Jul
Online Reputation Management and Monitoring
In today’s business world, it can be very easy to ruin a company’s reputation. Sometimes all it takes is one scandal, but sometimes all it takes is one slanderous comment. That is why it is even more important than ever that companies focus on online reputation management.
Online reputation management is when a company assesses all of the information available online about their brand, service, product, or company. An important part of managing your online reputation is also having a plan for dealing with any negative comments that you might find about your company.
You may find that your competitors are trying to smear your company’s name or product in a variety of backhanded ways. They could do this through comments on blogs, through posting ghost blogs, or through creating websites that complain about your company. Previous customers can also be a problem. Sometimes all it takes is one bad experience for customers to decide that you are not a reputable business and they may decide to warn everyone else not to do business with you either.
You also may find problems with other companies’ bad reputations. If they have a similar name or website address or if your companies share the same initials, people might confuse your company with theirs. Online reputation management is very important in these circumstances to keep your company name clear.
How do you improve your online reputation? Ranking high on search engines and advertising on various respectable websites are two good ways. You need to make sure that people see plenty of positive information about your company when they search for it and not just negative information. Regularly updating content on your company website can be a great way to do this. It is also important to have articles and press releases written about your company. Try to gather up as much free publicity for your company as you can. Set up product or service reviews with various high ranking blogs. Make a Facebook or Twitter page for your company and offer people an incentive like a discount to like your page. Uploading promotional videos to YouTube and Google videos is also a good idea.
But how do you monitor your online reputation to make sure that it is not being damaged? Google Alerts will notify you with new Google results using your company or product name and positive or negative keyword phrases that you choose to have them search for. You can search Twitter to see if your company has been mentioned in tweets. Trackur and Brandseye are both services that monitor all the aspects of social media and keeps you informed. Knowing what others are saying about you on the internet gives you the opportunity to smooth over the bad and highlight the good.
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Related posts:
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I have to agree that a good reputation attracts customers, and a bad one can ruin sales. I always thought that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but online, there is. Online it’s much harder to convince people that you’re the best:1. there are so many sites/companies listed. 2. you can’t have a conversation face to face with the client, so your ways of convincing him are fewer and more difficult.
Yeah, it is very important to keep your reputation clean.
Alan@Fast Weight Loss Diets´s last [type] ..Fast Weight Loss Diets Confusion
Thanks have this great information on this topic.The goal is good public relations. Being mentioned in social media can be a threat if there is criticism, but can also generate benefits if such criticisms are reversed. The material monitored includes both professional journalism and user-created content
With so many blogs and forums around, companies really have no control over what people say about them and who they say it too. Disgruntled consumers, for example, can really taint an online reputation with blog posts and forum discussions.
That’s why, as you said, it’s so completely critical to know what’s being said about you online, responding to it appropriately and getting more positive press out about yourself.
Stacey Cavanagh´s last [type] ..The Annoying Things About Facebook
Another thing that I have been noticing is that competition has been making some of my clients sites look bad in the Google Local positions. I have seen them leave bad reviews. Its something to look out for and I will usually leave a good comment so that the bad one moves down more.
Online reputation management is not only for companies. It should also be applied to individuals. We should be careful of our actions online. Otherwise, our private lives may be ruined. Especially in social networks, we are connected to different people who are also connected to others. So things can easily spread online.
A very helpful and informative post! Cheers.
The stories I have heard about companies having their reputation destroyed are horrible. It can put them out of business. I agree on the point you made with regards to putting positive information out there that will help your target audience. By doing this you will induce a nice reflection on your business/website/company.
Josh@Network Marketing Consultant´s last [type] ..MLM Sales A Vital Key to MLM Success
Integrity and being client focused are paramount when managing an online reputation. Look at complaints as an opportunity to show other clients how much you care about each one. If a competitor is smearing your name, try not to engage in mud slinging. There is enough of that in politics. Stay positive, keep your clients engaged, and as Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, “Be nice”!
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If i ain’t mistaken, i think google alerts also works on twitter too
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There are certainly lots of ORM techniques you can use to safeguard your online reputation. But in doing so, I suggest being more proactive that being reactive to avoid any further backlashes.
SEOP Inc
internet marketing consultants
Great resources…thanks for rounding them together
Thanks have this great information on this topic.as you said, it’s so completely critical to know what’s being said about you online, responding to it appropriately and getting more positive press out about yourself.
I’ve been searching for this kind of topic, because it really is THAT important for today’s businesses. Everything is viral these days, a celebrity can do something crazy and in a few hours see a video of it already on youtube with more than a hundred thousand views. Especially on the web, information can be passed so fast than it reaches the other side of the world in a matter of secs, which can be both good and bad. Your business’ online reputation can get shot in an instant with 1 wrong move. So be careful of what you put up on the web and what you do.
While I agree that keeping track of what is being said about your brand is important, I also think that more focus should be given on how you deal with your clients. Prevention is better than cure.
If your customers are happy doing business with you or if you readily provide them with assistance if they have a problem with your service or product, you avoid the risk of having them bad-mouthing your business.
As for rival companies doing backhanded tactics to ruin your company’s name, you do not have to worry about them much if majority of your customers are happy with your service. They cannot possibly spend vast resources just to ruin your brand.
I have no idea how important online reputation is. This maybe the lesson that 1and1 company should learn. If you search the web comparing goddady vs 1and1, you will meet several bad and negarive comments on 1and1 while goddady have more positive comments than 1and1.