5 Powerful Online Reputation Management Strategies You Can Count On

Think your online reputation doesn’t matter? Think again! According to a study by Erik Qualman of Socialnomics.com, nearly three-quarters of respondents say they trust the info provided by total strangers online. Further, some 80 percent of consumers have changed their minds about buying a product after reading a negative review online, and over 84 percent say they find online product reviews to be a trustworthy source of information.

This leads to one simple reality: when those negative reviews or complaints appear, (and they will!) you need to take them very seriously and take countermeasures to reduce the negative effects!

Let’s look at five proven strategies to do that.

1. Look at your brand’s search engine results regularly – Check your company’s name in Google at least once a month. Google Alerts is a good idea to tell you when there is any conversation regarding you, your company name or your important keywords. Make sure you look beyond page one, as damaging entries may be lurking there on their way higher.
2. Deal with negative content ASAP – Do your very best to contact the individual that posted the content in question as soon as possible, especially if they are an unhappy customer. Do your very best to take care of their concerns in a positive manner. Don’t enter into a public tussle with them! You won’t like the outcome.
3. Optimize your pages with your company name – Ensure that your company’s name is prominent in your optimization, specifically in keywords, tags, and titles. The more of your site’s pages that bear your name, the greater number of chances Google will see your site as the authority for this keyword (your company name) and rank you higher, particularly because most negative content won’t have done any SEO.
4. Create more content channels with your brand – You can use free blogs like WordPress.com, Blogger.com or even subdomains of your own site for this, along with your social channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and Google , will help keep the company name prominent. Post fresh content to these channels also, so they hold on to their search positions.
5. Ask for reviews – Your very best choice for an effective online reputation management tool is to ask your best customers for reviews. Don’t be pushy, but encourage and even reward reviews. This is also your best source of social proof!

Follow these tips to keep your good name! Trust us…you’ll be glad you did.