subject: Various Methods Of Online Reputation Management [print this page] With the growth of the internet, there is a constant flood of unregulated information. In many cases, individuals and companies may suffer from undeserved negative attention that can be seriously damaging to their reputation. The growing field of reputation management works to minimize this negative publicity, or at least distract from it. There are many ways in which these companies work to improve internet publicity.
"Everything's wrapped up in your reputation," said Geoffrey VanderPal, after receiving attacks during his candidacy for Nevada State Treasurer. "If you don't have that, you don't have much." It's true that a reputation is everything, whether you're starting a new business or running for office. Many individuals and companies have seen, however, that it is nearly impossible to combat the negative online attention by themselves. Reputation management companies specialize in working with these individuals and companies to improve their reputations through various methods.
One of these methods is through the use of "micro-sites." These are smaller sites created according to the keywords or subjects associated with the company or individual. For example, in the case of VanderPal mentioned earlier, a keyword would be "Nevada State Treasurer." These sites are created in order to increase the positive publicity associated with these companies and/or individuals.
Another method used is social media. This uses mediums such as MySpace and Facebook to create beneficial profiles for a company and/or individual.
RSS feeds are another method in which reputations can be improved. Reputation management companies work with these content refreshing sites--such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video--to increase positive search results. Reputation management companies may even create a blog in order to constantly provide positive information on the company or individual. Supported blog websites rank highly in search engines, so this method proves to be very helpful to one's reputation.
Business profile linking connects a company or individual to more quality websites. When a reputable website or company has a link to the party whose reputation is being managed, this increases the positive publicity associated with that party.
The site that is most often found in search results is Wikipedia. However, instead of working directly with Wikipedia articles, which has been found to be less effective, reputation management companies may start their own wiki and profile for the party at risk. The benefit of having one's own wiki profile is that the creator chooses who or who does not contribute to it.
Videos and other media are also greatly connected to reputation management. Reputation management companies work with these type of media also to improve positive search results.
