Networking your way up Google - from obscurity to Number One in under an hour!

While delighted with the coverage I received in yesterday's Sunday Times newspaper, I was faced with a small dilemma...they had spelt my name wrong. Who is this 'Andy Lapota' fellow?

Now, with a name like mine, you'd think I'd be used to this. I can assure you, I gave myself a swift kick on reading the article, I've seen my name spelt in so many different ways that I should be briefing people by now when it is important.

The problem was that if people want to search for me after reading the article, they wouldn't be able to find me on Google under the misspelt name. I simply wouldn't appear in the results. To make things worse, I had gone away for the weekend and couldn't get any internet access to address the problem.

Enter David Petherick, a fellow Ecademist. David called me after seeing the article, and misspelling, in the paper. He offered to resolve the search problem as quickly as he could.

David Twittered, David Pownced and David Blogged. Forty minutes later, I managed to get onto my mobile phone browser while on the motorway (don't worry, I wasn't driving!) and googled 'Andy Lapota'. From not featuring at all, my name now occupied the first two places on Google, courtesy of Mr Petherick and the SEO capabilities of sites like Ecademy. Even more impressively, both posts were addressed to Sunday Times readers looking for more information on me.

From obscurity to number one in less than an hour. Now, that's the power of networking!