Online reputation management is a growing industry also known to many as ORM, Online Reputation Management, protecting your reputation online. The whole idea behind online reputation management is that someone will work to improve your name or company.
Online Reputation
When people search the Internet, either for your brand, company or name, Google will bring up a whole list of things. In some cases, these will be bad reviews, comments and even blogs.
This is where you need to fix your online reputation. If you want to rebuild your company, you don’t want the first thing popping up to be bad. Therefore, you want to find a management team who can fix your online reputation, allowing you to start fresh.
How Does It Work?
The first thing that the person you hired will do, is to search for your name, company or anything that may bring up a link written on you. The aim of the management company, is to eliminate those bad reviews and postings and push the positive things to the top.
There are many ways in which the professional will fix this, but it isn’t an instant process. It will take time and money. It will involve creating accounts, taking back ownership of any account made in your name, promoting yourself, monitoring for changes etc.
However, in the long run, it will be worth the time, effort and money because you will be able to re-build your name, with little to no negative reviews or postings.
What Does Online Reputation Affect?
In this case, the example will be based on a made-up scenario. However, it will all be relevant in most cases.
So, someone is searching online for an item, let’s say a refurbished phone. Your company buys, refurbishes and sells used phones online but there had been problems with badly refurbished phones going out. People purchasing these phones would then leave negative reviews. With the Internet being such a huge place, it will most likely be shared and posted on other sites.
Now, if someone decides they want a new, but refurbished phone, when they search online, they aren’t going to use your company due to the bad reviews. This is due to you having a bad online reputation.
Therefore, online reputation can have a huge impact on yourself and companies.
Online Reputation Protection
You have decided to fix your company and want to start again. The first step would be using an online reputation management company. However, there have been many scams online, so make sure you thoroughly check the company out. From there, you will need to communicate with the chosen company and let them get to work.
Overall, Online Reputation is a huge thing that can gain you visits and customers. Alternatively, it can completely ruin a person or company. So, while online, be careful with how you approach things, don’t make silly mistakes and try to correct any from the past.
