As any good business owner knows, how consumers perceive you, your products and/or services, and how you treat them goes a long way in determining how successful you will be.
So, what happens when some negative content related to your business gets out on the web?
Do you just let it slide by, deal with it when you get around to it, or attack it right away? As a business owner, that should not be a hard question to answer.
For too many business owners, however, the Internet age is not something they are all too familiar with. From search engine optimization (SEO) to how beneficial social media can be for their companies, many business owners need to turn for help when it comes to dealing with negative online content.
Guide Yourself to a Better Online Appearance
If you have found your company to be on the defensive more than once over content about you that is circulating over the Internet, there are ways to deal with it. If you do not already have a reputation management guide in place for your business, now is as good a time as any to get one.
Among things to consider:
1. Should I pay for “better” press? – In the event there is content about your company popping up on the web, you always have the option of hiring someone or a company that specializes in such clean up to handle it for you. An online reputation management firm can request that negative details about you or your business be taken down on the site or sites it appears on, along with writing new content that puts you or your company in a positive light, pushing the negative content down on search engines.
When you look for such a company to assist you, you want one that tracks and responds to what is being said on the web regarding your brand. The reputation management company should scan countless pages that include news, blogs, videos, pictures, forums, social media sites and more;
2. What is the reputation of the company I may hire to assist me? – Just as you want your reputation as a businessperson to be pristine, you want to make sure those you hire to restore your positive reputation have a good reputation themselves. While most of these companies have your best interests in mind, there may be one or two that are simply looking to cash in on your misery.
Make sure you do a thorough background check on the company you are thinking about going with. Get referrals, check to see if they have their own history of complaints lobbied against them, and ask what services they can offer at what price. If they say they have no money back guarantee, keep shopping around;
3. Are my customers spreading the good word about the company? – One of if not your best assets is your customers. When a customer raves about the products and/or services you provide, by all means encourage them to go online and let others know. Whether it is through social media or other online vehicles, customers spreading the good word about your company is priceless. You may even offer them an incentive or two like 10 percent off their next purchase when they post a short review of your company on their/your Facebook page or on your website where comments can be added;
4. Turn to press releases – If some negative news has hit online sites about your company, a press release about some of the positive things your company is up to never hurts. Keep in mind that you want press releases that have some substance to them, so don’t write one just for the sake of it. If word online is that your company’s customer service is terrible, put together a short press release showing examples of just the opposite. The goal here is put the good press out front, neutralize the bad press;
5. Guest blogging – In order to improve your name ranking with the search engines, guest blogging is a great means to do just that. Find some authoritative sites that are interested in either posting on your site or having you post some information related to what you do on their site. As the positive news gets out there, your online reputation will improve.
It is always important to remember that negative reviews, whether they’re merited or completely untrue, can swing customers over to your competition. How you go about reputation management is more important than ever given the online 24/7 information cycle the world lives in.
If you are all about your brand surviving, what is said online about you does matter.
Photo credit: topnews.in
Related Posts
4 Tips To Manage Your Online Reputation
Manage Your Online Marketing Reputation or Suffer the Consequences
Reputation Management for Individuals: Cleaning Up Your Online Image
Brand.com Review – Who Needs Online Reputation Management?
Google+ PRO Tips, Sitizens, Personal SEO, Blogging, Speedlink 35:2012
Brandify: Small Business Owners Gets Help To Manage Online Reputation
How to Harness Social Proof
Using Your Most Viewed Articles For Better Conversions
Ronald Stinson
I am planning to establish a business, and a lot of things are bothering me right now. Am I really sure about my plan? Would it flow smoothly? Or would my money just go to waste? Reading this made me realize that I need to assess myself first before making a step. For all we know big amount of money is needed for establishing a business. I would consider as online marketing as the best form of marketing my up coming business.
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Ditesco,
Excellent advice here!
Tell the truth. Put out good karma…
Yep, even when you persistently tell the truth some people might speak about you or your company in a negative light. At this point, you can let it go – if its entirely ridiculous – or simply connect with the person and ask…Why? Or if there’s any way you can help them.
Most people are stunned by a passive, powerful approach. I let the low energy stuff slide most of the time but on occasion I reach out with a Why or How I can help message.
Either way, keep telling the truth. Keep helping people. Keep building a network of high energy folks around you.
You simply can’t go wrong by taking these steps…your online reputation will skyrocket.
Thanks!
RB
Hi DiTesco, this is such an important topic for us to consider. You hit on some key points about the importance of reputation management. Even if you have a great reputation, there are always “haters” out there who will find ways to criticize you and hurt your online presence. I’ve had a few of them show up on my blog leaving comments so I can just imagine what it would be like for business owners if they don’t pay careful attention it can get out of hand.
Thanks for the advice.
I agree Ileane. If “someone” goes to the trouble of “bad” mouthing us directly on our blogs, imagine what they can do out there. Good to have some “tools” to monitor our rep, just in case 😉 Thanks for stopping by my friend.
airbrushaction
Managing reputation is something that will be going to help you in the feature. If you have the blog or web site then you must know how to keep your reputation up to the mark.
cdl practice test
That’s not exactly breaking news, of course, but it’s worth repeating. So many businesses don’t pay full attention to their online reputation – how good (or bad) they look in Google searches.
Jyothis Thaliath
“Do you just let it slide by, deal with it when you get around to it, or attack it right away?”
Actually there isn’t much we can do for attacking the cause when one pops up. You can’t just ask all those websites or social media to shut up. We have been using an online tool to monitor bad mouths and literelly bury them down with “good” reviews. There is no real cure!
Jyothis Thaliath
“Do you just let it slide by, deal with it when you get around to it, or attack it right away?”
Actually there isn’t much we can do for attacking the cause when one pops up. You can’t just ask all those websites or social media to shut up. We have been using an online tool (sorry I can’t disclose :)) to monitor bad mouths and literelly bury them down with “good” reviews. This is important for us as we are service providers. But then again, this is no real cure!
Julie Robert
You choose a very valuable topic Ditesco. It really give me a insight as I take a decision of making a press release to inform about fake negative reviews of my site which are deleted by different sites by doing investigation. I hope this will really beneficiary for my site as many people now know about this activity by reading this press release. Thanks for giving me this idea.
Bhushan
If anybody have reputation then you should also maintain this very well.but if you don’t have them and going to start then here is also very good info for everyone.
Great topic Ditesco! It’s definitely something to think about when running a business or website. It can really bring you down when someone badmouths your company or posts a negative review about your website, but that’s when you take action (you could just ignore it, or you could try and fix the problem). Thanks for sharing these tips!
firdosh joy
Hello DITESCO , Managing the online reputation is really very important and you wrote an awesome article dedicated to “How to manage online reputation properly”. Thanks DITESCO for such a great article.
Pressa
Turn to press releases only if you are sure your product hold the right quality or it may be harmfull to you.
erda
Hello DITESCO , Managing the online reputation is really very important and you wrote an awesome article
A good online image may be difficult to maintain but is very much necessary if we want to be a successful blogger. For doing that being in good terms with our fellow bloggers and our entire online audience or readers is the basic requirement. Connecting with these people correctly works well.