Last week I was approached by a friend of the company. He’s referred several clients to us and has now found himself in the middle of a reputation crisis. His company manufactures and sells garden tubs. A disgruntled ex-employee has apparently posted a complaint on a popular consumer complaint forum.

That one complaint post ranks #1 for the specialty garden tub company’s name. The company website ranks #2. In his particular niche, search engine reputation is huge. The company depends on their website for sales and promotional information. And somehow, this one post outranked them and was hurting their search rep big time. Continue Reading

It’s smart business practice to keep all blog posts on your corporate website even after the employee who wrote them is gone. Whether they quit or get fired, the quality of their written work should stand alone. Some business owners want to erase all visual evidence of a person’s existence once they’ve parted ways with the company. Reasons for doing so range from fear of getting screwed over long-term in some unimaginable way to just plain old bastardly keeping an ex-employee from getting any credit to help further their careers elsewhere.

A word to employers: Grow up! Realize that any quality blog posts written by an ex-employee still benefit your company by remaining visible. Those are searchable pages containing industry specific content that can still make you look good. Continue Reading

Let’s assume that you’re just like every other joe or jane on the street. You don’t own a company. You haven’t been slandered in the press. No one is saying anything bad about you online. In fact, no one is saying anything at all about you online. You don’t have to be a marketing guru to do a little basic reputation management. Let’s say you’re looking for a job or, maybe, thinking about looking for a job, and you want prospective employers and head hunters to learn about you online.

On second thought, maybe you just hate searching for your name on Google and finding results for some other guy or girl with the same name. Each circumstance will be unique, but here are a few quick and easy ways to improve your online reputation without paying a professional:

1. Buy a domain name. Try to buy your name as a domain name (example: johnsmith.com). I recommend DreamHost to register and privately host your domains. If your name is common and the exact match is unavailable, look for a combination of your name and either a location or a professional title (example: johnsmithdallas.com or johnsmithcopywriter.com). Pick something you like, but make sure your name is up front. If you register at least one domain in this manner, you can go ahead and check to see if your name is available with hyphens (example: john-smith.com). Owning this domain is fine, but I would operate it as a second domain, not as your one and only. Hyphenated domains don’t always rank as well for keywords.

It’s not enough to OWN a domain name. You need a live site and you need readable, relevant, content. Since you are not likely a web designer, I recommend you download WordPress blog software for free and start a blog on your new site. Write at least once a week and remember that what you write will be read by your professional peers and potential new employers - each blog post you write is an opportunity to showcase your personality, intelligence, wit, and your grasp of your chosen profession.

2. Join several free article publisher websites. I recommend Buzzle, Amazines, Content Articles, Helium, and Ezine Articles. These are listed in order of importance and current search engine authority. Join each of these publishers and post at least one article on each that you write. Pick a subject that you are somewhat of an expert on and keep it simple and informative. Remember that any headhunter or interviewer may review these words prior to your interview, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve posted well written pieces.

3. Join several social media / networking sites. Top recommendations include: LinkedIn, Twitter, Naymz, Delicious, Technorati, and Magnolia. When you are trying to build search engine results for your name, each site you join must be joined under your real name. Use nicknames and handles for those sites or profiles meant just for your personal enjoyment. Create each profile for reputation management under your first and last name and be sure to add background and professional information when possible. Other sites you should consider joining include: Digg, Reddit, Propeller, and Facebook.

4. Register your blog with several blog directories. Top picks for blog directories include: Globe of Blogs, Blog Catalog, Blogflux, Bloghub, and Blogarama. Register under your first and last name and follow the online directions to add your blog to each directory.

5. Read other people’s blogs and write comments. Most blogs require you to enter your name and email address before you can post a comment. This is another chance for you to write intelligent responses to what you read, and to earn some low level rankings for your name as well. Go ahead and enter your blog URL in the field available. This gives you the added benefit of sending a few blog comment readers to your site.

6. Create a blog that is hosted on the blog software URL. Blogger and WordPress are the two most popular blog platforms and their URLs already have some strength. You can create a blog on Blogger’s or WordPress’ site and piggback off of their search engine authority (example: johnsmith.blogspot.com and johnsmith.wordpress.com). I know it sounds like you’ll have to write copy for several sites, and you WILL, but taking 30 minutes per blog per week shouldn’t be to hard to fit in, especially if you’re motivated to create some good search results and content to promote your career.

Each one of these options is free. They take a little time, but the rewards of a solid search reputation is well worth it. Of course, you will have some questions along the way like “how do I add WordPress to my blog?” or “how do I set up my new DreamHost hosting account so I can put a blog there?

Personal repute management can be handled quite well by individuals working from home. This is especially significant for those who aim at running their personal businesses online or find a home business opportunity profitable for them. As published in the home business review journal increasingly high number of people is eager to find work at home to avoid the hassle and cost of commuting long distances while some others work from home for the ease and flexibility it offers.

Feel free to shoot me any questions you might have about the finer points of building your online reputation.

Go online to MediaPost’s Search Insider and read Rob Garner’s Top 17 Tips for Search Engine Reputation Management Optimization. Rob provides a good basic list of tips for the beginner needing to improve their image online.

Creating sub domains is an especially useful tip that I don’t think gets emphasized enough. Perhaps your company’s website and/or a personal website rank #1 and #2 for your name, but #3 is some unfounded accusation against you or your company. Depending on the strength of the website hosting the accusatory content, you’ll have to adjust your strategy. Still, creating a subdomain with your name in front of the company name (example: johnmark.awesomebusiness.com) will give you another premium ranking for your name, assuming you put quality content on it and get some good links to it.

For one client or another, I’ve been doing all the things Rob suggests except for the subdomains. Using subdomains really is a good idea. I just don’t always have the control to implement such practices on a client’s website. One of the downsides of contract or agency work is that the specialist rarely is given the power to implement any and all strategies which could benefit the client.

If you’re not doing these 17 things, now is the time. If you have already attempted them or need further explanation on how to accomplish them, my door is open.

Rule #1 is simple. Your clients and customers are going to say what they are going to say. The question is, will it be in a controlled environment or will it be total chaos? You choose.

There are three recommendations to choose from, and I personally recommend a blend of all 3:

1) Create a Blog on your website

2) Create a Forum on your website

3) Encourage your customers to supply honest feedback on your website

Both blog and forum will assist your company in addressing the complaints and recommendations of your customers. Their are advantages and disadvantages to both. The great thing about each is that they take very little time to set up and are very affordable tools.

Most company websites only provide a “contact us” page for customer/client feedback. Unfortunately, an angry or dissatisfied customer may not take the time to fill out something formal that, honestly, looks like it is meant only for new business leads. For most of us, if we’re savvy enough to use Contact pages, we’re probably savvy enough to know that webmasters take forever to respond to concerns or questions, and we don’t like waiting for answers.

As I mentioned before, blogs and discussion forums are excellent places to give your customers a voice. And by doing so, you offer them the dignity they deserve. And when a company shows its customers respect, it’s always a win/win.

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.