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How to defend your online reputation

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13 March 2014

How to defend your online reputation

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A simple Google search can be the make-or-break factor in a potential customer’s decision to do business with you.

It’s important to actively monitor your business’s reputation; even if your agency doesn’t use the internet much, your clients and competitors do. It’s where they’ll head first when they want to find out more about you. 

If you aren’t actively building and maintaining a strong online presence, there are multiple reasons to start. When you don’t tell your own story, other people will tell it for you, and you won’t get a say in how it goes. Negative reviews and social media snark can cast a long shadow. 

And if you think that avoiding the internet entirely is the best way to prevent your reputation souring, think again. Having no online presence reflects poorly on your business, making you look out-of-touch and a little untrustworthy.

So when it comes to managing you and your business’s reputation online, don’t make the mistake of only paying attention when it starts to go bad. Being proactive is crucial. 

1. Don’t rely on review sites

Don’t rely on review sites like Rate My Agent or Don’t Rent Me to help potential customers find out about you. These sites rank highly because they have so many links attached to them, but you have no control over what users post, and little recourse if unfair or defamatory information goes up. And because anybody can create an account and leave a review, there’s always the possibility of your competitors using them dishonestly. 

One study (on Dentists, but bear with us), found that most dentists in a particular area had on average just four reviews on review websites. They each had far more than four patients, but because the review sites appeared at the top of Google search results, that handful of reviews – positive and negative – carried serious weight with anyone looking for a local dentist. 

2. Actively monitor your reputation

Google your company’s name and see what comes up; you might be (pleasantly or unpleasantly) surprised. Whatever appears on the first page of Google is what future clients see first when researching your business. Given how few people bother to click through to the second page, it might be all they see.

Make it a point to Google your company once a week and see what people are saying. Tools like TweetBeep, Naymz, Social Mention, MonitorThis or even a basic Google Alert are great ways to be informed as soon as people are talking about you online. It means that if negative information goes out, you can get ahead of the situation quickly.

3. Improve your Google rankings

Have a strong, SEO ready website filled with high quality information that your customers will want to read. Regularly update it (a blog is ideal for this). Share your expertise, position yourself as the expert in your niche – basically, be a resource for your customers. On any site that will let you, like Google+ or LinkedIn, write strong, consistent profiles that showcase the things you want your business to be acknowledged for. 

Building and maintaining a strong online presence is a task that takes time and effort, but it’s non-negotiable. You exist online weather you want to or not. And prevention is key; by staying ahead of the game and building a solid reputation before any trouble hits, you put yourself in a position where the odd piece of negative feedback is less likely to do lasting damage.

4. Act fast

As soon as a negative feedback goes up, take steps to remedy it. Post a level headed response – if you can, invite the disgruntled party to contact you personally and sort it out privately.  Problems are easier to fix if you tackle them early, and dealing with any issues calmly and openly can boost your reputation, even when someone has genuine cause for complaint. Social media is a great way to respond to complaints or negative feedback with grace and style; embrace it.

There are reputation management companies out there that specialise in cleaning up online messes, but they’re expensive and should be your last resort.

5. Best foot forward

Makes sure all your online dealings are polished and professional. Practise good netiquette (online etiquette) by not posting anything offensive, always being polite, being an interesting and a useful resource, acknowledging the good work of others, and using correct spelling and grammar.

Acknowledge any mistakes honestly. Reacting badly to an issue can make it worse by drawing more attention to it, so never engage in arguments (even if you are right). Remember, everything lives forever online. No matter hopw quickly you delete something you regret, somebody, somewhere will have seen it – and taken a screenshot.

What steps are you taking to build and monitor your business’s reputation on the internet?

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