Internet Reputation Management Blog

Internet Reputation Management and the Value of Maintaining a Positive Image Online

Carl Sgro — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:10:00 GMT

No matter how humane, considerate or satisfying a particular company or business is, there are still a host of detractors out there whose actions can destroy your reputation. Dissatisfied customers, competitors, disgruntled employees and even pranksters can spread negative information, most of which are not even true.

Now, with people Googling almost every keyword about a personality, business or profession they can think of, it is vital companies and individuals realize the value of maintaining a good online reputation. They can do this by using the tools mentioned in an earlier article, so they can keep track of what people are talking about them in the internet.

Should there be negative information coming out during search engine courses, it is vital that the company or professional start internet reputation management work or get the services of reputable online reputation management companies.

Internet Reputation Management Tools you Can Use to Monitor Your Online Reputation

Carl Sgro — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:07:00 GMT

Taking actions to protect your online reputation is a critical step in defending your business or your profession against detractors, competitors and other unscrupulous people who are trying to ruin your internet reputation using defamatory, negative or even untruthful remarks. Setting your system in place would be the first step in defending your reputation.

However, an integral part of reputation management is to be aware of your online reputation status at all times. You can do this by using available tools you can use to monitor your internet reputation. Note that Google or Yahoo search engine results are not the only resources you can use for this monitoring work. The following are some of the tools available that you can use, some are freely available while others offer premium services for a certain fee.

* Blog Monitoring Tools -- these are very important monitoring tools that you can use to track down comments, conversations and other posts in blogs, social networks and social media that may contain keywords that are directly connected to you. These tools include:

-- BackType Blog Comments Monitoring

-- BlogPulse

-- Google Blog Search

-- Technorati

* Twitter Monitoring Tools -- tweets are short, quick but very viral avenues that can lift your reputation up or put you negatively down. The following are some of the readily available tools which you can use to monitor twitter content

-- Monitter

-- TweetBeep

-- Tweet Later

-- Twitter Search

* Link Monitoring Tools -- monitoring backlinks from tweets, blogs and website posts are important for your internet reputation management efforts and you can use the following tools for this purpose.

-- BackTweets

-- WhoLinksToMe

-- Google Webmaster Tools

* Other Monitoring Tools -- the following are other available tools which you can use for your internet reputation management monitoring needs:

-- Google Alerts

-- BoardTracker

-- MonitorThis

-- Naymz

-- Purewire Trust

-- Yasni

-- BrandsEye

-- Trackur

Stop the Spread of these Lies in the Internet

Carl Sgro — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:20:00 GMT

This is now a common scenario that companies and professionals have to contend with in the online world.

A simple search of his name or company would return on the first page of the search results totally defaming entries about his profession or products that have no real basis and most of which were simply based on hearsay. The culprit -- anonymous comments on blogs or forums by an unknown poster or blogger. The results -- millions of dollars lost from potential investors and a heavily soiled reputation to amend.

The potential for spreading such lies that could damage anyone’s online reputation is now easier that ever and the impact and spread faster and farther reaching. Blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks make in convenient for these lies to spread in seconds, reaching the farthest corners of the globe with an Internet connection. A single post by an anonymous culprit - and your worst nightmares spreads across cyberspace.

That’s the main problem with defending your online reputation. You cannot simply sue anyone if you’re not sure they are the culprit. You cannot sue the webmasters either for they were made immune by the Communications Decency Act of 1996 as long as the malicious content was posted by a third party. Judges however, can compel the webmasters to reveal the culprit’s identity of considerable harm was already made on your behalf.

However, the process described above is long, drawn-out, and quite expensive to undertake, not to mention the potential of going around in circles trying to track down the culprit. The course to take for reputation management is to replace the first three pages of search engine results with positive content that could push out all the negative materials out of contention. Studies have shown that only 30 percent of searchers go beyond the first page, with less than 8 percent reading beyond page three.

This can narrow down the target area for your defense by dominating these search engine results related to your name or the name of your company, including certain keywords that are identified with you, your work or your company. You may also need the help of reputable internet reputation management companies to help you with this work as you cannot do all this on your own.

Businesses Need to Manage their Online Reputation

Carl Sgro — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:10:00 GMT

Society has come to an age where information can be transferred and exchanged at very fast rates at a simple click of a button. These technologies have brought businesses to new heights and help them enter new markets that they never have thought possible years before.

However, these technologies also have some drawbacks. Online criminals and other unscrupulous individuals are out there trying to extort funds from businesses with the threat of damaging their online reputation. These shady characters will try to flood the internet with negative and libelous information that basic online searches will return. This can be damaging to the business and will eventually translate into thousands or even millions of dollars is loss.

To protect them from such risks, these businesses need to learn how to perform reputation management or work with trustworthy companies that can help them combat such negative attacks to their person or business. Meeting these perpetrators trying to damage an individual or organization’s business reputation head-on can worsen the situation. These negative attacks can only be addressed by flooding the internet with an even greater amount of positive information that will drown out all these negative publicity.