The Marketer, the Cabbie, and the Princesses: A Google Fairy Tale

What do a Montreal Internet marketer and a Toronto taxi cab driver have in common? They both pass the "Google me" test.

Allow me to explain.

Last fall, during his talk at the Canadian Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Conference, Mitch Joel (the Internet marketer, not the cabbie) used an unusual method to share his contact information with attendees. At the conclusion of his talk, Mitch displayed a screenshot of the Google home page and told the audience to "Google me."

I thought this was a clever, albeit cheeky, way of going about this. I mean, what if Mitch couldn't be found in Google when people went looking for him? What if he drove people to a different Mitch Joel? What if the stuff displayed about Mitch Joel, or his possible doppelganger(s), wasn't positive?

I asked Mitch about this recently, and he told me he wasn't too concerned. Nor should he be. Right now, Mitch Joel (the Internet marketer) dominates the all-important first page of results from Google.

Which is where the Toronto taxi cab driver comes in. Apparently this unusual contact strategy is catching on.

Last week, three ladies from the office and I discovered we were riding in a cab driven by the world famous "Mr. Geography", a Toronto cabbie with an encyclopedic knowledge of word geography. In between asking me and "the princesses" (which is how the cabbie referred to my colleagues) geography trivia questions, Mr. Geography received a call on his mobile phone. On the end of the line was a producer from a radio station who was interested in booking the cabbie as a guest on an upcoming show. Mr. Geography's answer to the caller's request for more information? You guessed it, "Google me."

Which of course "the princesses" and I did when we got back to the office.

Wouldn't you know it, Mohammad Collins (a.k.a. "Mr. Geography") ranks pretty well in Google. Which brings me to an important question for you:

Do you pass the "Google me" test?

In other words, what happens when someone Googles your name? Do they find you? And if they don't, what do they find?

Even if you don't have the chutzpah to invite people to Google you, some of them are going to search for your name anyway. So you might as well pay attention to the search results. If you're really clever, you will start to be pro-active about shaping those results. And that, dear reader, is a topic for another day.

Comments

[Mitch Joel]

Thanks for adding me to this conversation Bill. I've been online for a long time and I obviously looked at my Google-ness (new word?) prior to putting that slide in there.

Regardless of whether there is good or bad stuff about me (thankfully, I don't see too much bad stuff up there), I would still go ahead with this, simply because people will do it regardless of whether or not I ask them to.

In this day and age, you can't afford to ignore what Google says about you (or your company) as my guess is that it's one of the first things anyone does when they are introduced to you.

We all need to be monitoring Google and Technorati. Ignoring it will not make the search results go away.

[Leesa Barnes]

When I was younger, I cursed my mother for spelling my first name so awkwardly.

Then came Google. And because my first name is spelled so uniquely, when you Google me, it's actually me.

It's not until page 11 that I find a Leesa Barnes that isn't me. She's a gal who completed an 11-week course and earned a designation called "Certified Professional Jeweler".

Wow, I'm glad I'm not her. I mean, how does she optimize herself so that she appears on Page 1 in Google? I'd hate to be that Leesa Barnes.

[David Esrati]

I teach my students this: "I google, therefore I am."
While being able to google me is great (and I am graced with a unique name, just like my friend Sally Hogshead that almost guarantees the front page) it's being able to find me for what I can offer you?
Looking for "Great ad agencies" there's my firm at number one-
how about in the process of searching for a new ad agency? Search "how to select an ad agency" and there is my agency on the first page.
"Mr. Geography" is great on the first page- if you know to look for him- but if you are looking for a dynamic speaker with great insight on how to jumpstart your life- would you know to type in "Sally Hogeshead"?
Probably not-
We've been teaching seminars on how to get to the front page of Google without paying for it- and business people around here (Dayton OH) don't seem overly interested. Maybe that will change when they read about "How to pick an ad agency" in the May 2007 issue of Inc. Magazine- who interviewed me- because- "I googled" well for that term.