An Important Internet Reputation Management Question: Should I hire a lawyer?
If you are being slandered on the Internet your first impulse may be to hire a lawyer to set the record straight?
But is this what you should be doing?
The answer is “it depends".In our experience when helping companies and individuals with Internet Reputation Management (IRM) problems, we have watched lawyers solve problems quickly and efficiently. But we have also seen legal action actually make matters worse – even when the slandered individuals won their court cases.
The answer has to do with the special characteristics of Internet Reputation Management. On the Internet, most people do not read carefully. They do not pore over the evidence like a trained lawyer and pull out facts. Instead, they scan quickly and form opinions.
When the law suit shows up in a Google search result, and it will, the results are never positive, even if you've won, for the Internet scanner, there is little positive about doing business with someone who sues.
This means that the best way to salvage a tainted reputation is not to provide proof that you are innocent (although that can also be useful) but to move the entire issue from page one of the search results so that it can no longer hurt you.
This means that if you decide to use an attorney to fix an Internet Reputation problem you need to find a lawyer that is Internet savvy and who understands the Internet search results ramifications of any legal action taken.
So what should you do if you are facing an Internet Reputation Management problem?
- Take action. Your problem will not go away by itself. In fact, procrastination may well make things worse for you because if these offending websites are clicked, they will improve their rank in the search engines and get stronger and more difficult to move.
- Plan carefully before taking action. Get as much information as you can. Talk to an Internet Reputation Management specialist and a lawyer who specializes in Internet Reputation Management. Make your decision only when you are fully informed about your situation
- Be wary of simple answers. Internet Reputation Management is complicated and every case is different. Make sure you understand your course of action before you hire anyone to help you take action.
Summary: If you are going to consider using a lawyer to stop the defamation make sure the lawyer is an Internet Reputation specialist. In every case, it always makes sense to talk to Internet Reputation Management firm.
While it is true that filing a lawsuit over INTERNET publications that are damaging one's personal or business reputation may get picked up on the search engines. It is necessary to do so when traditional methods of minimizing the observable relevance of the publications have not solved the problem. Often times an individual or a business may need to send the message out to the antagonists that they will no longer sit back and take it on the chin simply because generally accepted notions of the First Amendment provide an anticipated shield for defamatory speech. This anticipation by the writer, if erroneous, subjects him or the attacking business, to liability and restraints that may create economic outlay and negative public exposure that may not make their cake worth the baking.
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Very informative.
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