10 Excellent Tips For Online Reputation Management
By Georgi Todorov
Managing a brand reputation is incredibly important and if done well pays dividends - here are some tips to do so.
1) Assess Your Starting Point
Provided you haven't just created a new brand out of whole cloth, it probably already has a presence online. Start your reputation management by entering your business's name into the search engines. Search for keywords closely related to your company, too. Familiarize yourself with what's already out there and look for places that could use improvement. Figure out your marketing expenses and determine your marketing budget. When you are at the beginning of setting up your business, it is a great idea to explore countries with stimulative practices for entrepreneurs and hire people who are experts in their areas. Remember, that prevention is better than cure and that’s why online reputation protection services are something that’s increasingly used.
2) Stretch Your Brand
The only limit to the number of online accounts that can be tied to your company is the amount of attention you have to spend. Open accounts everywhere you can including Google My Bussiness where you can use the lesser-known features of Google Posts. Look past the usual social media suspects and create profiles on professional sites, also use guest posting sites too. Business databases like Crunchbase are worth your time.
3) Keep Your Social Media Active
While it's good to open lots of accounts for your company, it's even better to make active use of them. Your social media feeds don't need to spew out an endless stream of minute-to-minute updates, but regular updates are important. Beyond the news of your own company (blog posts, press releases, product news, etc), feel free to share and comment on industry-related news to make your social media streams more relevant.
Find this overwhelming? We know it can be difficult to maintain a presence on multiple social media platforms together. And that's where a social media scheduling tool can help. You can create loads of content at once and schedule them beforehand. RecurPost is a scheduler that allows you to schedule posts on 5 major social platforms at once. Using it, you can keep your accounts always active without logging in and posting manually every time. Many successful companies hire the best UK-based virtual PAs to manage content and be present on virtual platforms.
4) Make Sure Your Site Is Optimized For Users As Well As Search Engines
Consider the impression your website makes on a potential client. Is it cluttered, slow, and hard to navigate? That's going to tell them that your business is going to be hard to deal with. Check out Hosting Foundry for some interesting articles on how good website hosting can also boost your traffic If you are using WordPress plugins for your website, make sure it’s based on one of the SEO-friendly WordPress themes. Strengthen that first impression by cleaning up your site and don't hesitate to check out online trials for wordpress themes and plugins. Improve your site's loading speed by using these tips from Supermonitoring , also cut useless copy, and make sure every page has a clear, descriptive title. You can also take steps to improve your site's search engine performance, like adding meta tags and incorporating keywords into your content. Additionally, you can do the assessment of web developers by an aptitude test before hiring. If search engine optimization is too far outside your wheelhouse and you'd like to be visible on different blogs and done right, bring a blogger outreach SEO company like OutreachMama on board to handle it for you..
5) Use Your Blog(s)
According to Mike Gingerich's small business growth ideas, attaching regular blog content to your company's website can be a surprisingly effective way to make it (your site) more visible. Craft appealing, industry-relevant content for your blog. Even if potential customers don't spend hours reading your words, a well-crafted blog tells the search engines a great deal about your business.
Your company blog doesn't have to be technical; in fact, the simpler, the better. Craft your content for a general audience and keep the jargon to a minimum. As mentioned in an article by Content Mavericks, "Content is an asset," that is if done right.
There are a number of ways to generate content that will help you with your online reputation. One way is using an idea generator, which can give consistent and creative ideas for any topic or industry while suiting your readers' search intent.
6) Check Your Feedback
Check your company's page on review sites like Yelp and Google My Business. If you've already attracted customer reviews, use them as a resource to improve your business practices. Steer clear of the pitfall of turning negative reviews into arguments.
When you respond to unsatisfied customers in a public setting, simply apologize and offer to make sure any subsequent experiences with your business turn out better. Do what you can to fix any real mistakes pointed out by online reviews, but move forward.
Online reputation monitoring is easy and free and can keep you up to date with the reputation of your business in the eyes of audiences.
7) Work To Get More Positive Reviews
Online reputation management isn't just about "damage control" work on negative reviews. In many cases, all it takes to get a glowing review out of a satisfied client is letting them know that an honest review would mean a lot to you. One great way to encourage more reviews is to incorporate direct links to review sites in online communications with your customers (e.g. marketing text messages and emails).
8) Stick To Best Practices
There's a certain kind of business owner that's always looking for the fastest way to get results. Managing your online reputation is not an arena where you want to cut corners. The advantages of bolstering your reputation through unethical means (like buying positive reviews, for instance) are brief and the potential drawbacks are huge. Search engine penalties and other corrective actions can turn your promotional shortcuts into reasons why your business is impossible to find.
9) Work With Influencers
An influencer is anyone with an audience that trusts their opinions on your industry. Influencers can give your business a powerful boost if you work with them intelligently and honestly. Study your customer base and identify the influencers that matter to them. Reach out and attract positive attention from them. One way to establish good relationships with your influencers is to send them customized products. This strategy allows you to connect with the influencer and even with their followers if you send a branded product that gets showcased by the influencer later on.
10) Record podcasts
An innovative way to make online communities learn about you is by recording podcasts. Podcasting is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas with the world, and it's also a great way to build authority and credibility. Plus, podcasts are growing in popularity, so there's a good chance that your target audience is already listening.
So, if you're not yet recording podcasts, it's time to start. And let's tell you, contrary to what you may think, they're not as difficult or expensive to produce as you might imagine. For example, a FREE audio recording and editing software Podcastle can help you record a sound quality podcast without equipment and in a few taps.
Take Your Time
Like a lot of online marketing fields, reputation management is one that requires patience. Creating positive results takes a lot of hard work, and that work doesn't pay off overnight. Learn how to SEO and don't get discouraged if your efforts seem fruitless. If you're starting to get frustrated with the process, feel free to take a short break and check some SEO tutorials or reach out to an SEO company for some help. It's far better to step away and refresh your enthusiasm than to let your frustration leak into interactions with your clients.
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