July 19th, 2010 by Nick

Reputation is of considerable importance in the world of commerce. Even massive multinational corporations have struggled with reputation management from time to time. The advent of the net and the emergence of the new social networking sites have made it even harder to maintain a positive image. Small online SMEs are obliged to consider their image and are compelled to monitor what is being written about them. Internet reputation management should not be conducted by people deficient in either expertise or experience. Concrete and business-specific plans have to be implemented by specialised firms in order to minimise risk.

At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we are able to focus on monitoring what is going on in the social networking world. This focus means that we have the capacity to respond appropriately to any issues which may periodically arise. Not every SEO company has the dedication to perform this subtle task adequately.

While it is often effective SEO to encourage customer feedback, a few bad online reviews can have a negative impact on your business. A recent case of a historian giving anonymous and unfairly negative reviews to a rival’s work on Amazon highlights the type of difficulties that can occur. In the past, a customer who was unsatisfied with your service might have moaned to some of their friends, but now they can blog spitefully about you as well and leave their complaint associated with the keywords on your site. Nevertheless, a negative review is not a reason to panic. If you have come up with a flexible reputation maintenance plan, you will be well prepared for this kind of unfortunate eventuality.

A flexible reputation maintenance plan should not be too prescriptive. It should be tailored to the values of your firm and the features of your site. It should normally embrace a few important core principles. The first principle is that an overreaction can be the least appropriate response. If a response is excessive, it demonstrates a lack of confidence in the goods and/or services that you provide. Furthermore, it can lead to the complaint or negative comment receiving additional publicity. Drawing extra attention to the issue is obviously counterproductive in PR terms. The second principle is that you should courteously respond to criticism directed at you in a brief and factually accurate manner. Ignoring complaints can sometimes get you into a great deal of trouble. How much trouble this might prove to be is in part related to the third principle in our list.

Assessing the gravity of the threat posed by the negative comments is crucial and will obviously condition the nature of your response. If the complaint is being raised by a prolific blogger or a well known journalist, try to swiftly placate them by whatever means necessary. If Mr or Ms Disgruntled is an average person of no unusual prominence, treat the complaint with the utmost professionalism but do not depart from ordinary practices. Failure to respond to direct complaints can lead to escalations and the arrival of other unwanted parties on the scene.

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