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By on June 22, 2009

Small Business Online Reputation Management Advice

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BusinessWeek’s Rachael King specializes in helping small businesses understand technology. Her latest article looks at the online reputation management industry and includes lots of great advice–including some from yours truly. :-)

A number of free tools also can help you scout the Web, social networks, and online forums for mentions of your company, brand, or products (chart). Google Alerts, for instance, will send an e-mail each time your name shows up in Google () searches. "One of the most important steps is to do an audit of what people are saying about your business," says Andy Beal, a reputation management consultant at Marketing Pilgrim in Raleigh, N.C. He suggests doing a monthly Google search to see what shows up in the top 20 results, which might call up a customer’s comment or review on sites such as Yelp, CitySearch, or TripAdvisor.

You might be dismayed to see unflattering results high in your Google search. "Google is ambivalent to the tone of the results—it doesn’t care if it’s positive or negative, only if it’s relevant," Beal says. If you do see a negative comment, it’s best to respond as soon as you can, within the first 24-48 hours if possible. Use a nondefensive tone and ask for more information, offer to help resolve the problem, or offer your perspective or an apology if warranted. Then, to push those negative results further down in a search, create some new content.

If, after reading the article, you’re thirsty for more, you can pick up a copy of my book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online.


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8 comments on “Small Business Online Reputation Management Advice”

  1. Saad Kamal Says:

    June 22nd, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Speaking of Reputation Management, this is definitely some good press :)

    Saad Kamal’s last blog post..Firefox 3.5 RC – 2x Faster than FF 3.0

  2. Andy Beal Says:

    June 22nd, 2009 at 11:52 am

    @Saad – I guess you’re right! ;-)

  3. Barry Schwartz Says:

    June 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    When did you speak to her? I feel like it was over 3 months ago…

    Barry Schwartz’s last blog post..Naver Launches Closed Beta For Japan Search

  4. Andy Beal Says:

    June 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    @Barry – yeah, it was a while ago. I had forgotten all about it.

  5. Tvents Says:

    June 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Every business needs some tools to handle customers. There must be tools for the online business to get new customers as well as to maintain the old customers. Therefore, any advice for small businesses to run online can help them survive even in the situation of global economic crisis.

    Tvents’s last blog post..SEO and Meta Tag

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