Having a negative online reputation is a very serious problem for any business or person. There are many places online where people can mention something positive or negative about your business. Many people (including myself) are researching online before using a service or buying a new product. What are other people’s experiences in using the particular service or product? Is it positive or negative?
There are many review channels online that are very influential. Most of these channels allows anyone to post anything regarding a specific service, product, or brand, and your experience associated with it. It might be a bit confusing if you want to start managing your reputation online or if you are looking for ways to improve it. Here’s a couple of tips to help you get started with online reputation management.
Online reputation management tips
Google: It might sound silly, but take the time to Google yourself, business, products, and services to find out what is currently being talked about your market niche online. This can also be the starting point on researching what you should do to improve your reputation.
Answer comments: Never ignore any comments or mentions you receive. Be proactive with this approach and talk to the person who wrote the mention or review.
Blogging: If you already have a negative reputation and it can be seen by all the negative results when searching for your name on Google, start with a blogging campaign to help you push down the negative reviews and comments from appearing on the first page. The more you blog, the faster you can start occupying the first page with your blog posts.
Press releases: Even though many see this as old school, regularly publishing press releases can help you spread positive content online about your business.
Social media: No ORM post is complete without a mention of social media. Online technologies has changed considerably over the last few years and social media is playing a huge role in it. Google and the other top search engines places huge importance on social media. The more mentions, and reviews you receive via social media, the better.
Forums: Relevant industry related forums can play a huge role in building your reputation online. Become an active participant on industry related forums and always include your business name with a link in your signature.
SEO: Search engine optimization can be a gold mine for building your exposure online. Be sure that your website and blog is optimised. Having good organic rankings on the search engines for industry specific keywords is worth gold.
The web is public: It’s important, especially in this day and age that you should clearly think before you post anything online. Once it is posted, it’s public and might be difficult to delete once it’s out.
Having a good reputation online and offline plays a huge role if you are serious about your business. There are many people that will refuse to do business with a company or a person if they find negative information about them online. Having an online reputation management strategy is not a nice to have anymore, but a must have if you are serious about protecting your image online.