If you are getting negative comments and mentions online about your brand or business, a fast response can make a very big difference if your reputation is on the line. One of the best channels available that you can use with your response and Online Reputation Management (ORM) strategy is blogging.  The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997 and in 1999 shortened to “blog”.

A few years ago, people used blogging mostly as personal journals and news reporting tools, but it has grown to one of the most popular means of getting your message out on the web. Here’s a couple of reasons why you should use blogging in your Online Reputation Management strategy.

Blogging for online reputation management

Ping: Once a new blog post is published it alerts the major search engines and various blog aggregators to crawl your new content. New content on your website can take days to be indexed and seen by the search engines. Depending on the setup, with a blog it can happen in a few minutes.  The big value in having your personal or business blog crawled quickly is in the linked keyword text (anchor text) that will lead the search engines back to the core website pages for sooner indexing and providing relevance to the keywords you use on your website.

If you are running a blog together with your website, search engine recognition can happen faster for your content. Because your blog pings the search engines every time you post a new blog post, the search engines are alerted and both the blog and the website pages that are linked from the post are given search weight. Often it takes only a couple of minutes for the new blog post to be discovered by Google.

It is the same as fishing and hunting. With fishing (your website) you have to wait for the fish to grab the hook and depending on your strategy and method, can take a long time before you catch something. Why wait? With hunting, it can happen instantly – I know I’ll get flack for this statement.

Fast to develop: You can set up and develop your blog in a couple of minutes. This will allow your company to respond quickly to a crisis. Your blog can also be used to expand your corporate message. While building or repairing your online reputation, control is always the keyword to make it happen.

Engaging: An interactive environment is provided in the heart and soul of your blog. If your company is open to receive comments and feedback on your blog posts, you can start engaging with interested viewers immediately. This doesn’t mean that you should open the floodgates and let everyone post comments without your moderation, your blog can be setup so that all comments needs to be moderated first before they are made public.

The control factor is critical in maintaining open communication with your visitors. Irrelevant information can be blocked while valuable information can be shared.

Responding to comments: With most corporate websites, often an organization is unable to quickly respond to a crisis through their website due to all the layers of technical people needed to make changes. A blog can be maintained and moderated with very little training. If you are only going to use blogging for Online Reputation Management, your content should be carefully screened before it is posted to your blog.

The more often you are posting new content on your blog, the more alerts can be sent to the search engines. This will help your blog and profile to be frequently crawled by the search engines.  This can be a good advantages in delivering your message countering all the negative comments and to build your online presence