subject: Honesty And Reputation Management [print this page] One of the lesser-talked-about aspects of search engine optimisation is reputation management. Reputation management is becoming increasingly important as more businesses come onto the net, and more people rely on the internet for all of their information. Working a reputation management plan into your SEO strategy can ensure that your customers hear more positives about your business, and can also strengthen your SEO.
Reputation management does come with its own share of pitfalls. Just as search engine optimization is a field where many mistakes are commonly made, reputation management is fraught with trouble for the careless or unwary. Happily, most of the mistakes made are simply from a lack of common sense.
For example, take blogging mistakes. Many businesses are using blogs these days to boost their SEO plan and to improve their online reputation. Many of these businesses also make horrendous mistakes with their blogs. Whether its trying to secretly push products forward while pretending to be objective, or simply saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, hundreds of business blogs have reduced their sponsors credibility, rather than boosting it.
There have been one or two truly spectacular examples of PR stunts gone bad on the net in the last five years or so. These are worth making note of, if only for an example of what not to do. One of particular note was in 2006, and involved US multistore giant Wal-Mart. The company secretly sponsored a journalist to travel around America, staying in Wal-Mart car-parks, blogging about how welcoming the stores were. The journalist was found out, and the entire scheme was uncovered. This resulted in a reputation pounding around the net and an entertaining story which still makes the rounds today.
While the best course of action is to never make a mistake in the first place, this is not going to be of much help if you do trip up. Here again, the mistakes of others can be a help. As has been shown by the varied reactions of different companies to their mistakes, and the effectiveness of those reactions, the absolute best approach is to admit your mistake, and try to make amends for it.
Its important to remember that the ramifications of a major publicity mistake can linger for a very long time. Remember that the internet is essentially a massive archive of pages. Even if you take the original page offline, copies may reside in Googles index and on other sites for a long time to come. Its important to remain aware and be able to answer queries about the issue over the long term. You can discuss long-term plans with our experts at SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk.
More mistakes can be avoided if you consult a professional as part of your search engine optimisation plan, and you can talk to us at SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk. One of the major benefits of obtaining the services of a consultant is that they bring a fresh perspective, and their lack of personal investment in the campaign enables them to view mistakes more easily.
