to the Psychologist – wouldn’t worry. She won’t know what it means either. The thing about us Psych.s is we like the sound of our own voice, in whatever medium. BIG words make us sound clever… or so we like to think!
And from Cambridge? Well, I say no more…..
Regards,
L
Linda recently posted..Austrian Etiquette And The Viennese Balls
That’s what I was aiming for—the laugh. : )
It’s interesting that you comment about the professor. It’s quite a coincidence, but I just got an email this morning from someone who was confusing me with Dr. Judy Dunn and asked me to review his book about sibling relationships on my blog. That was pretty funny.
So you have a degree in psychology, too? (It was my bachelor’s degree major.)
Judy Lee Dunn recently posted..A Blogger’s Dictionary: First Edition
Yup – fully qualified Clinical and Forensic. Though no longer practising – the service I entered changed and became too bureaucratic. I was managing rather than ‘theraping’, so decided to try my hand at what I really wanted to do decades ago, but was told I couldn’t because I was not good – writing.
I’m beginning to think maybe they were right….lol
L
Linda recently posted..Austrian Etiquette And The Viennese Balls
Linda, what an interesting background you have. I experienced something similar in the education field, in the days of my first career. I loved teaching but when I was “promoted” to a principalship, it became more managing (and no teaching, which is what I loved). Don’t give up too soon on blogging It can be a tough nut to crack. Each post you write makes you better at it.
Judy Lee Dunn recently posted..Stephen King, Seth Godin and Content Marketing: Who Is Defining You?
Thanks, Judy.
The blog is a difficult one, because it’s primarily supposed to be about encouraging people to consider Austria as more than just a winter ski resort (a big one, but nonetheless, only for skiing). So I have to try to find a ‘voice’ that is right for that. I’m working on it.
Through commenting on other people’s websites, I’ve found an entirely different voice and one which is starting to resonate with people – not necessarily on the comments sections, but away from websites. I have 2 very – shall we say – ‘ influential’ online personalities who are giving me unbelievable support and now 5 books in draft form.
To give you a flavour of one – it’s running with the title ‘The Revelations of A Bawdy British Broad : How To Do Business A Different Way’. Think 50 Shades of C**p, but with a more refined tone. Who would have thought the prim and proper ‘suit’ that I was, would have a flare for erotica? But some people seem to think I have…. watch this space!
I have to admit my experiences in ‘suit-land’ have helped tremendously with the subject matter. I wouldn’t know where to begin otherwise
But I digress and this is supposed to be about other people’s identities. Hmm, but I guess what I’m doing is creating a new identity. When I cock my clogs, I wonder if either will attract attention. If one does, I know which that will be.. and it won’t be wearing a suit!
Regards,
L
Linda recently posted..East Meets West In Austria
Whoa, your’s was much better than mine……..
Here’s her story; she lived all her working life in Alabama but had recently moved to TX. when she ‘passed’ they had to bring her ‘home’ so all her friends could say good-bye. However, her son and husband are now in TX (parents wanted to be close to son and grandchild) so now when the services are done they have to bring her out to TX so she can intern there. Of course, the son can’t move now or that would create quite the conundrum wouldn’t it?
Bill Dorman recently posted..The passing of Bill Dorman
Haha. Isn’t it fascinating how two bloggers can take the same idea, yet their posts are so completely different? I really loved what you did with yours. I need to figure out my commenting problem at your site. Sometimes it goes through and sometimes it doesn’t.
Thanks for reading and offering the explanation for the banker Judy Dunn’s confusing funeral and burial. Leave it to you to clear things up for me. : )
Judy Lee Dunn recently posted..Zombie Blogs: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us