Search Engine Reputation Management
Reputation can make or break a business. If someone has the option of choosing between a company with a reputation for poor customer service and one with excellent reviews across the board, they will undoubtedly choose the latter. Whether or not a reputation is deserved does not matter - those seeking to damage your name with lies can succeed just as well as those with legitimate complaints and in fact, probably even easier. Because search engine reputation management is so important and the internet is so vast, it can be hard to know where to start. Start at the beginning: monitor your online presence. Here are some areas you should be looking at in order to protect your reputation:
- Your name and that of your company. Also check any common misspellings.
- Your brand or any product you sell or distribute.
- Your company's president, CEO, and other prominent figures.
- Your competition and industry in general. This way you'll be on top of any current trends or be aware of trouble/accolades for other companies.
- Your trademark or copyright. Make sure no one is infringing on your intellectual property, which should be unique to your business.
That is what to watch. How do you watch it? There are various sites available online to help with search engine reputation management, and because this issue is so important, there are more popping up all the time. Here are only a few of the options:
- Google, Google Alerts, Google News, Google Blog Search
- Yahoo News
- Technorati and Blog Pulse (these are especially great because you can monitor what is being said about you in blogs)
- Flickr, YouTube
Checking with these sites regularly - or hiring a service that does this for you - is the first step in search engine reputation management. You cannot fight what you don't know about, so it is important that you be aware and up-to-date as to anything that is being printed about you.
If you're looking for the right search engine reputation management company to meet your needs and your budget, take a few moments to contact us.
