Interesting article today in Crain’s NY Business entitled “Reputation management firms help professionals defend against bad reviews” for example review monitoring for doctors, which discusses how search engines are the #1 trusted source for finding out information, which is why online reputation management is so important to understand further how to build your online reputation check out this article and the various links associated.
If any brand, company of individual chooses to ignore what comes up in their search engine results the effects can be costly. Not many actually understand how or why certain things come up in search engine results but once anything is on the Internet it is pretty much their forever. Whether it was a bad choice made as a drunk college student, a blogger in a basement, or one angry customer; anyone with a computer and internet access can damage years of hard work.
While the article above details some services (although the pricing they describe is way off – its much higher than they say), each reputation management issue is unique and requires creative strategy. We are one of the few PR agencies actively involved with ORM (Online Reputation Management), and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). We combine traditional online skills (link building, content, etc.), with PR skills of organic media pitching and the like.
In a crisis management situation PR professionals are trained to respond to the public, but 5W Public Relations takes reputation management to the next level with cleaning up Google results with building authoritative long standing links, optimized blogging content and social media management. It is not the ‘packaged’ set-and-forget mentality the widely advertised solutions offer. We also take the time to understand how our clients or the brands want to be portrayed.
Online reputation management is something that should be put off until there is a crisis problem, establishing a sophisticated image in search results can have positive effects similar to marketing tactics of SEO. Taking control and optimizing page one of Google for a person’s name, business or brand shows authority.
One SEO technique that also helps to add credibility to a website is the use of links. Maintaining links on your site increases traffic and can even expose your brand to more online readers. For marketing strategies including SEO friendly links, take a look at this article from Social Media Explorer: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/search-engine-optimization-2/why-backlink-juice-is-an-important-aspect-of-seo/. Building a brand takes time, but if you channel your energy into the right areas, the rest should fall into place.
If crisis PR affects your online brand, we are the rare PR Firm that offers online reputation management PR.
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