BrandYourself

Our Story: BrandYourself started when our co-founder, Pete Kistler, couldn't get an internship in college because he was being mistaken for a drug dealer when managers looked him up during the hiring process. Pete realized what shows up about you in search engines, like Google, can have a huge effect on your reputation. But, at the time, Pete didn’t know the process of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and traditional reputation management companies quoted him an outrageous price tag to fix it without providing much information about what they would do. Our other co-founder, Patrick Ambron, had a background in SEO and was able to help fix Pete's results, but we couldn't stop thinking about the millions of other people with the same problem: -We hated the fact that online reputation services purposely mystified the Search Engine Optimization process, making their customers feel trapped. -We hated the fact that these firms often used quick, manipulative "black hat" tactics that only help search rankings in the short term instead of focusing on long term "white hat" techniques. -We hated that these firms overcharged customers for something they could easily do themselves if they simply had a platform that educated and empowered them to do so. We decided to put the power of SEO and online reputation in everybody's hands, regardless of how tech savvy or wealthy they might be. So, our co-founders (Pete, Patrick and Evan) put together a team, raised venture capital and began building. The result? We created the first and only free DIY online reputation management tool that guides people through the process of improving search results for their own name. Fr With feedback from our users, we realized that while our free DIY tool is all most people need to take control of their Google results, some people still need more hands-on services - maybe they have a particularly difficult situation or want someone to handle the work for them - so we launched our Concierge Services in early 2013. With these services, clients receive a dedicated Reputation Specialist that works to maintain a positive web presence for them by creating websites, social media profiles, blogs and other web properties. Keeping Pete’s previous experience with traditional reputation firms, we make sure we’re completely transparent about the entire Concierge Services process, employ only long-term “white hat” SEO tactics and never sell our clients something they don’t need. Get started for free at brandyourself.com