Starting your search for someone
If you are conducting a search for someone you are in good company. Trying to find a person has become very common. In fact, there are over 55 Million Google searches done every month with the search term ‘People Search’. That number is growing by over twenty percent per year – an astonishing figure.
If you are just starting out on your search you should begin by assessing what category of search you are in. Those should eventually turn up something that is a hit in terms of being able to be followed – i.e. emailed, called, etc. Otherwise you should consider spending the small fee that people search firms charge, and get the information in less than a day.
For the tougher searches and for all searches where you are pretty sure that the target is actively eluding you then you should start with a list of what you know. Write down every piece of data that you have on this person, including full name with middle name, not initial, addresses, phone numbers, prior email address, SSN, Driver License Number, and anything else associated with their name.
Start with the simple ones first and begin conducting online searches for email address, mailing address, phone number, etc. In the meantime start your detailed search process. What we are referring to here is the step where you examine everything in the life of the target person including schools, hobbies, jobs, and especially everything related to formalized ownership.
Formalized ownership means anything that States and Counties legally keep track of like real estate, automobiles, boats, planes, etc. Chasing this data though State and County files can be very productive. This collection of data will allow you to conduct your next set of searches, called Direct Access searches. Use the data referenced above to begin to search County and State files or related subjects. Record anything that looks promising but do not act on it except to conduct further searches. Definitely try an address search on by entering ‘address search’ in Google.
The second category of search activity is called Special Interest Searches. These include everything from College Fraternity association, religious affiliation, Military Service and everything else in this category. You can chase these online through the many online services and applied club and organization sites that keep members in contact.
You\r last category of search activity relates to Negative History. These are the searches that chase all formal record databases nationwide that keep data on illegal, financial, or statutory filings. It includes arrest records, tax liens, court orders, injunctions, convictions, etc. What you are looking for here is both identity and verification of the same. If you turn up something in this category it will normally be of significant content. Getting a hit in this category will normally serve your search activities well in terms of producing valuable data. It will greatly contribute to your effort to find a person.