As a professional surveyor, building your reputation and putting yourself out there for hire is a constant task. You've probably spent years cultivating a brand for yourself or your company and I am proud of you. But the fact of the matter is, your reputation as a surveyor is two-faced. You may think that you have built a bulletproof reputation in the real world and do not need an online reputation, but you are dead-wrong. Your reputation online is just as important (if not more important) than your offline reputation, if you are planning to stay in business.

Consider Yourself Warned

If you do not step up and say your name online, someone else will. And when that happens, your reputation online is no longer under your control.

The only way to ensure that internet searchers find you and your company in a positive light is to build a solid reputation online through helping others, sharing your experiences and being a positive citizen of the interweb. Build a well rounded online presence using twitter, facebook, and Land Surveyors United. Connect those accounts to your profile on the network and share share share. You should be in control of your online reputation and to do this, simply make it a point to attach respectable and compelling content to your profile a couple of times per week. You may feel like it is a waste of your time to socialize your business, but when you consider the amount of time that it can take to recover from a bad review online, you'll be glad that I reminded you.

Why a Unified Body of Professionals Is Better for You in the Long Run

It takes just a little bit of your time every week to maintain your reputation online. However, if someone criticizes your company online and you do not have a buffer of positive content, it will take you 3 times as long to push those search results down and recover from a negative blow. I built Land Surveyors United so that all geospatial professionals can easily build their reputation online, simply through sharing what they have learned in their experiences. A united body of professionals who respect the challenges of each others' daily tasks and provide each other with positive feedback is the ONLY way that the everyday land surveyor can stay on top of their reputation without spending a ton of money every month. Take this seriously and engage with others on the network. I assure you that your reputation will climb and you will GET MORE BUSINESS!

We have an entire group forum for discussing Reputation Management! Ask Questions!

Why do I care? I realized the direction that this industry was headed a few years ago and began building LSU because there is simply no one else in this industry who would take the time to teach you guys the power of social media. No one else had the knowledge and ability to help you build your future-oriented online reputation. Connect your company's online account to your profile on LSU and passively build your reputation before someone actively destroys it for you.

If you found this note because you are facing the wrath of a displeased customer or have an unjustifiable bad reputation online, contact me and I'll do what I can to help. Just take a look at what Land Surveyors United has done for your fellow surveyors around the world. Enough said.