After what we’ve seen over the past five days, MyBlogLog.com is a perfect example of a company in need of some ORM (online reputation management).

Just a few days ago, a MBL member nicknamed Shoemoney was removed from the MLB directory.

Reason: He posted some information on his blog that made MLB kinda angry. What kind of information? He found a flaw in MBL’s programming which allowed him to find and post the User IDs of other members. Hence, he got the boot.

Problem: Dozens (if not hundreds) of MyBlogLog members removed the MBL code from their blogs and poised themselves to cancel MBL membership. They called it a boycott. Let me tell you, this group of bloggers is powerful.

Solution: Within a day or two, Shoemoney was reinstated onto MBL, offered some sort of near apology, and at least some of the boycotters have returned with little more than a grumble.

MyBlogLog will need to take some time and effort to regain the trust of its current and former members. It has been such a popular site, even after the sale to Yahoo!, that I find it difficult to believe that everyone will continue to look upon it with disfavor for very long. However, the masses are fickle, and you never know what one small group of disgruntled influential people will do.

Better Solution: MyBlogLog needs to post some blogs offering additional services they will be providing. New services and functionalities are always good ways to help the people forget their past reasons to complain.

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ORM stands for Online Reputation Management. It’s an acronym that’s just beginning to catch on in the Internet PR and Marketing space. I know we make acronyms for everything under the sun and the poor people just looking for tips have a hell of a time learning anything while wading through these terms, but think about all the unnecessary strokes poor writers like me must suffer to type out O-N-L-I-N-E R-E-P-U-T-A-T-I-O-N M-A-N-A-G-E-M-E-N-T…. whew!!!! I need a breather!

Help me save some keystrokes. Let’s try to only type the phrase online reputation management once per post from now on…Pass on the acronym wherever you can, especially in those beloved SEO blogs and SEM forums. They spread new acronyms like a brushfire. j

In the coming weeks, we’ll look at the news for some examples of good and bad ORM campaigns.

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When dealing with any type of Public Relations, Reputation Management, or Marketing on the Internet, you will inevitably face the question of how to use Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask to your advantage. These search engines are the primary way people find information. Search Engines are the new yellowpages (even though there are online yelllow pages which can be extremely helpful, especially when searching for local businesses only).

Search Engine Optimization is a massively growing industry worldwide. If you want lots of helpful tips in that arena, visit an SEO blog. There are dozens to choose from.

Online Reputation Management inevitably crosses paths with SEO and search engine marketing. Even if you were to address your PR problems with a traditional, non-SEO involved approach, as long as you post your comments, press releases, or explanations online, you will inevitably affect search engine rankings. That’s part of SEO, so you might as well make yourself comfortable with the idea. Yes, you will want important people to say positive things about your company, employee, product, or service, but you’re wasting effort if you don’t take advantage of some basic SEO principles to help you get the most bang for your buck.

In case the term “SEO” feels awkward on your tongue (or in your brain), here are five ways that Reputation Management and SEo are already similar (these should make you feel more comfortable):

• Search Engine results are the most obvious measuring stick of success or failure
• Utilizing Title/META tags whenever possible are very helpful
• Press Releases are your friend
• Blog responses and fresh positive posts are valuable assets
• Link Building campaigns to your positive pieces boost their credibility to search engines

To manage your rep online, you’ll need to employ a mixture of skills including copywriting, SEO, and marketing.

More to come…

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It has become cliche to say that “any press is good press.” But does the cliche still hold true?

Being in the press, i.e. in the public view, is absolutely critical. For example, the sports world has recently been buzzing about the NASCAR team accused of trying to use a form of jet fuel to gain a competitive edge. One of the commentators on my local sports radio station, 103.3fm ESPN Radio, decided that NASCAR was happy that the racing team was caught because the controversy caused such a stir that the upcoming Daytona 500 race will get extra (undeserved) publicity.

I don’t know whether NASCAR officials were happy about the controversy, but I will say that the radio guy was right about the publicity. Everyone from Randy Galloway to Dale Hansen talked about NASCAR for as long as 20 minutes because some idiot cheated and got caught.

Does this person’s abuse of the rules hurt NASCAR in the eyes of the public? Not likely. First, the racing team members are not official representatives of the NASCAR brand, and sports fans don’t care so much about getting caught. They care about winning and losing. MLB (major league baseball) is a different story which we won’t get into. But in the instance of NASCAR, even catching a cheater in the act is nothing more than extra attention.

Like someone else said, as long as they don’t keep a cheater from competing, the penalties don’t really mean all that much. And until the cheater is removed from the event, the people remain largely unoffended.

But that’s sports.

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There are plenty of articles online about reputation management. Don’t worry. And of those, there are many approaches represented. There are three basic streams of reputation management:

* Online Reputation Management for Search
* Online Reputation Management for Branding
* Offline Reputation Management for Branding

We’ll deal with the first two more often than the third. The third falls under the cagtegory of Image Consulting. An image consultant is used for celebrities who say stupid things about minorities or who get caught in the act of cheating. A reputation advisor is employed when you want to enhance your reputation or image online.

Semantics. Potato, potahto. Call it whatever you like, but this is how we will differentiate between disciplines. Image Consulting is henceforth for non-internet related PR. From now on, Reputation Management implies the Web. If enough people accept the differences betweeen these two phrases, we will be able to use reputation management without the annoying “online” prefix.

By all means, read all the online articles about reputation management that you can bear. I imagine we’ll get around to referencing most of them in the future and discussing the validity of their advice. Just take everything with a grain of salt. And don’t assume that you know which type of reputation management is being referred to by the author. Happy reading!

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In the vein of some very helpful professional blogs like Copyblogger and SEOmoz, ReputationAdvisor.com exists to help your business maintain a solid reputation online.

What you can expect:

• reputation management tips
• Examples
• Q&A (and eventually an FAQ section)
• links to other useful resources on the Web regarding reputation management.
• other related info (occasional SEO and SEM tips where it applies

Don’t be a stranger! We’re here to help.

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