A company reputation is a huge part of its overall brand, or how it is perceived amongst its stakeholders. A good reputation often leads to profitability and meaningful business relationships and partnerships, while a bad reputation can result in lost business, revenue, and failure. It’s extremely important for any business with an online presence to monitor its reputation on the Internet. The goal of an online reputation management campaign is to contain any negative feedback and decrease its visibility by outweighing it with positive content.
A large part of SEO is content development, which involves publishing relevant and useful information that incorporates targeted keywords and links to get noticed by the search engines and by a target audience. Another benefit of SEO is the positive effect that it will have on your reputation. People search the Internet to find information. A company that takes the time to develop content and build links will be viewed as a trusted source over time because they will become recognizable within a given industry or niche.
Internet users are free to share almost anything online, which can potentially cause major headaches for businesses. In some cases, negative feedback is warranted, but in others a customer might just be having a bad day and decide to go overboard in their venting. Either way, negative reactions in the online space can cause harm to an individual or a business. Unfortunately, it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get rid of this content entirely. The only thing that a company can do is create positive content that will outweigh the negative over time.
As they say, the best offense is a good defense and it’s best to implement a reputation management/link building strategy from the get-go. Don’t wait for something negative to be said about you to start thinking about it. Be proactive when it comes to your online reputation. Participate in SEO content development strategies and link building activities such as Blogging, Article Writing, Press Release distribution, and Social Networking from day one. By partaking in these activities on a consistent basis, you are not only building trust with the search engines, but also with your target audience who will be much more likely to overlook a negative comment or two if the majority of what they find is positive and helpful.
Online reputation monitoring is extremely important in the fast-paced Internet landscape. A quick response to an unhappy customer with an offer to “make good” on the issue will likely mitigate the situation, and perhaps turn something bad into something good. If the proper techniques are executed, the Internet can be a great place to build a solid reputation and earn the trust of current and potential customers.
About the Author:
Brick Marketing is a Boston SEO and SEM company that offers online reputation management services. For more information please call 781-999-1222.
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