This is a guest post by Brandon Connell, a full time blogger and internet marketing expert. His online reputation management blog can be found at http://helprepair.me which is also where you can contact him if you need these services.
You were going about your day as usual. You get your morning coffee, shower, then sit at the computer and decide to Google yourself to see what others are saying. You suddenly realize that your name is on a website claiming that you are a scam or a ripoff, or even a cheater! What do you do?
For most people over the years, they have come to me. They came to me because I am an online reputation management consultant, and my job was to improve their reputation in Google and other search engines.
There are many reasons why your reputation may need to be repaired. Those include:
- A breakup – You may be hated by an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend, and they decided to get their revenge for something personal by ruining your good name online. This is the worse kind because an ex is often vengeful and very personal. They have no problem with completely making something up about you in order to hurt you.
- Job hunting – Something from your past may be on the 1st page of Google for your name, and employers are increasingly googling candidates these days before hiring them. If they find something bad, you will have some explaining to do, and chances are that you will not get the job even after you explain the situation.
- Web Opportunity – Someone may have thought that your name was worth leveraging for traffic. So they decided to defame you on their website, and try to get it ranked in order to trickle some of your brand traffic.
- Competition is bad – You shouldn’t be surprised to find out that competitors can be jerks sometimes. They will do anything to steal your business, and that includes fouling your brand in Google while they remain squeeky clean. Then when a client mentions you to them, all they have to do is go to Google and show the client. On another note, many clients can and will find that information for themselves, and not sign up with you because of it.
- Court case – You may have been a part of a high profile court case. That court case has been publicized all over the internet, and it’s ruining your business, job, or relationship. MANY of my clients have had this issue. I have even managed celebrities because of this, and it is a major issue these days.
- Blogger woes – A controversial blogger may have decided to rip you a new one, and for some reason their blog ranks very well for your name. Unfortunately, these kinds of bloggers are out there. They usually do these things because they have nothing better to do than experiment with your life.
These are just the main reasons for needed online reputation management, but they are not the least by far. You may have your own reasons. Regardless of what they are, it is important to control your internet brand.
What is Online Reputation Management?
Online reputation management is none other than reverse search engine optimization (seo). The seo you do is designed to push down other sites by proving to Google that they are not as relevant as the positive sites you want on the first page. A good reputation management campaign would include blog participation, guest posting, article publishing, social media interaction, and press releases. While I may have summed it up in a short sentence, it is by no means an easy job. It can take months, and in some cases it can take years to take control of your brand online.
Proving to Google that your content is what’s relevant takes consistency. This means that you can’t just create a social media profile and submit it to Google in the hopes that it gets ranked. Regular updates to these social media profiles shows Google that the profile is in use by the person. It then becomes more relevant. In addition, guest posting on large blogs that have been established can help leverage their relevance in Google and benefit you. The same goes with article and press release websites.
Why Hire a Professional
Chances are that you do not have the amount of time online that a professional does. In addition, you are not likely to have a database of resources at their disposal, and they are very efficient when using them.
Another good reason not to do this yourself is that you may go about it wrong. I have seen some people decide that reverse seo was not enough, and they decided to contact the offending site personally. This often resulted in more bad press due to the website wanting to exploit the communication. Some people think that bribes will work, but that often gets published as well and will solidify a bad name in Google. It isn’t until you accept that everything remains online, that you realize the only way to fix it is to push down the bad and replace it with good.
What if You Don’t Have Bad Press?
Even if the things above has not happened to you doesn’t mean that they can’t in an instant. It is still wise to take control of your brand right away, and be prepared just in case something bad gets published. You can actually help your chances of keeping customers by getting a head start. If you do it right and with enough time to spare, then a bad review wouldn’t even show up anywhere near the top of Google.
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been lucky in that I haven’t had to deal with this, just a surgeon and NASA guy with the same name as me.
I actually had some stupid teenager on MySpace saying sadistic things. That wasn’t cool for business at the time. It’s unfortunate when our doubles don’t know how to behave themselves.
I have never had any bad experiences with a bad rep online but its good to know that there are people out there to help in a bad situation.
And I will be happy to help if it ever becomes an issue
Very interesting; what sort of strategies (in a nut shell) do yo use to create a ‘positive persona’ and what pre-emptive steps should we be taking?
Blogging is one great way. When you blog, you end up being mentioned elsewhere and that is picked up by Google. Also, blog hopping gets picked up. Social networks of course help too. Combine all of the above and you have your pre-emptive steps.
It’s also probably a good idea to not do dumb stuff that would put you on the front page of Google. I’m sure there are lots people with problems of false information on the front page, but there are also probably some people that have taken action that landed them there. Have you found that both are true, Brandon?
Of course there are going to be actual scammers out there. But that does not justify the fact that anyone can post anything about anyone without a single piece of evidence just to hurt someone. There are better outlets for reporting and researching scammers than to go to Google, or some random website that simply wants to make money by using your name as a target keyword in search engines.
Two in one day; love it when that happens. Extreme John just wrote a really good piece like this for Google alerts.
Google Alerts are a must if you want to keep an eye on your brand. I use it daily for not only me, but my clients as well.
I know, I keep forgetting to do it!
This is interesting. I never really considered reverse seo. It sounds like it would be hard to push yourself off the front page if you unintentionally landed there due to poor reputation. I can see how one might need a professional to do that.
It’s always wise to hire a professional. You may be able to use the strategies I talk about, but chances are that I can eliminate the bad press in a lot less time because I know how to give the bad press critical hits.
Hello Brandon,
Online reputation is something that might soon rival your offline reputation and I think we should all take care of it. But what happens when someone has the exactly same name as you and may even live in the same area as you?
How can you difference yourself from that man and, if you hire a professional to build a great reputation online, how can you be sure that the other one won’t benefit from your hard work and the money I paid?
haha that’s a bloody good question Alex!
Nice
Consider that almost EVERYONE uses a picture of themselves online. If you are mistaken for the other person, then something’s wrong there. Let’s say for example you establish yourself as the 40 year old blogger. The other guy with your name is 18 and has a bad rep and attitude. I think someone will notice it wasn’t you in that case. That was the case for me one time with a social network and a younger dude that was into some bad stuff.
Hey Brandon,
Wow, have never heard of a reputation management consultant. How cool is that. I bet you definitely have your hands full at times.
I guess up to this point I’ve been pretty luck and I will keep my fingers crossed that will remain to be true. I guess only time will tell but if that does ever happen to me I now know who to call.
Thanks for this eye opening post.
Adrienne
I hope you never need me in the bad way. But always keep the pre-emptive branding in mind. It’s important to establish a major presence online, so when bad stuff happens, you have a lot working in your favor.
never had a bad experience like that. but one should know how to improve his online reputation. hiring a professional is really important because he has more experience and one can learn from him and later do thing on his own.
thanks for the info….
Sometimes, bad reputation comes from your own actions with customers. You know, this kind of reputation is really hard to clear because customers already witnessed it. Another type of bad reputation comes from your competitors. This type is easy to clean up because it doesn’t reflect the truth at all and your loyal customers surely will speak for you if you ask for help.
I am sure you can Google something in the realm of “plastic surgeon reviews” and find a decent site. Actual review sites aren’t an issue. The sites that cause trouble are the ones that allow anonymous reviews that can say anything they want without backing it up with evidence. What you are looking for is a good consumer review site. You can also check the BBB when you find a surgeon, and see if they have any complaints there.
The third point “web oppourtunity” is the one with which I have seen practically. About three years ago a blog named sizlopedia.com was going to become more and more popular and what astonished me was there grew tons of clones on domain name variants…