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A bad online reputation is detrimental to your sales and company image. When people see mostly negative reviews, it’s a sign that something isn’t right and will send them looking in another direction. Once a bad reputation has begun, it can be difficult to reverse it and return your reputation back to normal. However, there are five ways that can help you determine what is causing it in order to fix your online reputation.

1. Negative Reviews

While this may seem obvious, many companies don’t check review websites to see what their past clients have said about them. Not only that, but there could be fake negative reviews that aren’t being found and reported. If a person in the company is dedicated to monitoring review websites, you can be more in control over what is being said about your business.

2. Issue is of Interest to Others

There could be a negative article written about your business, but if it isn’t of interest to others, it won’t do much damage to your online reputation. However, if the general public is interested in the negative article, their interest will make it harder to push down and easier to continue ranking high on search engine results.

3. Comment Activity on Social Media

If your business has social media accounts, but aren’t monitoring the comment activity, you could be opening your business up for a poor reputation. Many businesses on social media will have at least a few past customers who are voicing their opinion on poor service. If you’re not there to respond, it appears as though your business isn’t keeping in mind the satisfaction of its customers. By keeping an eye on comment activity and by responding to negative comments, you will become more in control of your online reputation.

4. Negative Information Ranks High on Search Pages

If links to negative articles rank high on search pages, such as major news sites, government sites, etc. that are already filled with high traffic, it can be very difficult to move those articles down. Due to these types of pages remaining high on search engine results, your online reputation could go down quickly.

5. Lack of Customer Service

Customer service is a huge part of any business. When a person leaves a negative review, comment or even writes a negative article about your business, you need a representative to respond in a caring way. There are many ways customer service can handle negative comments, reviews, and articles and by utilizing them, you will be able to redeem your business and maintain a good reputation.

Rebuilding Your Reputation

We understand the difficulties that come with maintain your online reputation. We know that it takes work and dedication to maintain a good reputation, and we understand that it takes time and hard work to build a reputation back up to good standing. This is why we ensure that our clients are best educated and informed about how to achieve a good reputation. We understand how to repair your online reputation so you can continue to reach your business goals.

Our Online Reputation Management agency was created by a leading expert in reputation management, Herman Tumurcuoglu. It’s because of Mr. Tumurcuoglu that we are the dedicated team that we are today. We offer many services from reputation management to PR support and removing negative results in search engines. If you are encountering reputation damage and need help, we are ready and able. Call us today at 1-888-295-7134. Our experienced, dedicated, and knowledgeable reputation management advisors are more than willing to help.

Starting a new business can be an incredibly exciting, and sometimes an intimidating adventure. In addition to establishing the basic business structure you need in order to create products or services for customers, you need to reach out to and connect with these customers. In many cases, this latter point can be one of the most difficult, simply because each business has so much competition that they have to figure out how to outshine. In today’s environment, it is critical that a new business establish an online presence in order to reach out to and connect with consumers. It is also absolutely critical that they pay good attention to business reputation management from the very beginning–since it is far easier to build and monitor a good reputation than struggle to correct a poor one.

Business Reputation Monitoring

While there is certainly nothing wrong with a business that focuses much of its time, effort, and money on producing and delivering excellent products or services to their customers, it is also important for them to invest some of their time, effort, and money on reputation management. It’s a terribly unfortunate fact that those businesses that scramble into reputation management after something has already damaged their reputation often find that it’s too late to recover, or recover fully. However, when a new business is just getting started and their reputation possibilities are endless, they can work to quickly build a strong reputation that will be able to withstand many things that seek to drag it down.

Some businesses believe that by avoiding an online presence entirely, or by avoiding social media entirely, they cannot possibly suffer a bad reputation since they aren’t “doing anything.” Unfortunately, this is exactly what can damage their reputation in the eyes of consumers–they aren’t doing anything! Regardless of whether a business says anything about themselves, consumers will definitely say plenty, and a business that fails to respond can look like they simply don’t care. This is highly unattractive and off-putting, as it convinces consumers that the business doesn’t put much stock in customer service or interacting with their customers, and few consumers actually feel comfortable forming a relationship with such a business.

Establishing Trustworthiness

A new business has a lot to prove with consumers, as they have to convince these consumers that they not only have products or services that are needed and wanted, but that their products or services are better than their competition’s. As one can imagine, this is an awful lot for a new business to prove, and they will need all the help they can get. With effective reputation management, however, it is possible.

Reputation management includes professionally interacting with consumers online–which means responding to questions, comments and reviews–both good and bad. It may be true that consumers are wary of businesses that have received bad reviews, but there are several ways this can be countered. If the business is very active online, engaging with consumers and customers, it shows that they care and are willing to work at maintaining a good relationship. A business that responds to good comments and reviews, thanking the customer and perhaps even offering them a discount on their next product or service, can also build a sort of “shield” against the occasional bad review. A business that professionally responds to negative comments and reviews, offering to work with the customer to make things right, can look very trustworthy because while errors can sometimes happen they obviously are willing to take full responsibility for these errors. When a business takes time to monitor and improve their reputation from the very beginning, they can reap the benefits for many long years afterward.

For more information about how reputation management services can benefit you, contact our team today.

If you’re working hard to build a business, you may think that you can’t afford to pay attention to your online presence or reputation. Actually, the truth is that if you’re working hard to build a business you can’t afford to not pay attention to your online presence and reputation. After all, we currently live in a world where consumers are more than likely to run an online search for a business prior to making a choice about whether or not to enter into a relationship with that business. Reputation building is therefore absolutely critical to the success of any business, whether they are just starting up, working to grow, or stabilized after many years.

The Importance of Online Reputation Management 

Waiting for your online reputation to be a mess before taking action to resolve it is waiting too long. You will build more strength and power for your business by taking control of your online reputation from the very beginning, so that you can determine just how it is shaped. Imagine a consumer goes searching for your business online and all they find is a series of small-time review sites with little to no reviews, or even worse, poor reviews. It’s safe to assume that they won’t waste any more of their time considering your business, and will move on to look for something else somewhere else. This means that without even having interacted with the consumer for a second, your business has already lost a potential conversion. Even if this only occurs once a week you can see how it can quickly add up over the course of several months or a year. Research has even suggested that businesses can lose about twenty percent of business when potential consumers find a negative article about them online, a little more than forty percent of business when potential consumers find two negative articles about them online and just around sixty percent of business when potential consumers find three negative articles about them online. So what can you do? Consider the following online reputation management tips:

• Find out what you’re dealing with. Running a Google search on your business can give you a very good idea of how your online reputation currently looks. You should take a look at the first few pages of search results, and at least the first page of images that come up so you understand what irrelevant and negative content you will need to handle.
• Clean up your search results. You may find that some of the content that comes up in your Google search are unflattering photos and inappropriate or embarrassing status updates on social media. This is a good time to go ahead and delete them.
• Create a website. If you don’t already have a website, now is the time to create one. If you do have a website but it’s tired and outdated, it may be time to have it professionally updated. The goal is to give consumers a place to go to get the best information about your business straight from the source. This website should have an easy-to-find URL (such as your business’ name), an About Us page, a regularly updated blog, a call-to-action and easy to see contact information.
• Set up social media accounts. Social media provides an excellent way for a business to interact with current and potential consumers, and it can also help to ensure that more of the top search engine results can focus on those sites you control and maintain.
• Find out what your target audience truly needs and wants. You can spend tons of time, money and effort on promoting your business and its products or services and wonder why you are not getting the traffic and conversions you expect. However, if you take the time to find out what your target audience truly needs and wants, you may be able to restructure your content marketing strategy so that it effectively reaches out to and engages consumers, leading to conversions.
• Manage your online reviews. Relying upon third party review sites for effective reviews about your business is risky, especially since this will lead consumers to the third party site instead of your website. Manage your own online reviews and draw consumers to your door.

Effective online reputation management can make a great deal of difference in the success of a business. Those businesses that are aggressive about establishing and improving their online reputation are highly rewarded for their efforts.

It is virtually impossible for any business to exist today without some sort of online reputation. Even those businesses that fail to maintain an online presence are affected by the fact that most consumers are willing and even eager to speak about them online–through social media, review websites and more. A business that actively maintains an online presence and works hard to protect their online reputation with various management tools or through the help of a dedicated online reputation specialist is better able to present consumers with the business image they desire. That said, online reputation management is far more than knowing how to fix your online reputation should something go awry. It is also about understanding how online reputation threats can occur, and what tools you can use to protect against them. Perhaps even more importantly, it is about understanding the impact that technological advancements have on your online reputation and how to properly manage it with this in mind.

How Technological Advancements Affect Online Reputation Management

Understanding what must be done to effectively protect one’s online reputation is not as simple as learning a series of rules and then simply adhering to them. This is due to the fact that those things that can damage or improve your online reputation are constantly changing and evolving–which is why online reputation management must be constantly changing and evolving as well. One of the biggest sources of changes and evolution is various technological advancements, which can be a great asset when used properly and a great detriment when ignored.

Consider first how advancements in technology have actually opened the door to more business-consumer interactions. With various social media platforms and other online forums, consumers are able to easily reach out to and connect with a business. They like to express how they feel about a business or brand, as well as their products and services. They like when a business consults them about new products or services and truly seems to care about their feedback and opinion. Social media allows for a much more personal communication to exist between a business and consumer when the business responds to consumer questions, concerns and comments, and herein lies an amazing opportunity to boost their image. Even where a consumer has something unflattering or downright critical to say about a business, the business can still turn the situation to their advantage by responding promptly and professionally, indicating their care for the consumer and their interest in setting things right. If a business ignores this avenue, however, and fails to maintain a social media presence or fails to communicate with consumers through social media, it can be very detrimental to their reputation.

Consumers today expect to be able to find businesses online easily, and get in “behind the scenes” of these businesses through social media platforms. It is not at all unusual for them to respond harshly and critically if a business fails to step up and create and maintain this desirable online presence. Since many more consumers interact with businesses online today, rather than through brick and mortar establishments, they expect and demand this type of human connection, and with the technology to support it businesses must step up and fill the need.

The Bottom Line

Some businesses may pride themselves in establishing more personal connections with consumers by forming in-person relationships. They may feel that by shying away from a strong online presence they are somehow preserving the idea that online connections are less genuine or fulfilling, and therefore they are making a unique name for themselves. Unfortunately, while some consumers may understand and support this general idea, the vast majority of consumers today will be irritated by the lack of a strong online presence for the business. They are more likely to view it as a mark of the business’ isolation from, rather than connection with, consumers, and they are unlikely to hold anything back when telling others about it. It is therefore in a business’ best interests to stay abreast of technological advancements as regards online reputation management, and connect with consumers in the way that current consumers most desire.

In today’s tech-savvy world, more and more companies are quickly realizing just how critical online reputation management is. Just one single disparaging review of a company, their products or their services can quickly escalate into an extremely damaging public relations nightmare that takes a considerable amount of time, money and effort to resolve, even if the review is proven to be entirely false. Effective online reputation management can work hard to protect a company against things that have the potential to threaten their reputation and can resolve situations quickly when they arise. Since there are many possible ways a company’s online reputation can be affected by their employees, companies now believe that effective online reputation management also includes employee reputation management.

The Importance of Employee Reputation Management

The very nature of online news and social media sites means that information of a sensational nature can, and often does, go viral in record time. This means that even while a company must work very hard to protect their online reputation from disparaging news and remarks that are made about them online, they must also consider the damaging effects that can be caused by their employees’ actions and remarks.

It is no secret that employees are the face of their company, and that their decisions, actions and remarks can affect how others view the company. This is why companies perform background checks on applicants prior to hiring them–they cannot afford to be associated with an individual who has broken accepted social codes. But what happens if an individual has been hired and then decides, does or says something that reflects poorly upon the company? One poorly thought-out Facebook post has the potential to be just as damaging to a company’s reputation as a customer’s disparaging review–and sometimes even more so–as it was made by someone who represents the company. This is why employee reputation management has become so very important.

Understanding Employee Reputation Management

In addition to normal hiring procedures that include running general background checks to determine the presence of any criminal history, some companies are now running social media background checks on potential employees. This can help them to understand the individual’s general social habits as well as what they post to social media about, so as to better understand how the individual may reflect upon the company once hired. For example, if an individual is particularly outspoken about highly controversial political issues, has been badmouthing their boss, colleagues or clients or criticizing their employer in the past, this may present a big problem for a company that is considering hiring the individual. After all, what is to say that the individual won’t be doing the same thing in the near future?

Once an individual has passed these background checks, companies can ensure employee reputation management by establishing policies for employees to adhere to. These policies normally outline how employees are expected to conduct themselves on social media platforms so as not to reflect poorly upon the company. Sometimes they even outline the disciplinary actions the company may take should an employee violate the policies. Companies aren’t just trying to prevent their employees from making disparaging remarks or expressing personal views that could possibly be viewed by others as company views, they are very concerned about employees who will either deliberately or innocently misuse confidential company information, so policies will often cover this as well.

Essentially, a company must help their employees to understand that their actions online can have a big impact on how members of the public view the company, and that nothing they post online in any forum is posted in a vacuum that is guaranteed to be private. In other words, each employee’s reputation is closely linked to their company’s reputation, and they must understand their responsibility in protecting both.

Establishing an online presence is certainly an important part of making your business visible, but managing your online reputation is critical to ensuring your business is visible in a favorable light. A good online reputation can help your business to strengthen and grow, while a poor online reputation can cause it to remain stagnant at best, and suffer damaging effects at worst.

Managing your online reputation consists of far more than simply keeping your website fresh and up-to-date, and while it may seem like a simple process, it is far better to be thorough than overlook something that has the potential to cause great and lasting harm. It is for this, and many other reasons, that many businesses choose to hire an online reputation management company.

Online Reputation Management Company Services

The goal of any online reputation management company is, of course, to help a business establish and maintain a strong online reputation which will help them to grow. While each online reputation management company can offer a different variety of services, there are five main services that are normally offered:

1. Push down negative search engine results. When a consumer searches for information regarding your brand, products or services, the results they are confronted with on the very first page can have a big impact on their decision. For example, if they are immediately confronted by negative results, regardless of where they have come from, they will likely choose to avoid your brand. This can seem incredibly unfair, and it is, but it can happen when negative results rate highly. One of the top services provided by online reputation management companies is therefore to push negative search engine results down off the first page, or even off the first few pages, where it won’t do as much damage.
2. Defend positive search engine results. Consumers often begin online searches very broadly, usually with generic terms, and then refine them as they go along. Part of the reason for this is that they may not actually know for sure what it is they want, but as they learn more through positive search engine results, they may dig into a specific brand to learn more. If they encounter problems along the way, they will often abandon one type of search and take up another one instead, which is why it is important to defend positive search engine results that garner positive attention.
3. Remove false and defamatory results. False and defamatory content in search engine results can have an enormous effect on how consumers view that brand, especially if it shows up high in the search results. Considering that one recent study indicated that nearly forty-five percent of consumers changed their mind about doing business with a specific brand based on negative search results, it is definitely in a company’s best interests to have false and defamatory content removed entirely.
4. Improve online reviews. Most consumers choose to read online reviews before deciding whether or not to partake of a business’ products or services, regardless of how appealing the business’ description of these products or services may be. In fact, many consumers place the same amount of trust in online reviews as they do in personal recommendations. Businesses that seek to build and maintain a strong online reputation must therefore manage and improve their online review process so they can benefit enormously from their reviews.
5. Monitor and improve the business’ social media reputation. It’s no mistake that social media has grown steadily in popularity, and that many individuals invest a great amount of their time in visiting and contributing to social media websites. A business needs to both take advantage of this trend, and protect their image, by monitoring and improving their social media reputation. After all, it only takes one social media post that goes viral to completely destroy the image a brand has worked hard to establish and grow.

When it comes to a business’ online reputation, the time and effort invested in building and strengthening this reputation will always bring about a great return on investment. While it may seem that many of the above areas can be well-managed in-house, it can bring about great peace of mind to hire an online reputation management company and allow experienced professionals to build your online reputation stronger and faster than you had even hoped.

When a consumer is looking for a reputable company, they are likely to search online for reviews before making a decision and a purchase. It follows, then, that if a company has poor or even mediocre online reviews, they are likely losing potential new business on a fairly regular basis. This difficult realization can be compounded by the fact that some online reviews are false, while others could potentially be prevented or resolved through fast, caring responses. This is why review monitoring is so critical to online reputation management, it can help a business protect and grow their reputation.

How to Monitor Reviews

Once you understand the importance of reviewing monitoring, you may wonder how to undertake this huge task. After all, consumers don’t only post reviews directly to a business’ website, but also to a wide range of other sites as well. Following are some tips for effectively monitoring reviews:

● Find where your business is listed online. You can often find these sites by running a search for “your business name + reviews”. It’s important to be thorough, so look through the first three pages of results and note down all sites that mention your business. Also consider any social media sites where your business has a profile or is mentioned.

● Find out where your business currently ranks on various sites. For each site that mentions your business, note down how many reviews you have and what your overall ranking is.

● Determine, based on the number of sites and the number of reviews, how often you need to monitor them. If there are only a few sites and not a lot of reviews, checking once a month may be sufficient. However, if there are quite a few reviews spread across quite a few sites, you may need to check several times a week.

● Start checking reviews and responding as necessary. Once you know what is being said about your business, you can work on improving your reputation by responding appropriately.

In today’s tech-savvy world, establishing and maintaining a good online reputation is vitally important to one’s success. After all, when individuals are looking for answers or solutions to their various questions and problems in life, they are likely to turn to the internet. A good online reputation can establish one’s business high on search engine results, and can convince readers that they are worth taking a closer look at. So how can images affect one’s online reputation?

Managing an Online Reputation

It’s become increasingly well-known that providing regularly updated, unique and valuable content is critical to establishing and maintaining a good online reputation. This content can establish trust between a business and their future clients, and it definitely includes the images associated with one’s business that are posted on both business and social media sites.

Search engine results often include images, sometimes displayed prominently near the top of the page. Unfortunately, if the images that turn up are negative in nature, they can have a detrimental effect on one’s online reputation, and unfortunately, they can be fairly difficult–or even impossible–to remove. Social media sites often list terms of service that specifically state that while they don’t have ownership of any of the content published therein, they yet have the right to use any published content for their own purposes. This obviously includes images–which essentially means that a single image published once can be shared and spread among others, becoming somewhat immortal and popping up elsewhere at random points in time. Obviously, this means that if a business posts an image that they later determine does not convey an appropriate message, they may very well discover that removing it from their website and social media sites does not actually cause it to completely disappear from search engine results.

In short, it is very important that one never publishes any images online unless they are absolutely positive that the image conveys the message that one is comfortable having all present and future clients see.

Regardless of one’s personal political views, there is no denying the fact that the recent presidential election was a highly charged event, in its entirety, for every single American citizen. And while the outcome of the election may have generated every possible emotion in the population from elation to hope to confusion to anger to despair, it is a cinch to assume that most everyone in the population would agree entirely on the point that neither candidate had what one would consider to be a really good reputation. In fact, in the aftermath of the election, many are trying to evaluate just where the candidates may have messed up–and a lot of the focus is on points that affected their reputation. Unfortunately, this may have significantly hurt both of them–albeit in different ways–and opened our eyes even more to the importance of reputation management.

Just as can occur for presidential candidates, a company’s digital footprint has the potential to come back and haunt them in the future, damaging or even destroying their reputation. Threats to one’s reputation can include poor customer reviews, negative stories about the company, legal problems, and more. If not appropriately, honestly and rapidly addressed and handled, the company can suffer the consequences of these things. As damaging as bad publicity can be, it does not have to destroy or even significantly harm a business. By promoting a lot of positive content regarding the business, receiving an abundance of customer reviews and addressing any product or service issues, or complaints, openly and professionally, one can successfully maintain their online reputation.

As has been proven by Trump’s derogatory and inflammatory remarks and Clinton’s dishonesty regarding her email scandals, poor reputation management at any time can continue to cause problems long into the future, and therefore should be avoided and prevented against at all costs.