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
