Reputation Armor

Reputation Armor notes that using social networks as a Reputation Management tool or technique is a must! The fact is social networks like FaceBook, Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace, and hundreds of others rank very well on Google and other search engines when developed and utilized properly. If you have twenty or so social networking sites about you that rank high on Google, you control 20 spots about yourself and own those positions.

Creating social networking accounts is easy, fast, and in some cases actually fun. Reputation Armor uses TONS of social networks on the web for individuals and businesses. Reputation Armor recommends picking a few for yourself and actually using them to your advantage.

One extremely important tip that Reputation Armor would like to share is remember to log-in to your social network accounts frequently (At Least Weekly) and update your status, or add new content to your public profiles. By adding something new or showing Google that you are actively using these accounts, Reputation Armor has found that Google will in most cases perceive that this “account” is very relevant about your name thus ranking higher and stronger.

Here are a few social networks that Reputation Armor recommends:

Facebook can be a great place to network, just make certain you keep your profile free from things you wouldn’t want spread about you online. Example: Facebook.com/ReputationArmor

MySpace has millions of visitors; this popular social networking site can be a great place to get your and your business’ name out there. Example: MySpace.com/ReputationArmor

LinkedIn Here you can create a professional profile that will allow you to interact with others in your profession in a safe and positive manner. Example: LinkedIn.com/ReputationArmor

Twitter is great whether you want to communicate with others or follow the noise about you on the net, Twitter is an essential tool. Example: Twitter.com/ReputationArmor

Reputation Armor recommends that after creating these social networks it is a good idea to find like minded people, and industry partners to link up with you and network. You should also promote your social networks by linking to them when possible from your blog, website, or other social sites.

Reputation Armor Social Profile Creation

Reputation Armor creates over 125 social network accounts for our clients and optimizes them using the latest cutting edge social networking SEO techniques. This method ensures that the profiles rank highly in search engine results, therefore giving control of the top spots back to clients.

Social Networking Profile creation is only a minor portion of the Reputation Armor Online Reputation Management process.

For more information, contact Reputation Armor 888-358-ARMOR

These days it seems to Reputation Armor that the harder that individuals try to be transparent online, the bigger target they become.

Reputation Armor sees it all the time, at first you receive out of this world reviews, you add yourselves to more sites and directories, set up google Alerts to receive emails whenever you’re referred to online, and all is good with the world, then comes the day that you receive a bad review. Reputation Armor finds that some reviews and complaints are warranted, while most are anonymous and false, and posted by competitors and/or ex-employees. In some cases reputation armor is able to have these complaints removed if they are unfounded. Most review sites allow anonymous reviews, and although it’s unfair, it’s not illegal.

Reputation Armor answers…how to avoid potential customers and clients seeing bad reviews of your service?

If you can’t fix it or refute it, and getting it removed isn’t an option, then reputation armor advises that you may want to consider burying it. Basically, this means you need to push the bad reviews off  at least the first two pages of Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. - so potential customers looking for you on the Internet find the real you before they find false reviews.

Here are few elements that reputation armor finds important:

Your company website, for example “ReputationArmor.com” Ideally, reputation armor finds that this will rank in the number one position, and have prominent links showing to the main areas of your website, including testimonials.

Your website is more than likely the first thing a client will look for, make sure it contains some great testimonials / reviews. Case studies, examples of work and quotes from happy clients are great for showing you in a good light.

Reputation Armor can’t say enough about the importance of blogs. Whether your blog is attached to your website, or a sub domain, it gives any potential client the opportunity to find company updates and news. A corporate blog (ex. blog.ReputationArmor.com) can often tell as much, if not more, than a company website, as a blog tends to be more informal and have more of a ‘personality’

Twitter profiles are also an important aspect of any Reputation Armor online reputation management operation. Of course, this is only a positive element if you want people to find it, and your company image and brand is well represented while posting tweets  If your Twitter profile is full of ‘Was out late have a hangover this morning’ then reputation armor advises that it’s probably not for you. However, if you use your Twitter profile as part of your companies brand then having it show up on the first page for your company’s key words is excellent.

LinkedIn and other professional online networking profiles are also recommended by reputation armor. These profiles, especially if very active and up to date, show that you’re not just a fly by night, and go a long way in representing your company’s online brand.

We also like to take advantage of articles that clients have written. Whether they are articles on your own site, or articles on somewhere authoritative, reputation armor notes that having your content easily indexable shows you spend time promoting yourself, and those articles could be the difference in standing out among competitors.

Reputation Armor finds that the single most over looked aspect of online reputation management is Video Search engine optimization. Whether it’s own YouTube channel, or videos on your site, having videos show up in the search results for your company name is great. Not everyone likes reading tons of text about how great you are. Reputation Armor has observed that video about your brand can be one of the most convincing aspects of online reputation management.

Facebook profiles and / or Fan Pages are another important characteristic of reputation armor. Example, www.facebook.com/ReputationArmor. Again, this is only a good thing if you’re aware that your Facebook profile could be seen as part of a ‘fact finding’ mission by potential customers.

In summation, Reputation Armor wants clients to understand that search results for your company or individual name should provide a well rounded promotion of your company and services. When people see your website, your blog, your Twitter profile and Facebook Fan Page, several articles written by you, and videos, they see that you’ve been around a while, that you’re not going anywhere and that you’re the who they want to deal with.

For the above reasons Reputation Armor always recommends having up to date profiles in as many places as possible, and regularly updated blogs. The down side to this is that it can take up a great deal of time.

When it comes to burying bad reviews, the above methods alone are usually not enough, although a good start. Review sites and blogs, by their very nature, do well in search engines such as Google, and a more aggressive approach may be needed inured to ensure that positive results out rank the negative ones.

For more information about removing bad reviews online and managing your online reputation, contact ReputationArmor.com.

888-358-ARMOR

Online Reputation Management

Reputation Armor knows that the success of an online business depends on how potential customers perceive it and in a day and age when so much information is available; reputation armor notes that online reputation is that much more important. Potential customers look for companies that have a strong online reputation.

Reputation Armor also sees the other side of reputation management. The net is often used by competitors to post untrue information about their counterparts. These sorts of posts, as reputation armor sees it, always directly impact the bottom line. The more information posted the higher the link will rank on Google and other search engine results therefore amplifying the issue.

Fortunately, qualified reputation management firms, such as Reputation Armor, can resolve such issues by way of activating an aggressive campaign.

When Reputation Armor takes on a new client our reputation management consultants revise a personalized strategy that end the end will tackle even the worst case reputation problems

What does Reputation Armor Do?

Reputation Armor uses a method that is sometimes referred to as ‘Reverse Search Engine Optimization’, or ‘Inoculation’ in which we guarantee that the first few pages of search engine results will be clear of negative links; doing so by ‘insulating’ them with positive content.

Reputation Armor makes use of positive news gathered through earlier press releases or that given by our clients. The reputation armor process also encompasses the use of “Social Media” and other micro sites and blogs so that the same content gets reflected. The use of social media/networking sites is actually the first step that reputation armor takes. Within hours of becoming a reputation armor client, over 150 such profiles are created. A portion of these profiles will become a working faction of the ‘Google Insulation’ that while burying the negative, shines a bright light on the positive.

Reputation Armor combines effective, cutting edge reputation management techniques that no other so called “Reputation Management” companies can enact. We also constantly monitor search engine rankings so that the positive impact is long term and our client’s online reputation is well protected over many years.

For more information contact, Reputation Armor @ 888-358-ARMOR

Reputation Armor has received a few calls and inquires lately from people that seem to think that the Online Reputation Management business is deceitful. Their basic thought seems to be that our service buries viable reviews and/or complaints from consumers for no apparent reason. This couldn’t be further from reality.

“Reputation Management”, in a nutshell, helps individuals and businesses control what is seen about them online by creating positive content that can help outweigh the negative. This in no way means that the positive content created is false by nature.

Reputation Armor believes that individuals have a right to post true and authoritative reviews and complaints online, the problem lies in the fact that many of the sites that act as channels for these “reviews” allow users to post anonymously. As one Reputation Armor staffer has noted in the past, “False Complaints and Reviews” tend to be the majority not the minority.

Reputation Armor also believes that when a companies’ or individuals’ online reputation is tarnished by phony complaints, they have the right to implement a strategy to combat them. Recently the Reputation Armor staff has observed an epidemic of these complaints and reviews being posted by competitors, and disgruntled ex-employees. The fact is these are the main source of deception in the realm of online reputations.

Furthermore, Reputation Armor deems it a right of companies and individuals to rebut and/or remedy accurate complaints and/or reviews. Most, if not all complaint sites offer one way or another for rebuttals to be filed, but another problem lies in this method. When a rebuttal is made, normally by means of a comment added to the original post, it only adds to the “search engine juice” of the complaint, causing it to rank higher and for a longer amount of time in search results. This is a result of the search engine algorithms that give weight to user generated content.

One final item for thought from Reputation Armor is Online Defamation. Over the past 10 years the reputation armor staff has seen many examples of this. The most prominent being, pictures and videos posted by an individuals ex boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse.  Reputation Armor believes that no matter the indiscretion, an individual has the right to privacy in their personal life. We haven’t been able to uncover any reason that an individual shouldn’t have the right to have these post permanently squashed from internet existence.

We sense that the individuals who have contacted us with the thought that the reputation management services that Reputation Armor provides are in some way a deceitful scam would most certainly change their mind if they or their company had ran into any of the online reputation setbacks that our clients have.

In summation, Reputation Armor understands that to those who aren’t familiar with Online Reputation Management may find it shady at first glance. Reputation Armor and hundreds of satisfied clients choose to respectively disagree. There is an old saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Well Reputation Armor added a twist to that saying years ago; “Online Reputations may as well be glass houses, so really no one should be throwing stones”.

Reputation Armor thinks that Google enjoys making SEO’s and Online Reputation Management firms jump every time a new set of results are generated.  Google’s personalized search makes search engine specialists go crazy. Reputation Armor notes, if you are unfamiliar with “personalized search” it is a detailed way Google displays your search results.   If you habitually search for shoes and click on the ReputationArmor.com website Google personalized search will remember that.  The next time you search for the term “reputation management” Google may position ReputationArmor.com at a higher position for you. Google’s personalized search makes it difficult for two different users to obtain the same results.  Allegedly there are a few ways to circumvent personalized results; however Reputation Armor hasn’t established a solid answer to this issue.

Using pws=0 In The Query String.

One apparent “solution” to Google’s personalized search is the adding the query string “pws=0″ within the URL. A search for Reputation Armor does so different results.

Using a Web Proxy Server.

Reputation Armor is not 100% sure that using a proxy server is the solution to Google’s personalized search either.  Using the web proxy http://www.hidemyass.com I checked Reputation Armor’s ranking and we sit at number one.    We have found two sources stating our “real” search ranking is at position one.  Hey this is the second way to verify my number nine position, this is looking good!  Let’s check our position with one more tool

Google Webmaster Tools

Here is the solution that Reputation Armor has found to work best… we register our website for Google Webmaster Tools! They always give you a snap shot for your rankings!  So I log in and look at my “top search queries” and it states…Position one.

Now although all of the search examples for Reputation Armor result in a first place ranking, this is not the norm.

Reputation Armor performs countless Google searches every day, and often times different technicians see results that differ for the same query. Using the Google Webmaster Tools has helped the reputation armor staff keep results more consistent.

Keeping track of rankings within Google can become a pain, but  is a vital part of scrutinizing online reputations.

What is the Google dance?

Reputation Armor has heard the term “the Google Dance”, to refer to a couple different things. Although only one is actually correct. It’s a 3 to 5 day phase of time when Google is rejuvenating its rankings, and results ebb and flow widely.

How Often Does The Google Dance Happen?

In the past the name “Google Dance” was used to describe the period in which a key index update of the Google search engine was being executed.   Reputation Armor found on average that these major Google index updates occurred on every 36 days or 10 times per year. Reputation Armor observes that the easiest method to identify this was noting the significant changes in search results, and by an updating of Google’s cache of all indexed pages. These changes would fluctuate from one minute to the next.

Because Google’s users (including the Reputation Armor staff) rely on it to deliver authoritative reliable results 24/7, updates pose a serious issue. They can’t afford to shut down for maintenance or go offline for even one minute. Therefore, the Dance. Every search engine goes through it, some more or less often than Google. However, it is only because of Google’s prominence that we pay attention to its rebuild more than that of any other engine.

Around 2003 Reputation Armor found that the Google Dance became far less dramatic.

Now at some stage in any month there will be slight changes in rankings. This is because Google’s bot or spider is ceaselessly running and finding new material. It also happens because the bot may have detected that a website no longer exists, and needs to be deleted from the index. Reputation Armor notes that most importantly, the Googlebot will revisit every website, figure out how many sites link to it, and how many it links out to, and how valuable these links are.

Because Google is constantly crawling and updated selected pages, Reputation Armor has established that search results will differ slightly over the course of the month. On the other hand, it is only during the Google Dance that these results fluctuate wildly. Reputation Armor also considers that Google has numerous data centers, sharing over 10,000 servers. Somehow, the updates to the index that transpire during the month, and outside of the Google Dance have to get transferred throughout. It’s a steady process for Google. These constant, incremental updates only affect portions of the index at any one time.

What the Google Dance Means to Reputation Armor and Our Clients

Reputation Armor technicians spend a great deal of time studying the algorithmic nature of Google. Because a Reputation Armor online reputation management campaign relies so heavily on Google results, we pay close attention to every aspect of change in these results. Although an important aspect, our lead technician has advised the rest of the Reputation Armor team that “the dance” is not nearly as important as what takes shape when the dust settles.

Reputation Armor recommends that you take a second and Google your company name, your domain name, and your personal name. What do those results on the first page or two in Google look like? Optimistically everything on the first few pages of search results is positive. However, Reputation Armor has seen a rise in negative results for companies that have had a good reputation for years previous.

These are examples of negative Google results that Reputation Armor finds:

• Blog or forum posts from disgruntled customers or previous employees.
• Negative reviews of your business, possibly planted there by your competition.
• Embarrassing and possibly false, personal details about top executives in your company.

Reputation Armor even finds entire sites devoted to the countless ways in which a  specific company “sucks“.

If there are negative listings on the first few pages of Google, you can bet that many of your customers are seeing them. And that’s going to have a big effect on whether or not they decide to do business with you. Reputation Armor will provide “Google insulation” to push down the negative while shining a light on the positive.

For more information contact Reputation Armor @ http://www.reputationarmor.com

Reputation Armor has found 79% of managers reviewed online information about job applicants. 70% rejected candidates based on what they found.

18%, Reputation Armor also notes, of companies found social networking profiles as constructive because they presented an excellent feel for culture fit and added trustworthiness to the candidates’ resumes. Reputation Armor believes this number is only going to continue to grow.

76% of executives anticipate being Googled however 22% have never Googled their own name to see what companies and recruiters will hit upon.

According to a study last year, Reputation Armor observes, the top industries most likely to screen job candidates using social networking sites and search engines include those who handle sensitive information.

Contact Reputation Armor @ http://www.reputationarmor.com

There is always a lot of Hoopla and Hype about Google Pagerank (PR). Is Google PageRank worth all the web chatter? Reputation Armor sees everyone talking about how important PageRank is, even we are caught up in the PageRank addiction.

Reputation Armor notes a comment the other day on a forum and someone posted this comment about PageRank:

“The PageRank you see in the toolbar is a sketchy and stale metric of what a pages PageRank used to be. A simple analogy is getting into your car to go for a drive, knowing that the fuel gauge only shows the amount of fuel that was in your tank 3 months ago. But would you really trust that there is gas in it today?”

In the opinion of Reputation Armor the green PageRank bar is like your website’s report card. It won’t help much on its own, but it represents other things about your site. If a site has a PR7 and is ranking well, it’s not ranking there because of the PageRank itself, but because of what that PageRank represents - Dedicated SEO Work, lots of inbound links, several coming from other quality sites.

Reputation Armor knows it is not the PageRank that is important, it is what you did to get the PageRank that hold the true value.

At ReputationArmor.com we  certainly admit that PageRank isn’t as valuable as it once was. However, it is still reputed to be a small portion of the Google algorithm (along with 100+ other factors), making it not entirely insignificant. It might not help much, but if it helps at all then it can’t be considered “insignificant”.

ReputationArmor.com observes it all the time…you do a search (searching for your own name in Google or Yahoo), or maybe you were just doing some SEO homework to see how your website was ranking. Either way, you stumbled upon some negative information on a forum or service review website.

One that made you steaming mad…

Negative an false information about our clients infuriates us at Reputation Armor.

It happens, and when it does you have a right to be angry. You also have the right to defend your good name, jump into the ring swinging to defend your company reputation.

But don’t do it.

Reputation Armor advises not to react to those reviews like this because it’s going to harm you more than it’s going to help you. Let reputation armor explain to you how most of the search engine algorithms work. You see, they like to see action on a website. So when you attach new content to a forum, blog or review site, you are actually adding fuel to the fire. Google and the rest see the site as a hot news item, being updated frequently, so they rank it better in the search results.

That’s right, your retort makes their complaint rank higher in the search results. Reputation Armor has also found that it makes it harder for us to move when we get hired to clean up the mess. If you’ll consider action rather than reaction, you’ll make our job easier and the overall cleanup less expensive and faster overall.

I know it’s tempting to defend your good name. But reputationarmor.com asks that you to leave this to us.  We’re WILL fix the problem and we’re going to defend your name for you with positive content creation. But you have to let Reputation Armor do its job

Not that we can’t clean things up if you’ve already responded out of passion. It’s just easier to do if you haven’t added content to the offending site or sites.

An irate review can hurt you. A hurried response to an angry review can wound you even more. Instead of reacting, please contact Reputation Armor @ reputationarmor.com and let us launch a plan of action to remedy the problem.