Online Reputation Management — What you need to know

Pretty much everything you ever put on the Internet is there for anyone to see, forever. If that statement strikes fear in your heart, as it does most people, then it's time to start managing your reputation now. While you can't get rid of everything you have online about yourself or your business, you can get control of your image, manage it and improve it.

Even innocent comments made on someone else's Facebook page can show up on search engines. Like a controversial page? Like a divisive picture? Everyone will know, regardless of your privacy settings if they happen to search for the right keywords. Once you realize that your online presence is actually your first impression today, you'll realize the importance of managing your online reputation. To start today managing your online reputation start with the following.

Separate Personal from Professional — It's easier to manage your online reputation if you keep business and personal separate. It can be awkward and difficult to change after doing something one way for so long, but it is important that you do it. Simply create the separate social networks, and then invite the right people to join explaining to them what you are doing. Most people will totally get it and even follow what you are doing.

Clean up your Mistakes — When possible, ask for erroneous or inappropriate information to be removed. Did someone snap a photo of you drinking a giant margarita at a private family function, post it on Facebook and tag you and everyone you know? If you do not want the picture out there, you have a right to ask that it be removed. Even Google has procedures to remove old information from Usenet groups.

Monitor Online Activity — Set up a Google Alert on your name in its various forms, as well as certain keywords that you would like to command. Check this activity at least weekly so that you can know what the buzz is about you, your products and / or services. By setting up the alerts, you will be able to circumvent, remove, or cover up information that you'd rather not be public.

Think Twice before Posting — Starting today, give every word, picture, or comment you write a second thought before posting. It's time to realize that the days of imagined privacy on the Internet are over. Therefore, it's important not to say anything on the net, that you would not say to your family dinner, or in a business meeting. If you'd be embarrassed if certain people knew, don't say it, share it, or comment on it.

Build your Brand — You can cover up a lot of information you'd rather not be public by creating new content that builds your brand. Try writing a new blog post for 30 days and a new article for article marketing sites for 30 days that focus on the keywords that you want to show up when people search for you. By building your brand in this manner the other less relevant, though titillating, information will be covered.

Use Privacy Settings — Every social media group has privacy settings of some kind. It is important to learn how to use them, and be aware of their limitations. Just because your Facebook page is set up that certain things you say are only shown to friends, does not mean it won't show up on a search result if you made a comment on a page that does not have such settings

Online Reputation Management — Reacting to a Bad Review

Part of managing your online reputation is learning how to react to reviews, both good and bad. One can hope that they will never get a bad review, but the truth is, if you're well-known and popular, a bad review will eventually happen. Sometimes the reviews are deserved, other times not, and worse, sometimes they're bought. That's right, if you're really threatening the competition and if they lack ethics they may hire someone to generate negative buzz about you. The important thing to do is to learn how to manage your online reputation, and how to answer (or not answer) a bad review.

Be Proactive — Have a way to pay attention to the buzz on the net about you and your business. Set up Google Alerts, and occasionally check the search results manually. It even helps to check search results from public computers instead of just your own due to the way the algorithms give a person personalized search results today.

Be Honest — If you mess up, own up to it and admit it. There is no point in hiding it. On the Internet everything you say or do is there forever, either in the form of an actual searchable area, or in the form of a screen shot taken by someone and shared with the world. People remember when you are honest too.

Correct Mistakes — If you made a mistake, correct it. If a client gives you a bad review and you realize it really is your fault, say so. A public apology in answer to the negative review will go far in garnering support of clients, and maybe even turn around the client who was upset.

Make it Right — Do what you have to in order to make it right. Even if you have to eat the cost, refund money, offer more services, do it. Even in a situation where you're not at fault it's best to just refund the money and call it a day. Say so publically on the bad review that you're refunding the money. People will appreciate that.

Take a Breath — Before responding to any reviews always take a deep breath, and even a day or two if needed, before responding. Our businesses are like our babies, and if someone attacks it, we turn into protective parents ready to go for the kill. Best to take a time out before responding to particularly bad reviews. Remember it's business, it's not personal.

Consider the Source — Is the person who complained really a client? Are they saying something that really matters, or are they just trolls for hire, or someone that matters in the scheme of things. If they are simply a trouble maker, sometimes it's best to completely ignore what they are saying and not feed the beast. Some people can't be pleased, let it go, and move on.

Delegate — Hire a virtual assistant to handle customer service issues. This person can monitor online review sites, customer service email without the emotion that you will have for your business (baby). You need not ever deal with these issues if you empower the people you work with and who work for you to take care of these situations in a way that makes the clients happy and satisfied.

Why Google Search Results are More Important than Your Resume

When someone recommends a new contractor to you what is the first thing you do? I know, Google them! We all do it, and you can bet that when someone refers you to another person, or they find your website (usually through Google), the smart consumer will do another Google search about you to see if they find anything negative or off putting about you. The problem here is that negative can truly at times be in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, it is imperative that you become aware of what Google Search and other search results show about you and then deal with the situation at hand.

Try doing a Google Search on your own business without the personalized results that come up for each individual so you can see what others possibly see. Google bases its search results on your past behavior, so it's important to remove this criteria from your search before you begin. Here are the instructions. Once you've removed this history, now you can get a mostly clear view of what other people might see. Remember though, that their search results are also colored by their own search history.

Now, do a search on your business name. Take a look at the different results on the first through fifth pages to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. What descriptions are showing up for Google? Can you make these search results better using SEO? Google now shows a few links, in addition to the main page, in their search results. Are you using the right anchor text and descriptions to maximize your results?

Using a piece of paper or an online method make notes of each item that you can change and make better. Then once you have a list of these items go make them better. If you do not know how to change the anchor text or the descriptions showing up for your Google Search Results then ask your webmaster or an SEO professional for help. If you know what to do then go do it as soon as possible because it will take time for the updates to actually show up in search results so the sooner you do it the better.

Once you've handled the SEO keep up this by making sure to always consider what the titles of new WebPages and blog posts will be, as well as the description that might show up. Sometimes Google takes from your code but lately they are taking the first few words in your blog post or article as the description. It's important to consider this and make both reflective of what you want to be seen at first glance.

Note: Don't forget to also search images! The reason for this, is that if others have tagged you in photos, you want to know about it. If you don't like the photos you're tagged in remember that you can set up your social networks using the privacy settings to your advantage so that others cannot tag you inappropriately. Don't be scared to ask friends and relatives and others to remove photographs that you find unflattering or a poor depiction of the brand you're trying to project. No one has a right to post pictures of you that you do not approve.

Dealing with Google Search results and making them as flattering as possible will do wonders for your online reputation. If you've discovered your business name doesn't even come up in search results then you have some work to do. Start blogging, article marketing, sending out press releases and have an all out re-launch of your products, services and website so that you can start showing up!

Use Google To Manage your Online Reputation

Google Alerts is a free tool provided by Google to enable anyone to set up certain keywords in which to conduct continuous searches that will be emailed to you based on the criteria you have set up. For instance, if you're in the business of making electromagnetic widgets you can set up an alert for "electromagnetic widgets" to come to you instantly upon the crawler finding the keyword mentioned anyplace they might be crawling.

It is recommended that you set up separate alerts for each keyword, including the variations of each, instead of having one huge list of keywords for each search. In this way, you can easily determine which keywords are returning the right results and delete the alerts that do not work for you. When you set up your alerts always set up one with the name you use on the net for both your personal life and for your business life. For instance, if you use your middle initial in your authors block, then it's important to set up the alert that way too. Be specific for the most accurate alerts.

As you set up each alert, determine how often you need to know the information. When it comes to your personal name, and your business name, you probably want to know immediately when something is mentioned about you on the Internet. But, when it comes to simple industry keywords, you likely do not need to know every single day, immediately, any alerts to do with that keyword. Set these up to be sent to you less often. It is highly recommended that you open up a Google email account only for this service so that you are not distracted, and can deal with alerts during the times of the day and week that you've set aside for that task.

If you need to set aside time for each different type of alert. Naturally you want to deal with direct mentions of your business name, or personal name, every day. You don't need to deal with it the moment it comes through to your inbox, but you do want to pick a time of day where you have about 20 to 30 minutes to deal with the mentions. Click through on the alerts to see what the link is really showing. If it's a post about you and / or your products and you can comment on it, do so. If it's positive, share it with everyone throughout all your networks and ask your network to do the same.

If you find a negative comment, post, or situation read it thoroughly and do as much research as you can on the person doing the negative action before responding. Also, even if the negativity upsets you consider whether it has any validity to it or not. Even the most irate negative reviews can give you insight on how to better serve your clients. Consider how to respond to the negative review carefully. Most of the time, if it is a person who has bought a product or service from you the best thing you can do is return their money and apologize. If the negative person is a professional hit man then you may have another problem and need to bury them with positive reviews, positive mentions, and positive articles.

Using Google to manage your online reputation costs nothing more than time, but if you don't have time and you find that you have a lot more alerts than you can deal with consider hiring a virtual assistant that only deals with these situations. A good VA can wade through all the alerts, deal with those that are most important, send over the ones you must deal with yourself, and keep you from overwhelm. However you do it, Google Alerts is truly a wonderful tool that Google provides to you free of charge.

Top Five Online Reputation Don'ts

Managing your online reputation involves knowing how to behave in general so that you don't accidentally do something to damage your online reputation on your own. Being online can sometimes feel like an office party and those often go very wrong. It's important to always be aware of who you are, what you stand for, and to accurately project that to people online. To that end here are the top five online reputation management don'ts.

1. Don't Lie and BS — If you lie, puff up and exaggerate anything online it will catch up to you. Pretty much everything you post online is going to be there forever. It can be tempting to puff up your success, but don't go too far toward lying and utter BS. Be positive, and chose your words carefully, but don't say anything you can't back up with proof. Telling people they can make a million dollars a month, because you do, better mean that you really do.

2. Don't forget who you are – Remember your why! Why are you in business? Why are you doing what you do? Who are you doing it for? What results do you hope to achieve? If you always remember who you are, and your why for being, you'll go far in managing your online reputation in a positive manner. If you're not sure who you are yet, figure it out by writing a mission statement. Mission statement writing can help clear up any confusion that you might have.

3. Don't attack others — Even when you get a bad review, and when you get popular online, it will happen eventually, do not go on the attack. Not everyone can like you. Not everyone will act like you do, either. Today, there are cases where competitors who have fuzzy ethics actually hire people to give bad reviews to their competition. When a bad review is public, it is important to be careful. Do not attack back. Take a breath, and a moment or even 48 hours before you deal with a particularly hard situation. Remember, it's not personal, it's business. However, if you can prove someone is a hired gun, by all means, out them.

4. Don't forget the golden rule — You know the deal. Do to others what you'd have them do to you. Share their good news, pump up their brand. In return, they may do the same thing for you. If you do need to give someone a critical review, do so in a constructive way rather than a negative way. Always try to do it privately first, then escalate as needed, just as you'd want someone to do for you.

5. Don't ignore the buzz — Set up alerts on Google Alerts so that industry keyword news, and mention of your name and or business and services goes to your inbox at the moment it happens. Take a glance at these every day at least once a day, or if you can't do it that much, once a week. Paying attention to buzz will do several things for you: it will give you a chance to comment, will give you ideas about what to blog about, and will avoid any negative issues from going unnoticed including instances of plagiarism or bad comments about you.

Top 10 Resources to help you manage your online Reputation

1. Google Alerts — Using a search term, a name, and variations of each you can set up individual alerts that go directly to your inbox. Set up the alerts then check them at least once a week, clicking through to read the information that is out there about you, your business, and / or your industry. Not only will this help you quickly catch any negative issues, but it will enable you to promote good buzz further.

2. Keyword Search — Every now and then, about once a month, conduct a keyword search using the major search engines and look past the first page to the fourth and fifth pages. Remove all personalization from your search results so that you can get a reliable search without biased information designed just for you. Use your search results to help you comment on other people's writing, or pictures, or information in a positive way.

3. Yahoo! Alerts — This is a lot like Google Alerts, but you can actually niche down your search more by choosing the type of alerts you want from breaking news to keyword alerts. You can also get these alerts delivered to your mobile device and be up to the minute with what's happening. When you get usable alerts, think about how to respond. If you find something positive, share, if you see something negative consider the alternatives: either bury it, or comment, but always keep it positive.

4. WatchThatPage — This makes keeping track of your favorite web pages easier. Set up a watch, and get notified by email when changes occur. What's more, it organizes these changes so you can view what has changed from one site. Sign up free to learn more about this interesting way to manage your online reputation.

5. Yotify — You can monitor many things from this one site with "scouts" which will notify you when information is discovered that is relevant to your scout. Instead of having to come up with tons of alternative keywords scouts do all the work for you and deliver them to you. While it is free, you have to sign up for membership just like other social media websites. You can pick from different topics.

6. Facebook — Yes, you can use Facebook to monitor your buzz and manage your online reputation. First, if you do not have a business Facebook Page it is time to get one. Automate it so that new blog posts, new articles and information is posted to your Facebook Wall. Make an update at least once a day and ask for feedback from those who have "liked" you. Having an active Facebook Page full of cheerleaders will do wonders for your reputation. Share nice comments about you and your business and make nice comments to others.

Remember: Comments you make on other pages show up in search engines, even if you have your privacy settings set that things on your own wall are not shared with the public, this goes out the window when you comment on someone else's page. Use this to your advantage and make well thought out, keyword rich comments!

7. Twitter — Have a business only twitter, just like with Facebook you can automate a lot of the updates, but do go in and occasionally do a search on your business name, your name, or industry keywords to see what topics are trending. Create a hash tag and share it with your network to use when they are talking about you. Re-tweet good news, yours and others at least three times a day.

8. Your Blog — That's right, you can use your blog to monitor your reputation by making your blog very positively about your business. Using appropriate industry keywords to talk about your products and services you can create a rush of content that can overshadow, and even bury, any negativity that might exist on the Internet about you. Blogs are a fast and simple (not to mention inexpensive way) to get news out to your readers fast. You can even automate a blog post to go out in the form of a newsletter to your readers with Aweber. This is very useful if you use the Google and Yahoo! Alerts to help you find positive news to report about.

9. Whostalkin — This is a search engine that searches social media for your keywords to find out who is talking about you. Simply go to the page and type in your keyword to the search window and click search. Try using your own name, or an industry keyword. This can give you great blogs and articles in which you can make comments. Remember comments show up in search engines too.

10. Your Network — All business owners have their own networks of people online. If you start sharing search results you've found about them in a nice way, they will start returning the favor. Say, for instance, your friend Jim had a super successful product launch and you found a press release about it, or a positive blog about it, share it with your network, and other networks as a favor. Hopefully people will then do the same for you.

Tips to help you manage your online reputation

Monitor your Buzz — Using either Google Alerts, or a professional service, monitor your name, your business name, various keywords and variations on each so that you can catch both the good and bad said about you. Promote the good, and answer to, if needed, the bad.

Think Twice — Before you post something whether a picture, a quote, a comment, or an entire blog post think twice about it if it's controversial. Stories abound of people who made an innocent comment on Twitter then became the top trending topic over night, and not in a good way. If you wouldn't say it or share it openly, perhaps you might not want to say it or share it, at all.

Use Privacy Settings — Most social media networks have privacy settings that you can use to control some aspects of what gets out to the world. But it is important to know that if you say it, share it, or comment on it anyplace on the net — whether a discussion board, social media, or a blog post — it can be seen by the public if the right search has been conducted. You are never anonymous on the Internet.

Build your Brand — Keep building your brand through positive blog posts, articles, press releases, comments, and proactive sharing that matches the image you are trying to project for your business. The more positive content you have out there on the web, the more likely anything that is negative will be buried.

Monitor Photo Tags — Be aware that on Facebook, other people can tag you in photos without your permission if you do not set up your privacy settings correctly. This can be especially problematic when a well meaning friend uses the tagging function as a way to get you to look at the picture which might be completely off-brand and even in bad taste. It might just be a simple picture of you off work drinking the super bowl of margaritas on Cinco de Mayo that causes the issue. While in some cases, you may not care who sees the picture, in other situations, you may not want it public. What you want people to see depends on what image you're trying to promote.

Be Active — It is so easy to automate a lot of social media today, that we could technically ignore social media for weeks without anyone being the wiser about our absence. We're sharing blog posts, Tweets, and new articles automatically, but are we active enough in our online presence to share other people's good news?

Ask for Reviews — Not only should you ask clients and customers for reviews, you should promote those good reviews in all channels. By promoting the good reviews that you get, you'll put a lot of good news into the search results for anyone searching for you.

Mind your SEO — Search Engine Optimization is more important than ever. As the old ways of getting search engine attention go by the wayside, new ways come to the forefront. Ensure that you keep abreast of changes so that you can keep your search engine optimization working for you.

Google Yourself — First remove the personalization from the search in order to get the right results. Learn how to phrase your searches properly so that you can find out what people really see when they search for you, your business, products and / or services.

Like it or hate it, sooner or later you'll come to realize that it actually works pretty well in a very difficult environment, here is how Yelp explains it:

No small business owner likes to see negative online reviews. They can be disheartening, annoying and quite shocking, but can also provide honest feedback about areas of your business that you may be blind to. Online reviews are here to stay so it's best to know how to handle them correctly and how not to handle them. Here are some common mistakes business owners make in handling negative reviews

1. Getting Emotional

One of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make is to take negative reviews extremely personally. While negative reviews can be hurtful, it's important not to get swept away into an emotional state of depression, anger, self-pity or hopelessness. If you have a few negative reviews amidst a lot of other positive ones, realize that these are just the opinions of a minority. Also understand that people need to air their grievances and possibly found the easiest way to do it was online. By having a sober and objective view about negative publicity, you will be able to better tackle the problem in a calm, organized and respectable manner than if you are on an emotional roller coaster.

2. Not doing Your Research

One of the key weapons in dealing with negative reviews is having an arsenal of factual information about the business transaction that resulted in the negative publicity. However it's easy to get impulsive and immediately respond to a negative review without checking your facts. This can only lead to false assumptions and further public embarrassment as you will come across as a business that doesn't know what it is talking about. Getting your facts right is also critical in knowing whether the negative review was accurate or inaccurate. Where your employees really rude to that customer? Did that package go to the wrong shipping address? If your facts reveal your business messed up, you will need to apologize and rectify the situation and if the client was the problems, you can still approach them with a mind to helping them see your side of the story.

3. Being Defensive

Another big mistake is being overly defensive and seeking to pass blame to everyone but your business. One of the marks of being defensive is getting involved in a back and forth online shouting match with your customers. This is definitely not the way to go because first of all, you have an online audience witnessing your tirade and secondly everyone expects your business to be professional and take the high ground. As you engage, maintain a respectful, truthful and objective approach as this will most likely win over your negative reviewer and other online users

4. Ignoring the Situation

Just as bad as being defensive, is being flippant and ignoring negative reviews. Every negative review is worth taking a look at and worth rectifying to the best of your ability as a business owner. By burying your head in the sand and ignoring what people are saying, you are only setting up yourself for a major storm ahead. It's always best to nip bad publicity in the bud and save yourself a lot of trouble and money down the road.

There are many ways to game the online customer review system on your website and review sites. While all these methods are unethical, not all of them are illegal but if discovered they could very well spell doom to your business reputation and success. Here are three methods that you want to avoid using to collect customer reviews:

1. Financial incentives

Many underhanded marketers advice small business owners to use financial incentives to encourage clients to submit positive online reviews for them. These incentives may not involve giving hard cash, but instead involve giving away coupons, gift cards, complementary vouchers, discount offers and so on. While the practice may appear harmless to a business owner, it is actually bribing people to give a favorable opinion about your business which will be used by third parties to make a financial decision in doing business with you. This has been one of the worst practices in the Internet marketing field and has made the Federal Trade Commission crack down heavily on marketers who use false information to promote their business. To stay out of trouble, use your financial incentives for other marketing purposes that will build trust and honesty with your customers and then encourage them to leave online reviews out of their own free will.

2. False personas

Another underhand trick marketers use is to create false online identities to submit reviews. This is a difficult method for authorities to track since different IP addresses are used by each identity to submit the reviews. However in this day and age of technology and so much public interest in exposing unscrupulous businesses, it wouldn't take long for someone investigating your reviewers to wonder why the IP addresses of the submitters are from India, Philippines and Malaysia yet your client base is in Little Rock, Arkansas!