Every time a prospective user Google’s or Bing’s your business name, the ‘negative’ post will crop up, further denting your brand image. Of course, any negative information posted online can be challenged but that will cost considerable amount of money and time.

You cannot simply ignore the ramifications of any such adverse communication on the Web that gets widely and rapidly circulated across. It can cause lasting damage and have a significant impact on your prospects.

Protect your image on the Web

There is every chance that something is being mentioned of you and your business, inconsequential you may think, is already being published and read online. In that sense, you’ve created an online reputation, inadvertently, without you not knowing about it.

Anyone can trace this information through random or keyword specific searches and analyze use it to form opinions about you. If you are not careful enough, people will end up forming wrong judgments about you.

You may then end up losing key customers and business goodwill. In essence, restoring your online credibility is absolutely vital. But it is not easy combating or disputing derogatory and defamatory remarks. Ideally, leave the task to experts who know the way out of such situations.

Gather and evaluate references about your and your business 

There are certain basic steps that individuals and institutions can take in order to repair their harmed online reputation for no fault or owing to some inadvertent follies committed by them. The first thing to do is to carefully evaluate the material published and its implications for your online image.

1. Know what is there about you and your professional background on the internet. Search different variations of your business specific keywords, brand name, your nickname, with possible misspelled versions. Consider every possibility. Try and incorporate personal domain names (for instance, yourname.com) while you do an online search.

2. Check review sites, go through online directories. Visit websites, which compile public records.  Check postings on popular social networking platforms like Facebook, Qzone, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Orkut. Explore blogs, forums, or photo-sharing sites (Flickr, Snapfish etc.) Review what others might have said or thought about you in comments, videos, or pictures.

3. Use popular search engines. Be precise and generic to increase ambit of your search and make it more effective. Add quotation marks around term you search. Specify your company name, address, your key client names and other relevant keywords to widen the scope of your search. The combined findings and their analysis will help you to evaluate your reputation – good or bad – on the Internet.

If the content, you think, is malicious or damaging in nature, take immediate corrective steps. Which are they? What are the options that you may consider?We shall discuss the steps to be taken in the next post.