How is Your Online Reputation?

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Development

In today’s marketplace where a growing number of consumers are turning to Internet shopping, a company is only as good as its online reputation. Even though shopping online has become commonplace, consumers are still wary of dealing with companies they can’t see face to face. For this reason, these potential customers are doing their homework on companies before they do business with them. So, when they search for your company, do you know what they’ll find?

Ego Search

An ego search is the act of searching for one’s own name online. Even though the term conjures up images of self-importance, it’s actually a type of search every business owner should be performing on a regular basis. If you’re not doing this, you could be exposing your business to lost sales and declining profits due to negative search results.

The Results Are In!

For the sake of this article, let’s say your ego search turns up unflattering results about your company. What do you do? Don’t panic. Using simple SEO techniques, you can take control of your online reputation.

• Optimize Your Page- Chances are you are ranking very well for your own name. That’s usually the least of your problems. However, you might be able to make a bigger impact on the SERPs by branding your pages and blog with your company name. Of course, you don’t want to remove the keywords from the titles, but you can still include your company name along with those targeted keywords.
• Take Advantage of Article Directories- We all know the importance of using article directories and online press releases to take control of the top rankings for your keywords. Since these pages tend to rank very well quickly, you can use them to flush the negative results out of the top SERPs. Develop several articles and press releases that include your company’s name, and you will soon be dominating the first few pages of search results.
• Get into Social Networking- Social networking has many benefits for your business. Not only can it be used for building your brand and connecting with consumers, social networking can also play an important role in your online reputation management. Profiles on these sites tend to rank very well in the search engines. By creating profiles on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can take control of what users will see when they search for your company’s name.