There is a saying that once something is on the Internet, it is there forever. A lot of people can post a lot of things on the Web and they don’t even have to be true. This can cause real problems for companies or individuals. But you don’t have to stand pat and let it damage your reputation and credibility.
Online reputation Management can help your business or your personal image monitor what is written and posted on the Internet about your company and go about “fixing” damaging statements on the Web.
Get Protection
How can online reputation management help your business or your own individual brand? The simplest answer is that it allows you or a representative that you hire to monitor your brand, your public face to the world and keep it looking as good as possible.
Reputation management keeps a close eye on what is said about your company on nearly any format imaginable online, whether it is social media, a blog, a review site or a website all its own. With that information in hand, you now have the ability to do something about the negative comments concerning you or your business.
Modified Search Engine Optimization
One of the new media marketing techniques, search engine optimization can be modified for the sake of your company’s reputation management. These little tweaks to the tried and true way of getting a website at the top of a search listing can help to push a negative website further down on one. It makes negative comments about your company seem to disappear, though they are actually just more difficult to find.
New content can be created through blogs, reviews and social media to spread positive information about your website, thus pushing a negative opinion lower and lower until it vanishes to the second page, even past the third–which anyone in the Internet industry will tell you is near-death for a search result.
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Take Down Requests
Though one might assume these would have very little effect, a simple request that the original poster or the website maintainer remove a negative review can sometimes be all that is needed. A politely–sometimes strongly–worded request can be all you need for that harmful comment to disappear.
Or, rather than asking a reviewer to take something down, ask how your or your company can make the problem right, and do that in a very public reply to their comments. Replying directly at the source means that not only will their review or commentary be seen, but so will your response.
It will make you look better and possibly resolve an issue with a former or current customer, nearby resident or member of the public unhappy with you or your company’s actions. If an issue is resolved, you may find that harmful review taken down the same as it would with a take down request.
Litigation
This is a step no one really wants to take, but it is a threat that typically has some effect on those with the most negative presence on the Internet. As long as you have a legitimate claim against the person speaking out against your company–for libel, use of copyrighted terms, violations of terms and service–you can threaten to take them to court. That in itself can sometimes be enough, and if it isn’t you may always attempt to take your issue to court.
There are a variety of tactics that can be employed if your reputation has been sullied on the Web or you just want to keep it protected. Online reputation management services can be helpful in protecting and defending the good name of companies and individuals on the Web.
This article was contributed by Ascent Internet. They provide online reputation management and Internet marketing services to U.S. businesses. Connect with them at AscentInternet.com.
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