As you work on your professional bios this week, you should also think about your online presence. Everything you put online has the potential to influence potential employers and colleagues. You probably already know that you should google your name to make sure there are no unfortunate messages found.

Today’s tutorial is included in the infographic (below) from a Swiss digital reputation management and security company. A related article, Protecting Your Online Reputation: 4 Things You Need to Know, is available from Mashable.

Steps 1 and 2 in the infographic explain why managing your online identity is important, and Steps 3 and 4 outline what you should do to ensure your online reputation helps you (rather than hurts you).

In addition to commenting on the ideas in the infographic, you can try some of the suggestions to find out what your online reputation is like and decide if you need to make changes. You can tell us what you find in the comments, if you like.

Note: This infographic has a transcript.