With the internet being one of the main sources for news stories and public opinion, managing your internet reputation has never been more important. In a world where people believe a lot of what they hear, and comments and stories can be distributed across the world at record speed, there has never been a better time to get on top of your internet reputation management. Most people understand the basics of managing your online reputation, however a basic knowledge can cause silly mistakes and areas of neglect, so identifying areas where you could be going wrong is the key to ensuring your positive reputation stays intact.

Negative press online differs for a company as it perhaps would in other instances. Consider a celebrity, who is constantly in the press, being the victim of many a false accusation. More often than not, you will hear these celebrities stating how they simply ignore any press features, taking the approach that out of sight is out of mind. Whilst this approach may work for celebrities, ignoring your online negativity will do more damage than good.

When it comes to blatant slander or criticism, most companies will know that the best thing to do is respond to it as quickly as possible. That being said, responding is not enough, and the way in which you do this needs to be considered carefully. Let us take an example of a negative comment on a blog page. The responsive stance which you take on this should be treated in the same way you would treat a positive comment, with a constructive and concise answer. Never let your emotions get involved, and under no circumstances should you respond in haste. If you look defensive and arrogant – or worst of all, threatening – then it is not going to do your online reputation any good at all.

Before responding, you should also be clear about what you want to say. Sometimes a negative comment is not necessarily wrong, and the worst part about this is that the truth hurts. It can be all too easy to disagree with a negative comment out of pride, when in fact they have a valid point. Also, consider the beliefs and principles of your company or business, as you do not want to contradict yourself in any way. Ensure you have rational arguments and responses, and truly believe in what you are saying, because if you don’t, and somebody comes back to challenge you, then you will not be ready for them.

Lastly, try to stay out of trouble in the first place if you do not want negative coverage. Whilst there are a lot of cases of companies being wrongly accused and unfairly targeted, more often than not there is no smoke without fire. If you know that some of the content you post is controversial and will receive mixed opinions, then you cannot expect no backlash from this. If you want to stay positive, then do not provoke too many reactions from readers.

It is commonplace to suggest that the net has made the world a smaller place. For example, the net has facilitated communication to an extent which previous technological innovations failed to do. Although cultural differences and nation states remain important, preventing the formation of a world without borders, the advent of the net has challenged the status quo and led to uneven processes which point towards the eventual formation of a ‘global village.’ Despite the fact that the global village concept has become a cliché, it does capture some of the relevant trends in a useful manner.

In a world where communication is shockingly swift, corporations have to be very conscious of the perceptions potential consumers may have of their brand. The traditional media was not always easy to manipulate, especially in nations with a heritage of investigative journalism and a more or less ‘free’ press, but it was easy to know who the main proprietors were, and rebuttals could be carried out in a systematic way when damage limitation was required. The democratic element of the net, and the large numbers of contributors to the blogosphere, means that internet reputation management can be very tricky.

Even large corporations can struggle to deal with the new environment. A gaffe by a member of the organisation can spread around the net with startling rapidity. If the gaffe has a comic element, it could find itself being tweeted and re-tweeted on Twitter, for example. If an organisation does not have proper procedures to cope with online problems, it may be unaware of the issue for far too long and it may be too late to prevent some negative impact on the image of the operation. In the modern corporate environment, nothing should be more jealously guarded than the image of the firm, because this affects relationships with other firms, as well as potential customers.

Due to the complexity of internet reputation management, when the slightest indiscretion can lead to a ‘snowballing’ of detrimental – and often biased – comment, outsourcing monitoring and intervention in this area makes a huge amount of sense. The logic of outsourcing is based on two key considerations. Firstly, it permits cost savings in many cases. Secondly, it means that a firm can have access to the most relevant expertise, and benefit from the experience of experts who possess the ability to develop their specialist skills. Trying to monitor what is said about your firm, or assessing the possible reputation impact of your link building strategies, are complicated tasks. The potential cost of making errors underlines the value of outsourcing the tasks to an appropriate firm.

As globalising forces continue to have their uneven political, cultural and economic influence, the social world seemingly becomes a smaller place. Although many people are still excluded from the net, huge numbers of relatively affluent consumers use the net for diverse purposes on a regular basis. As an online firm, it is imperative that you enhance and consolidate your reputation, so that existing and potential customers have faith in your ability to deliver goods or services effectively.

Getting the most from your website will not happen overnight. Search engine optimization is not just about creating successful links and keywords, it is about building and creating something which is favoured by both people and search engines alike. Becoming a brand and building a brand name is an excellent way of making yourself more appealing. Building a brand takes time and persistence, but stick with it and your popularity could soar.

The reason why brands are received so well is that people like familiarity and companies which they can trust. The same goes from a search engine perspective as their intention is to provide users with a trusted and reliable source of information, so the stronger your brand, the more likely you are to rank higher with search engine results pages (SERPs).

As the process of building a brand and reputation happens over time, there are various angles which you can take to making it a success. If the industry you are in is buoyant and competitive then you will need to create awareness to your target audience and get your brand noticed above your competitors. Think Marks & Spencer for example. The fashion and clothing market is saturated, however Marks & Spencer have managed to create a social brand which relates to both families and friends, and somehow speaks to all elements of their target audience at once.

If your industry is more specialised or niche, then you can take a different approach with your tactics as the competition is not as stiff. If there is not a great deal of other companies offering your products or services, or there are but they are just not particularly well known, then this is a perfect opportunity to associate your company name with the product or service. There are various examples of companies doing this and one of the most classic is the company Hoover.

In fact, Hoover is a brand name not a product, yet the actual product of ‘vacuum cleaner’ is very commonly referred to as a Hoover. Although there is now a lot of competition within the vacuum cleaner market, and the likes of Dyson may be taking over as lead companies that still does not deter from the fact that Hoover is a very strong brand name.

Once a person favours your brand and recognises it or refers to it when talking about your products, then they are more likely to actively search for it within search engine pages. This not only increases your click through rates (CRT) and visitors to your site, but the increase in user searches will also help you appear higher in items such as Google page ranking. The more people conduct a clean link to your site, the more likely you are to be displayed within SERPs . This fact really highlights the importance of branding, as this is literally the brand driving the brand to the top of its game. Granted, a brand takes time to build, however once sufficient status is achieved, it can last you a lifetime.

When it comes to online reputation management, most of us are pretty clued up now as to what we need to do to maintain our company reputation. However, what some of us fail to do is identify what our reputation was to start with. Before you can manage your reputation, you need to understand where it currently stands otherwise you are fighting a losing battle.

Prior to embarking on any form of Internet reputation management, do some research into your company and industry and get a clear idea as to how you are perceived. If possible, it is a good idea to research your reputation prior to launching a new website or even revamping your existing one, as there may be issues which need to be addressed before launching any new marketing activity. This may not always be possible and if you are past this stage, then at least do some research before continuing with any web optimisation or before posting any new content.

Generic search engines and news pages are a good place to start. Any places where searches are ranked by relevance as opposed to date are useful as they give you a good inclination as to what has been written or discussed about you in the past. It is also a good way to see what other sites may appear when a potential customer runs a search on your company or services, and if any of these sites produce negative information then you need to ensure your pages rank higher so that users do not view these sites before they view your own.

Social media and networking sites are another good place to look and are probably one of the most beneficial in terms of customer insight. Social networking sites will display blogs or forums where people who have used your products or services can voice their feedback or opinions. When using these methods as part of your reputation research, be sure to check comments as well as the main post, as the comments will either be a response or acknowledgement of the initial content. You may find that there is a strong pattern to what people think, or alternatively you may discover a mixed response, which in turn offers you a varied and constructive view of your overall or main customer base.

Online reputation management does not always have to focus on the negative points. People will post positive blogs or comments about your company too and it is important that you embrace these and encourage these pages to be searched for and viewed. If you do find positive posts about your company then create backlinks to the sites or ask to guest blog on their pages to show you are working with them and encourage feedback.

Unless there has been some high profile news story within your industry, reputation checking will not be as scary as is initially thought. Just remember you are never going to please anyone so do not let negative comments bring you down.

The facility to comment on blogs, posts and other online content is a fantastic thing and has enabled many companies to advance in the online world, increasing traffic flow to their website, sharing content with a vast amount of people and bringing social media marketing strategy up to an entire new level. The ability to comment is what makes the virtual world more true to life, with people having the power to challenge and praise other people’s opinions in the same way they would in the real world.

The downside to comments on your websites blog page or social networking profile is the opportunity to sabotage and unnecessarily criticise other people, or even worse, another company. Comments can be extremely damaging even if their intention was innocent, which is why most companies and organisations now choose to have some form of internet reputation management in place.

Examples of innocent comments could be a simple challenge against something which is said. From a personal point of view this could be a harmless post on a friend’s Facebook wall or a tweet mentioning what they did last night in too much detail. We can all imagine the chaos personal comments could cause, so imagine the impact from a company point of view.

Even from a company perspective there can be innocent posts. For instance, a company blog may stress the importance of including contact details on all your web pages and then a person comments on how it is actually extremely difficult to find their contact details within their website. Ok so this is a fairly mild example, but the person writing the blog still looks silly, as does the company they are representing.

When we get into intentionally causing damage to other people or companies it is an entirely different thing altogether. On a serious note, there have been many social networking sites accused of allowing online bullying which can quickly get out of hand. This sort of action is done with a true purpose to bring down another person.

The same happens in business and even within search engine optimization. All it takes is a competitor to post a comment on what a bad experience they had, or start a vicious rumour, and a negative perception of that business has begun. With the speed in which information can be distributed across the web, this can become very damaging if not controlled.

At present you can see who posts comments on your blogs, and even though most people will use a screen name, the majority of sites require a user to create an account and log in before they can comment. There are rumours around however, that anonymous comments will be available on some sites, meaning if somebody does post something damaging, they may not be able to be traced. If this is true, the importance of online reputation management has never been so high, so any company should ensure they have a strong strategy in place.

In the ‘real world’, reputation is somewhat dependent on the associates an individual or group possesses. It is of course related to what they do. Imagine a group of timeshare salespeople in the Costa del Sol. Their reputation might not be great, but it will be adversely affected in a serious manner only if it becomes known that they are socialising with individuals in money laundering circles. What is true in Spain is equally the case in cyberspace.

A site which is poorly designed and hard to navigate around is not going to enjoy a positive reputation. Negative perceptions of it may be reinforced if its contents are inaccurate, poorly written and uninformative. Unless professional SEO services are accessed, the site may be headed down the search engine results pages. As the site may be having a detrimental influence on how the firm is viewed and fewer visitors are frequenting it in the first place, online business disaster may be just around the corner.

It can be very tricky indeed to rectify such an unpromising situation. It is very unlikely that an inexperienced firm can turn things around without external assistance. Nevertheless, if high quality SEO services are contacted, a gradual transformation of fortunes may be possible. However, it is useful for a firm to know some of the basics so that it can make a contribution to an image-changing campaign.

For example, link building strategies must be selected properly and monitored carefully if they are to have a positive effect on the online reputation of a firm. Not only does inappropriate link acquisition incur the risk of a search engine penalty, but it also means that a site can be linked with sites with a negative reputation. SEO Link building strategies which provide incentives for the wrong type of site to make a link are fundamentally flawed. Mass link buying is a strategy which can only deliver unsustainable short-lived success. Indeed, if the site has not been made fit for purpose, getting extra substandard links to it may do it no good even in the short term.

It seems that the best approach is to deliver improvements to the site which will make other sites regard it in quite a different light. As well as the implementation of site-appropriate elements of a comprehensive SEO campaign by an experienced consultant, it is a great idea to ensure that reputation-boosting tactics are put securely in place. These can include such things as listing ‘real world’ contact details, revealing certain details in an ‘about us’ section (possibly complete with a flattering photograph), publicising any industry-relevant qualifications held by team members or mentioning any affiliations to professional bodies. This kind of approach can start to obtain the trust of consumers and lead to the gradual improvement in the site’s reputation.

More and more people are willing to make financial transactions online, but their trust does not extend to everyone. Therefore internet reputation management is an imperative. It has to include some consideration of the sites that are linked to a site, because that is one way in which reputation is formed.

Through the ages, many business people have learnt from grim experience the truth of a famous assertion by controversial philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He maintained that, “It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.” With the development of the net making the protection of a firm’s reputation a more complicated matter than ever before, many wise business owners opt to outsource responsibility for their internet reputation management.

The net has utterly transformed how many humans communicate with each other. In terms of speed and ease of communication, the net has revolutionised the way we behave through social media. While it has opened up numerous positive opportunities for business, it has also facilitated possibilities for consumers to spread negative messages about the goods or services provided by a firm. Although the freedom of speech enabled by the net can be a very positive thing in many circumstances, the net can also provide a platform for cranks or competitors to spread misinformation about a firm, which is one of the more common SEO downfalls. Being aware of negative comments in cyberspace is not always easy, but it is an essential first step in protecting the reputation of a firm.

Regularly typing a company name into a major search engine is a primitive but useful way of observing what is being written about it. If several adverse comments are appearing in material accessible from the top section of the search engine results pages there may be a serious issue to address with your search engine optimisation. A shrewd approach is to set up Google Alerts which can inform the user when content relevant to a specific business is being put on the net. For instance, new material which contains pertinent keywords can be highlighted in this fashion. The aim is to obtain frequent updates about what comments are being made about an online firm.

The implementation of an authoritative and intriguing blog can be a valuable part of a site’s reputation management tactics. If it is delivered with professionalism and panache, it can help secure enthusiastic support for an online firm. By enabling comments and by responding appropriately, it can indicate that a firm puts great store in the opinions of its target audience. The occasional negative post should not occasion panic, it will add to the community feel of a site if the odd contrary voice is treated with respect.

The emergence and success of social networking and other social media sites has provided astute business owners with remarkable opportunities for subtle social media marketing. On the other hand, it has provided numerous spaces for consumers to share positive and negative experiences in a visible manner. The canny use of Facebook and Twitter can be a boon in online reputation management. This type of proactive strategy can put a firm in a suitable position to respond effectively to any negative feedback. Furthermore, regular profile assessment can help ensure that a firm’s image is not being damaged by unfair publicity.

There are more sophisticated tools which can be deployed in the field of online reputation management. Monitoring the important comments made about a sizeable firm on the net is a considerable endeavour and one best performed by experts.

One reason why astute firms outsource their online reputation management is that they have had a negative experience of trying to deliver it independently. While some firms have encountered considerable difficulties in this tricky territory through little fault of their own, some firms have behaved with scant regard for corporate ethics. In the latter category, unethical behaviour can be particularly counterproductive as deceitful practices can quite often be detected by users. Furthermore, firms which engage with primitive and dubious online reputation management tactics are in danger of scoring own goals which linger on in the memories of sceptical consumers.

An example is required to illustrate the point under consideration. Imagine a restaurant chain which uses the net to promote its services. After a period of slack business due to external economic conditions, employees of that firm decide to leave fake and unambiguously positive reviews of the performance of their restaurants all over the net. They might leave such material at blagger.com, for instance. The enthusiastic reviews gush about the excellence of the food, the efficiency of the service and the pleasant interior design. Would more customers actually frequent the restaurant chain? A reputable online marketing or SEO company can be the answer to your online reputation issues.

Restaurant goers are not used to digesting superlative reviews. Some of them even go to restaurants which have been harshly assessed by hard-to-please critics. Many potential consumers would be wary of a sudden wave of overwhelmingly positive reviews. They would prefer subtle and balanced accounts of dining which had some correspondence with an actual culinary experience. They would be much more likely to trust a review which expressed delight at a summer pudding but was less enamoured with a starter of sweet potato soup, than a review which praised everything from the aperitif to the final coffee.

In an age of scepticism which is also a period of relative austerity, consumers are harder to fool than ever before. A restaurant chain which markets itself with special offers in the week is likely to make more profit than one which makes unethical efforts at reputation manipulation online. Canny consumers will sometimes check to see whether a reviewer has reviewed other goods or services on a forum apart from those provided by the specific company concerned. If consumers do become suspicious with regard to reviews that are literally too good to be true then they are unlikely to keep their misgivings quiet. The problem can be compounded by the fact that the firm name and its keywords have been added to the site, thus ensuring it a greater level of prominence in the search engine results pages.

The cost, then, of clumsy DIY attempts at internet reputation management can be very high. How many of us would install our new kitchen independently? It makes good commercial and practical sense to use expertise where it is available. Crude attempts to mislead consumers can threaten the brand of a firm, whereas obtaining the services of experts can deliver the necessary protection and subtle promotion that most astute business owners crave. Especially in competitive sectors, mistakes made in this area can permit rivals to prosper while a firm engages in a salvaging operation.

If you are familiar with the world of search engine optimisation then you will no doubt live and breathe everything relating to it. Once you become engrossed in SEO you find yourself getting deeper and deeper into it, as each minute brings some new information or application to make your search engine optimisation even more effective. The strange thing about it though, is that it is not as well known as people may think and even more surprising, is a strategy which is still not adopted by a vast number of companies.

Search engine optimisation is not just about web effectiveness, it is a fantastic marketing tool and should be used alongside a company’s online marketing strategies. Practically all companies have a marketing department and it is not uncommon now for a company to employ a separate department to handle all their digital and online marketing. The problem is, that SEO has not been recognised as a strong marketing tool for very long, so even well established traditional marketing departments may have let it slip them by.

It is easy to understand why people may not associate the two, despite them going hand in hand. For starters, there are a lot of independent companies out there who specialise in search engine optimisation, and with most of them coming from a web design background, it is acceptable to see why people would not automatically associate this with marketing.

Traditional online marketing is concerned with getting your brand out there and driving traffic to your website so it is not too dissimilar to search marketing in terms of its objectives. Traditional online advertising will consist of banner displays and possible page sponsorships, which although are effective ways of advertising your website, in a world where internet use is booming, it is not always enough to drive traffic on its own.

What a lot of people forget, is that everything is an advertisement for your company, not just your actual advertisements. Think how many companies state in job descriptions or contracts that all employees must represent the company and brand in a positive manner, in other words, not do or say anything which could be seen as negative towards the company. An employee is a walking advertisement for their company, as is everything they offer. So with this in mind, their website is a major representation of the company itself.

Working alongside a digital marketing department is crucial when conducting your SEO strategies. It should be made clear that the purpose of SEO is to increase traffic to the website, improve its effectiveness and contribute to making them a successful business. Nobody is saying that SEO alone will work as an effective marketing strategy, however if all areas of the marketing spectrum work together, it can create something really special.

Standard advertising helps set the backbone for the company and create a strong brand image. Digital display adverts can also include more details and inform customers of the sites offerings. Using both forms of online marketing and internet reputation management together, creates something even bigger and better than either could alone.

Any business, no matter what the nature of it is, ultimately has two set goals in place. One is to make a profit and the other is to have happy customers. Whether you run an online IT business or own a cake shop, both of these things are crucial for marketing strategies such as SEO to be effective. An unhappy customer is not good for business in many ways, and with the increased use of the internet to search for companies and voice our opinions, it is important that a company has some measures in place to deal with unhappy customers airing their opinions online.

Of course, maintaining happy customers is down to the way in which a business operates, but in the world of search engine optimisation, our main aim is to monitor any negative customer reactions and manage them in such a way so that there is as little damage as possible to your business.

The problem which companies have always found with customer reviews is that they are generally bad. This is not because there are no happy customers out there, but it is simply a fact that people like to complain and will shout from the rooftops if they are not happy with something. There is an old and trusted business term which states that a happy customer will recommend you to one friend, whereas an unhappy customer will complain about your to ten or twenty people, or in fact anybody who will listen.

The way in which negative customer reviews can affect a business is generally within search engines or on social networking sites. If somebody has posted a negative review online or even just tweeted about their poor experience, there is a risk that this can show up within search engines. Even worse than this, if you are not on top of your search engine optimization then these comments could rank higher than the actual link to your website.

Undertaking some form of search engine reputation management is essential if you are to stop these reviews having a detrimental effect on your business. Whether you decide to take steps yourself or employ a company to do this for you, it needs to be done. Managing your search rankings does require a little time and patience, but is well worth it. There are several layers to it, one is identifying where any negative comments are and the second is ensuring they do not get out of hand.

If negative reviews keep showing up high in search engines, the best thing your can do is try and get your web page ranked higher by using SEO. This is particularly beneficial if somebody is searching for your particular company, as once they have found your website they are likely to stop that particular search, meaning they will never read the review.

Of course if you are getting a constant stream of negative comments then you may need to reassess your product or services. Online reputation management can help protect you against a few negative points, but it cannot turn your business around.