I prefer a peaceful life. Do my errands in familiar places. Sometimes I like to try something new. Generally, all my needs are well met by the retailers I patronize offline and online. If there’s a glitch, I’m either patient and get what I need in the end, or just go to a different store that has the item. No big deal. I just want to pick up my stuff and go home.

That is not the world of the Global Mouthpiece that is the Internet.

The Web has so much potential for global commerce, bringing people together amicably, and an awesome resource for research and information. Unfortunately, this great tool is often identified instead by the worst faceless users in the world (some criminals), who spew mountains of hateful rhetoric for global publication every day. Ugly attacks and “Rantrums” against other people on the Web is way out of control, and is enabling public behavior that is openly uncivil, narcissistic, anti-social, and sometimes dangerous.

Really, there is a deep need for greater online regulation (never mind re-training in basic social skills), and a lot of retailers are quietly, politely, showing signs of getting proactively fed up.

One vocal online merchant says (and I totally paraphrase for his protection) that large and small retailers are increasingly and unnecessarily burdened with rude, undisciplined, and often abusive customers that cost way more than they should. Anger (sometimes enhanced by substance abuse?) can be stoked further by safe anonymity and what is often unregulated libel in Chat Rooms, Forums, Blogs, and online “Review” sites. Smaller business has been undeservedly damaged, or even ruined, by some of the more awful attacks from people who will destroy anything, and harm anyone, when they can’t have their way. Even the last word in a dispute is up for grabs.

Customer Review Sites: Like most things in life, they are fair in concept. But in practice, they’ve become vengeance attack zones designed to ruin innocent people and small businesses, plastering personal issues all over the internet, sometimes under false names. Nobody can justify a nasty third rate public rantrum under the guise of legitimate “review”. The only online reviews I trust are about the product, not broadcast 10-volume versions of silly complaints escalated into a federal case because some woooooookid@witless.com’s special underpants were backordered. Chillingly stupid.

Complaint sites and “Consumer Rip-Off” Forums: Granted if a pattern of bad business practices can be detected, published complaints may be helpful. But in most instances, entries are no more than public temper tantrums, and embellished versions of everyday disputes, with few options for rebuttal from accused companies. While there are a small percentage of fraudsters that deserve to be exposed, most businesses do not deserve to be attacked.

General Forums and Chat Rooms: Again what a great way for people to get together and share ideas and opinions! On the other hand, there are a few bloggers out there who are generating some serious rage because anonymity seems to protect them from legal backlash. Hey, if you’ve published something really egregious that’s appearing all over the place, any decent tech/lawyer team can easily locate you. No sympathy!
Unfortunately small internet businesses do take a constant barrage of nastygrams and published tantrums from difficult people who enjoy attacking reputations and livelihoods of innocent people far more talented than they are. Why? Because lime green crew socks are backordered a couple of weeks. Sorry, but given the potential for irreversible harm on the global Web, mere words can’t begin to describe a person of that ilk. If such shenanigans happened in a physical store or mall, many would be rightly tossed out the door.

Sure, there are occasional issues between consumers and businesses, but almost all can be reasonably resolved with cooperation from consumers who are sane, literate, and possess a few basic interpersonal skills. There is a world of good companies large and small whose people just want to do an honest business without fielding a daily barrage of broadcast hystrionics from self centered jerks.

I am sure anybody who cares to read this through will erupt into a state of enraged, inflated indignation, with fingers itching to hammer a keyboard response that will blow my mind with brilliance and righteousness, but REALLY. Don’t we all have vacuuming or laundry to do … or something?

Online reputation management is a developing field that encompasses public relations and search engine optimization.
Consumers go online to make buying decisions. When they research brands using search engines, the results that they observe often influence how they behave. Consumer generated media sites offer the general public the opportunity to express their views of brands. This information can be found in search engine results. Members of the public such as competitors, and ex-employees can take part in the online conversation which can adversely affect the brand reputation.

Online reputation management is a field that involves the monitoring of online conversation, and the action undertaken, to improved brand reputation within search engine results.

These components are extremely crucial in order to successfully marketing your website online. We the right Online Marketing firm, you company can see exponential growth with a highly satisfactory ROI. The most rewarding side effect of online marketing is the brand recognition that comes with your campaign. The actually campaign effectiveness can be tracked in terms of dollars through ROI calculations. However, this is a short –term terms. The long –term benefit of a well executed online marketing campaign will positively affect your brand. This is priceless!

The term “reputation management,” once squarely in the PR domain, is increasingly sneaking into the search engine marketing realm. Monitoring search results for complaint-speech (sometimes called “flames”) involving your brand name or trademarked words is extremely important. If users find a protest site in search results for your brand, they may click the link and believe what they read. Worse, they may base purchase consideration on the site’s content.

Reputation Ruined. Sale Lost.

Protest Web sites often seem believable, even when a complaint is trifling or unfounded. A site owner may or may not be willing to speak with you to resolve the matter.

Worse, a number of Web sites offer complaint forums. Sites such as the Rip-off Report, Epinions.com, even Edmunds.com have moderated discussion boards where unhappy customers post complaints. Discussion pages from these sites can show up in search results, sometimes near your listings, sometimes on broader, category-defining keyword phrases where you’re not found at all.

Imagine: The sole online voice speaking to your future customer is someone who hates you.

Search Engine Reputation Management Strategy

Our search reputation management strategy is simple: Displace the offending search listings with favorable ones and with your own content.

Optimizing a company’s primary content — namely, its own Web site — is the best place to start. Often, a site has an abundance of non-optimized pages that can be leveraged, ranging from press releases to product specs that can quickly rank higher in results than a protest site. Optimizing partner, affiliate, or other content sources (with the partner’s cooperation) will usually accomplish the rest of the job.

Don’t Forget Paid Search Advertising

Companies’ brand reputation can be damaged in search advertisements, too. Though major search engines don’t allow advertisers to infringe on trademarked terms in text ads, a surprising number sneak by.

Recently, a company discovered a competitor advertising on its trademarked term and using the term as the title of a text ad in Google AdWords. Although Google prohibits such use, trademark holders must often bring offenses to Google’s attention. In this case, Google was alerted and the competitor was put on notice of the violation. The ad was taken down within days.

Our strategy utilizes advanced tools to track pay-per-click (PPC) search ads on an ongoing basis. Unlike natural search results, PPC ads change by time of day. Some disappear as budgets expire. PPC ads from your competitors or trademark infringers are much more transient. They appear on some searches, not for others. They disappear on the weekends or evenings, and reappear during certain hours.

Our Search Engine Reputation Management Team

To complement our search engine optimization programs, we have a specialized team of seasoned search engine marketing professionals to assist in monitoring for and displacing protest sites. Unlike a traditional PR department, our team has the technical knowledge required to attain high rankings in natural search results. This is the singular skill most necessary to produce the desired result.

Though understanding the importance and nuances of reputation management is valuable, ability and experience in attaining a higher ranking than an offending site must be the primary consideration.

For more information on how we can search for and help your company’s reputation, call our main office toll free 1-877-355-6410 to speak with a search engine optimization specialist.

SERM International, LLC

Toll Free: 1-877-355-6410
Local: (321) 202-1308
E-Mail: admin@reputationprofessor.com

Links:
http://reputationprofessor.com