“I could not be happier with the finished product. ProSite Web Design will continue to be the first and only choice to build my websites.”
Chris Flanagan - President - Shamrock Sports Media
Your Online Reputation Matters... and Will Only Become More Important in the Future
By Tom Warthen – President, ProSite Web Design LLC - www.prositewebdesign.com
Online reputation management may sound like one of those things only celebrities and Fortune 500 companies need to worry about. But if you have a business website and an Internet marketing plan, then you can be certain that it's a term you're going to become more familiar with in the future.
That's because online reputation management is more than just a high-level PR exercise; it's knowing what people are saying about your business and realizing how your online reputation affects your ability to find new customers, employees, and even vendors in the future. Consider this: In a 2010 poll, 31% of respondents said that they had looked up colleagues and competitors online – and that number is quickly rising.1
Potential customers are getting into the habit of checking out new companies and professionals on search engines and social networking sites such as Google and Facebook as a normal course of business. That means that what they find online can literally make or break your fiscal year.
With that in mind, here are four things you need to know about online reputation management:
Search engines are the first stop... for you and your customers. As we mentioned, the major search engines – and especially Google – are the front lines in your online reputation management campaign. It's important that you be aware of the top Google results for your name, your company's name, and your most important products and services. If you find that there is incorrect or malicious information, especially within the first few results, it can do major damage to your bottom line.
Social media is important to your online reputation for two reasons. First, there's a good chance that someone who is thinking about doing business with you will look you up on Facebook or Twitter. Just as important, however, is that buyers turn to these sites to find recommendations and impressions from their network. So, the more extensive your social media marketing campaign is, the easier it will be for you to manage your online reputation.
Real world example: Friends inviting friends to play through Facebook and other social networks helped Zynga, a social network game developer, grow from 3 million to 41 million average daily users in just one year.2
Online reputation management is both personal and professional. Unless your organization is very large, customers aren't going to make distinctions between your company and its employees. Be sure that typing your name into Google isn't going to give a potential customer cause to wonder if they really want to send a check to your business. Maintain your social profiles, blogs, and other online content so that they portray you as a competent professional.
The best way to manage your online reputation is by creating it. Working with a good business web designer and online marketing advisor is the best way to improve your reputation on the Internet. Not only will they show you how to look out for potential threats and misinformation, they will also guide you in creating search-friendly content. In other words, the best defense against a bad online reputation is a good offense, so get the right people working on your side.
There really isn't any kind of company or professional that can afford to ignore online reputation management, and the importance of online reputation will only become more important in the coming years. Make certain that, when people go looking for you over the Internet, what they find will help your chance of winning new customers, not hurt it.
Tom Warthen is the President of ProSite Web Design LLC and has been helping businesses looking for a high return on their online marketing investment since the early days of the Internet in the 1990s. To learn more about how to optimize your website, and to contact ProSite Web Design for a consultation, visit http://www.prositewebdesign.com.
1. Noah Echols. "Online Reputation Management – Pew Statistics" 2 January 2012. Web. Center for Sustainable Journalism. 25 August 2010. http://sustainablejournalism.org/uncategorized/online-reputation-management-pew-statistics
2. Alan Lee. "Social Proof Is The New Marketing" 10 January 2012. Web. AOL Inc. 27 November 2011. http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/27/social-proof-why-people-like-to-follow-the-crowd/
Related Articles:
