Online Reputation Management Tips – Our Top 10

Follow our top 10 reputation management tips to ensure you deal with any negative online press about you as an individual or your business.

• Use automated tools

Google offer a free service called Google Alerts which lets you enter specific words and phrases that you want to monitor online. Google will then email you the results either daily or weekly which will include any new mentions of the words or phrases you’ve chosen across the internet.

• Get libellous content removed

If you read something about you or your business which simply isn’t true and could be damaging then you should contact the person directly responsible to ask them to remove the offending article immediately.

If a false comment is posted on a consumer forum, you should contact the forum administrators right away and tell them that it’s libellous and should be deleted before too many people have a chance to read it.

• Don’t make things worse

When you see something bad about your company published online you may be tempted to call or email the person responsible with a load of abuse. Don’t make matters worse for yourself by flying off the handle or adopting a threatening approach as this could have further implications for you and your business.

• React quickly to legitimate complaints

If you’re alerted to a legitimate complaint on Twitter or in a consumer forum, it’s important to act quickly with a positive response. This will help others see you as a company that cares about its reputation and customers.

• Buy your personal domain name

One way you can populate the search engine results with positive news stories is to buy a personal domain name e.g. petersmith.com and update it regularly with your own content.

Remember that online reputation management isn’t just about your company; if you’re a prominent figure in your business then people will be searching for your name online too.

• Make time to monitor your reputation

Running a small business takes up a lot of time and many people view online reputation management as just another thing they have to try and cram into their day.

If you choose to ignore what others are saying about you online your business could suffer as a direct result. In these days of social media it doesn’t take long for bad publicity to spread and it could cost you dearly. Every business, no matter how small, should care about their online reputation.

• Be proactive

Many people check their online reputation once in a while and then forget about it if they don’t find anything negative. A proactive approach is definitely best, just because nobody has complained about your business so far, doesn’t mean to say it won’t happen in the future. You should get as many positive articles, profiles and stories out there as you can while the going is good, because they will lessen the impact if a negative article arises in the future.

• Use social media

One of the great things about Twitter is that you can communicate with people instantly. Imagine you were a customer and put a message on Twitter such as “don’t use ABC Dry Cleaners in Plymouth, they ruined my best suit”, how do you think you’d react if someone from ABC Roofing then contacted you directly on Twitter just moments later to say they’ll come round and put things right?

Sites like Twitter offer a great opportunity for dialogue with customers and also to show others that you care about rectifying any problems.

• Create inbound links to other search results

Let’s assume you Google your company name and find a result that’s less then complimentary at the top of the page. One method you can use is to create incoming links to the articles directly below it (which may be positive stories about your company) in a bid to knock the offending article down a few places and make it less visible.

• Hire a professional company

If you just can’t find the time to do any of tips 1-9 then you should hire a professional PR firm that have experience in online reputation management.

Speak to a few local companies to get a feel for what they’re like and ask for more information on what they’ve managed to achieve for previous clients.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Online Reputation Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.