subject: What Is Reputation Management And How Does It Work? [print this page] Reputation management is the ongoing process of protecting a company or product's reputation online. The main element in this process is to ensure that damaging articles, reviews, or comments stay off the first page of results produced by search engines. This may be accomplished by several different methods or means.
First is the standard Search Engine Optimization (SEO) method. One method of moving negative links farther down the list search results is to move other links up. To this end, companies often hire SEO writers to produce short, informative articles that incorporate specific keywords relevant to the company or its products. The more articles a company can publish, the higher its web site will appear in the list of search results.
Another important method is to utilize social media. These days it is important for companies to have profiles on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many others. Actively maintaining social media profiles is an excellent reputation management resource for spreading positive information about one's company or product. Social media profiles are also an excellent means for gauging customer reaction and satisfaction, which helps businesses evaluate their performance and make needed changes.
Managing hotlinks is another important method of reputation management. The quality of the web sites with links to your site matters more than the number of sites linking to yours. In other words, it pays to be a little picky about which sites can post links to your site. The more reputable they are, the better standing your own web site will receive in search results.
It is also important to maintain a blog of some sort. Blogs are a constant and fresh voice for your company, and frequent and regular posts help spread positive information quickly. They help customers feel more connected to your business or industry. Blogs also tend to rank well with search engines, which helps push negative links farther down and, hopefully, off the first few pages.
A common misconception is that it is important to have a Wikipedia page for your business. However, even though Wikipedia articles almost always show up at the top of the list of search results, they are also easy targets for anyone wishing to defame or discredit your company. A much safer idea is to create your own wiki, which allows you to control what gets published concerning your industry or company.
By utilizing these methods of reputation management, businesses can minimize or eliminate the damage done by negative articles, reviews, or comments that may appear online.
