What You Can Do to Help Your Online Reputation Management Right Now 

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“Word of mouth” still matters. Really, that’s what your online reputation is. If it’s good, your business has a real chance to succeed. If it isn’t, then it’s practically impossible to get your business where you want it to go. That’s true even if you throw a bunch of money at the problem. Here at Website Depot, we’ve helped so many of our clients with online reputation management over the years. 

 

“Over the years” is the key phrase. Your online reputation doesn’t occur overnight. It doesn’t happen in a week, in one sale, in one action, and so forth. Perhaps you can ruin a reputation in a moment, but it takes much longer than that to build a good one. 

 

We don’t say that to make the task sound more daunting than it already is. Below are some steps that you can take right now to help your online reputation. If you can stay on top of this, then you have an opportunity to build and maintain the kind of reputation you want. 

 

Be Beyond Social on Social Media 

 

Posting on social media is a good first step towards having an online reputation that you’d be proud of, yes. However, it’s just the first step. You can’t just post and consider the job done. You need to be sociable beyond that. So, that means actually interacting with your customers, your clients, others in your industry, etc. 

 

Now, that’s not to say that you need to be online every second of the day. But, you need to do more than just put something online and hope for the best. 

 

Speaking of what’s said online, you want to keep very close track of what others are saying about you. Your online mentions are, in a real way, what your online reputation is made of. So, be sure to track these very closely. You want to know what someone says about your brand across the internet. 

 

Whether it’s on review sites, on social media platforms, or elsewhere, you want to keep abreast of it. If you can respond to these, and do so politely, truthfully, and professionally, then you have a strong chance of building a good reputation. 

 

Have a Plan to Break Glass in Case of Emergency 

 

You can’t control every aspect of your online reputation. You cannot control what everyone says about your business online. There’s just no way. No matter how good you are at your business, how long you’ve been doing it, or at how high a level, there’s no way to be in complete control. 

 

However, what you can control is how you respond. That’s why it makes all the sense in the world to have a crisis management plan. You cannot prepare for every crisis, but you can prepare for what you and your company will do in a crisis. 

 

That means having communication paths open, and knowing how you’ll respond (in terms of tone, content, etc.). It may seem like a waste of time to create this. But, you don’t want to get caught in a crisis without it. 

 

Doing SEO Right Can Help Your Reputation 

 

When we sit down to talk to prospective clients during a free consultation, many of them are confused by what SEO can do. They tend to think of it only as a sales tool, something to drive conversions. Yes, absolutely. SEO can and should do that, when properly implemented. However, SEO can also help tremendously with your online reputation. 

 

Why? Because, if nothing else, as you climb the SEO rankings for the keywords that matter, you push down that which you may not want others to see. For example, say there are some not-so-glowing reviews of your business associated with some keywords. If you can get your service pages to rank above those, then those negative reviews will be driven downward. Getting them off of the first page of Google and getting your company ranked higher – that’s a win-win. 

 

“A” Stands for Audit 

 

Your online reputation may be many things, but it’s never stagnant. It changes. It can change in a moment and it can change over time. However, you’re only going to be truly aware of it if you conduct an audit from time to time. That doesn’t mean that you need to do so every day. But, you should regularly conduct an assessment of your online reputation. 

 

This can help you to see where there are problems, yes. But, just as importantly, it can show you where your reputation is sterling, too. That way, you can leverage that to help your business grow. 

 

Online Reputation Management Services and More 

 

Online reputation management is one of the many services that we provide for our clients here at Website Depot. We have many clients who came to us with a reputation they wanted changed. We were more than happy to do so. Now, we can do the same for you. Of course, as an omnichannel digital marketing agency, we can provide many services.

 

To see how we can help, schedule a free consultation today.