Your Reputation is Everything
Image courtesy of F Delventhal
There’s a wise saying that your name is all you really have. All you have is a good name and your reputation, and nowadays with everyone and everything online, it’s not just your offline persona that’s important. It’s essential to make sure your name is perceived well online, and it’s also essential for business owners to maintain a good reputation both on and off the computer.
It’s also nowadays extremely important to establish a brand for yourself or your company. People need to be able to find you online by any means necessary including searching for you on social media channels, across online directories like Yelp or even by accessing your own personal website. BrandYourself.com, a startup from New York, walks you through the steps to “brand yourself” and provides an easy do-it-yourself online tutorial. There are many other companies out there that offer to help you manage your online reputation for a fee like Reputation.com and Brand.com. However, there are easy ways to do reputation cleanup yourself. Proactive online management can cost you in the beginning but save you in the long run. It’s kind of like insurance, according to a Search Engine Land article by Chris Silver Smith.
How To Manage Your Online Persona
Image courtesy of John Uhri
Here are some tips for managing your business’s online persona on your own.
- Search for yourself online. Do a Google search for your business name and also a Google image search, says Susan Adams in a Forbes article. “Develop a strong social media presence for your founders’, owners’, or executives’ names, particularly if they are distinctive,” agrees Silver Smith.
- Buy your own domain name on websites like GoDaddy.com or Weebly.com or develop a free basic website on WordPress.com. Some brand experts recommend snatching up all the domains you can for more exposure. This also works if you have a high-profile business, and buying all the domains you can guarantees other imposters can’t set up fake accounts or websites. Other experts say you should buy up domains so that other people don’t buy them and use them against you.
- Write a personal biography of yourself with your accomplishments, work experience, education and skills. This is just smart to have on hand in general, but you should also post this on your website. In addition, upload your resume/CV and any professional photos you might have. “Put all your content in one place,” Adams says.
- You can also create an online portfolio for yourself on sites like Clippings.me.com, Tumblr, PortfolioBox and more. “You can also “apply” your domain name to these sites, which means that anyone who goes to (for example) patrickambron.com will be routed to your Tumblr page or your WordPress page,” Adams says.
Image courtesy of Jason Howie
- Set up social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and LinkedIn to start. Also make accounts on Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube, if they apply to your business. Make your online presence stronger by linking to all your social media accounts on your website, Adams suggests.
- Don’t just create these social media accounts, be active and hold yourself accountable. You can’t just have a Twitter account. You need to create a buzz for your business. By interacting with followers, you can develop an audience and encourage customer interaction and engagement. Social media is also a great way to answer customer questions. “Perhaps the only thing worse than under-engaging in online media is handling social media badly,” Silver Smith asserts.
- Publish and create new, original content that relates to your business or brand. Write content that those in your industry can relate to. Adams says to post new content once a month, but we think more is better! Silver Smith calls blogging a secret local SEO weapon. It can help with your website’s “rankings on good keywords (if done properly) and provides fodder for one’s social media accounts,” he says.
Image courtesy of Sebastien Wiertz
- “Keep private things private, while assuming nothing is truly private,” Adams says. Ain’t that the truth. Make sure your privacy settings are on for any personal content you post. Adams even suggests making two separate Facebook accounts, one professional and one personal. “Construct two Facebook profiles, one for outsiders that emphasizes your educational and professional accomplishments and another for your intimate circles, with the most private settings you can find,” she says.
- Be careful what you do share on social media, even if it’s for professional purposes. Anything you put out there can be retweeted, and screenshots can be taken, even if you delete your content. If someone tags a compromising photo of you, don’t be afraid to ask them to remove it if you think it might compromise your reputation.
Your Online Reputation and Local SEO
Image courtesy of Jen Knoedl
Local SEO and reputation management go hand in hand. This is especially important if you are a business owner and advertise your business on sites like Yelp and Angie’s List. While you should never ever fabricate reviews or pay for positive reviews, it is important to keep track of these reviews and be able to handle criticism effectively. As Silver Smith says you simply can’t opt out of online management. Issues always occur in business, and good customer service is important and essential to having healthy, adequate reputation management. Always respond to any negative comments on social media or reviews as quickly as you can, as social signals can affect SEO. Make sure you are truly listening to customers’ complaints, and consider making changes to your process, product or services. Apologize if you or your company messes up, Silver Smith says, and be real and transparent whenever possible. Show the customer you are actively working on fixing the problem. Most importantly, do not get into any online arguments.
“There’s hardly a business out there that doesn’t have an occasional issue arise with a customer. Ideally, you can resolve things before it reaches a point,” Silver Smith explains. “If you’ve prepared and planned for how to handle online criticism of your company, the impact of one or two complaints can be much reduced, and you may be better able to respond effectively and rapidly to minimize monetary impact.”
Image courtesy of SEOPlanter
Make sure all the collateral pieces for your business like your website, blog, informational webpages and social media profiles are set up in one place and set up optimally to rank for your brand names, suggests Silver Smith. These collateral pieces can then work to outrank any negative materials.
SEO is always important and can be applied to almost anything. Most people think SEO online applies to online reviews and recommendations. Factors like a bad SEO ranking can also affect your reputation.
“For established local businesses, people may frequently be searching for you by business name — so, having bad stuff rank in branded search results can directly impact your bottom line,” says Silver Smith.
What are your tips for managing your online reputation and local SEO? Did we miss anything? Let us know by commenting below or on social media!