This article answers the question, “How do I go about repairing my business reputation?” Read on for expert tips from online reputation management professionals.
You’ve worked hard to build and grow a successful business. Don’t allow a handful of negative reviews to send all your hard work down the drain.
Instead, reclaim the narrative and put your best foot forward with business reputation repair.
At Reputation Sciences, we empower business owners to control how they are perceived online. This is done through advanced online reputation management (ORM) services, including auditing, monitoring, content creation and more.
When you partner with Reputation Sciences, we’ll do the heavy lifting so you can focus on driving growth. But first, let’s take a closer look at some of the basics of repairing your company’s online reputation.
What Can Cause a Negative Brand Image?
There are a number of ways your business can garner a negative brand image. Your online business reputation is most likely to be sullied by three key sources. Let’s get into them.
1. Negative Customer Reviews
Today, online reviews are the new word-of-mouth marketing. More than 93% of online shoppers read reviews before making an online purchase.
If your business or product collects a lot of positive reviews, you’ll improve brand recognition and increase goodwill. Reviews matter more to customers than pricing and discounts, and customers will pay more for the same item from a company with good reviews versus one with no reviews.
In contrast, negative reviews can be a glaring warning sign to potential customers. To make matters worse, there are professional reviewers who specialize in creating and spreading negative reviews.
This is a big deal — 91% of consumers say their overall perception of big brands is impacted by reviews of local branches.
If your business has a lot of negative online reviews, especially on damaging sites like Ripoff Report, you’ll need professional online reputation services right away.
Don’t wait — get started today with online reputation management or repair for your business or personal brand. Give us a call at
(844) 458-6735
to learn more.
2. Negative Media Coverage
While many media sites are legitimate, several will gladly publish any type of negative content about your business. And all it takes is one or two negative stories to damage your business reputation.
Moreover, if your brand has dealt with a reputation crisis lately, media sites and outlets are guaranteed to pick the story up and share it with their audience.
This type of coverage can create a negative brand reputation by influencing the public’s perception of your business. A negative story that gains traction and spreads across different news and social media outlets can quickly make your business seem less credible and reliable.
It doesn’t even matter if what the media stories are saying is true or accurate. Once your brand comes under scrutiny, current and potential customers will steer away from it.
3. Smear Sites
Some websites exist solely to spread gossip, negativity and other damaging types of content and feedback. There are all sorts of names for these types of sites, including:
- Clickbait sites
- Cyberbullying sites
- Gossip blogs
- Hate blogs or sites
- Smear sites
- Troll sites
These sites give disgruntled customers and former or current employees an outlet for spreading misinformation, causing controversy, and damaging your positive company reputation.
This is a powerful way to destroy your business’s reputation. A whopping 90% of online shoppers won’t purchase from a company with a poor reputation, and customers will pay more for the same item from a company they’re unfamiliar with versus one that’s had a recent scandal.
Additionally, 64% of consumers stop buying from a brand after learning that the company treats employees poorly. And 86% of job candidates read company reviews before applying, which can make it difficult to recruit great talent if there’s bad word-of-mouth out there about your business.
Like it or not, these sites often achieve their goal of ruining a brand’s online reputation. Even worse is that these websites are usually highly optimized for search engines. This means they often end up on Google’s first page.
That matters — the top organic search result on Google has an average CTR of 27.6%, and it’s 10x more likely to be clicked than the No. 10 result. Plus, the top 3 Google search results get more than 54% of all clicks.
Do I Have a Damaged Reputation Online?
When dealing with negative business information online, a proactive approach is key. Regularly searching for your business name on Google, review sites, and industry publications is a good way to identify content that could cause a bad reputation.
For example, if you own a home repair business, we recommend keeping a close eye on review sites like Angi, HomeAdvisor and TrustDALE.
It’s also critical to look for mentions across social media and review sites, including:
- Amazon
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Google Business Profile
- Tripadvisor
- Trustpilot
- Yellow Pages
Whenever possible, search your name and anyone else affiliated with your business, along with your brand name.
To make this process easier, you can set up Google Alerts. Whenever the word or term you input shows up in search results, you’ll get an alert.
What Should I Do After Finding Negative Content Online?
If you find negative reviews or bad news about your business online, it’s important to address it immediately and in a professional manner. But if you’re like most business owners, you may not have the time or resources to maintain that approach for very long.
Fortunately, business reputation repair can mitigate damage to your image and ensure your brand image stays positive.
Do you need help with your digital presence? Call us at
(844) 458-6735
for an in-depth audit and valuable insights from an expert.
What Is Online Brand Management?
Online brand management is a comprehensive strategy that involves auditing, monitoring, shaping and protecting your business’s online image. There are a number of methods involved in business reputation repair to ensure a company’s success, including:
- Acquisition and management of customer reviews
- Competitor monitoring
- Content creation and management
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Social media management
- Third-party website monitoring
While you can take on each tactic individually, reputation repair is most effective when a holistic approach is taken.
Why Is Reputation Management Critical to Business Success?
Even if you run a reputable brand, your online image won’t always reflect that. All it takes is one mishap or disgruntled customer to produce a damaging review and slander your business.
Today, 36% of consumers use two review sites when researching local businesses, and 41% use at least three sites. When your audience is confronted by negative reviews or unkind comments, they may turn away from your business in droves.
In short, online image is key to business success. Here’s why you should invest in professional online reputation repair:
- Better Word-of-Mouth Advertising: By fostering a positive brand reputation online, your customers are more likely to recommend your business to friends and family. The power of word-of-mouth marketing can’t be underestimated!
- Increased Profits: The connection between a positive reputation and your bottom line is clear — the better your image, the more likely you are to attract and retain clients.
- Attract Superior Talent: No one wants to work for a company with a bad reputation. It’s important the job candidates have a positive view of your brand.
Ultimately, reputation management helps create a positive online brand that drives profits, improves word-of-mouth advertising, and provides access to top talent.
How to Find a Trustworthy Business Reputation Management Company
If you’re considering hiring a reputation management company, you’re on the right track. However, choosing the best reputation management company is easier said than done. With so many options, it’s crucial to find a firm that specializes in white-hat ORM.
White-Hat SEO Tactics: This approach works best on Google — and you always want Google on your side. White-hat strategies rely on high-quality content and transparency. They include:
- Earning backlinks from reputable sources
- Fast-loading and mobile-friendly sites
- Following Google’s guidelines
- Natural keyword placement
- Updating older content for relevancy
While companies using white-hat tactics may take a while to yield results, those results are more likely to stand the test of time.
Black-Hat SEO Tactics: This approach is more aggressive and risky, and it often includes spam-like techniques that may yield fast results but ultimately damage your credibility. They include:
- Buying backlinks
- Duplicating content
- Keyword stuffing
- Posting clickbait
- Spamming forums with links
It’s important to remember that Google and other search engines tend to penalize sites that engage in black-hat practices.
Business Reputation Repair Practices To Avoid
When it comes to creating a positive brand reputation, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. While the promise of overnight results is definitely appealing, any provider that promises this is likely engaging in black-hat practices.
Make sure to steer clear of any brand reputation management company that uses the following black-hat practices.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is nothing new. It’s also a well-documented black-hat practice. But that doesn’t stop some brand reputation management companies from stuffing as many keywords as possible into copy and metadata. When it comes to keyword usage, it’s best to keep it natural-sounding.
Astroturfing (Creating Fake Reviews)
We all know the importance of real reviews. But to scam the system, some companies perform what is known as astroturfing. With astroturfing, brands create fake accounts on review sites and use them to post fake positive reviews. Instead, we suggest using any number of effective ways to garner positive reviews and build a positive brand reputation.
Invisible Copy
The “invisible copy” strategy is when text in the same color as the web page’s background is stuffed with keywords. Visitors can’t see the words, but they’re still visible to search engine crawlers and can help the pages rank.
Spammy Links
Link spamming is the process of building as many links as possible to generate positive content about your business. In doing so, it increases the likelihood that positive content will be ranked highly.
Spambots, Hacking, and DOS
Another black-hat method involves making it hard to find negative content. These tactics might include denial-of-service attacks, spambots, and hacking methods that target negative content.
The way you’re perceived online matters, and a poor online reputation can damage your personal life and your professional opportunities. Find out how to create the online reputation you deserve by calling
(844) 458-6735
today.
What Is the Best Way to Rebuild Your Online Reputation?
While there are several ways to rebuild your online image, we tend to utilize a strategic three-pronged approach.
1. Online Presence Audit
The first step of business reputation repair is to effectively audit the current status of your brand’s reputation. Do you have a positive online reputation, or are you dealing with a damaged reputation?
Or, maybe instead of having either a good reputation or a bad reputation, you have no reputation, and you’re starting from scratch to build one.
Our experienced professionals scour every review, article and social mention pointing toward your business. Once we carefully analyze your digital footprint, we create a robust digital strategy for owning your narrative and amplifying your reputation.
Undoubtedly, a thorough business reputation audit is key to your long-term success.
2. Business Reputation Repair
After creating a clear picture of your business reputation, our specialists work closely with you to mitigate any harmful content you might have online and repair a bad reputation.
Then, we create a narrative around your business with fresh, engaging content. We take a multi-channel approach that expands your brand reach in the right direction.
3. Online Reputation Monitoring
We strongly believe in the power of metrics and analytics. As a result, we use state-of-the-art tools to help promote and maintain a positive brand image.
We continually monitor the impact of our collective strategies to amplify your brand story and image — the right brand image.
Make the Right First Impression Every Time with Business Reputation Repair Services
To make the right impression every time, we help amplify your brand voice to new levels. Whether you’re a small mom-and-pop store or a growing business based in your parent’s garage, business reputation repair helps cast your brand as much as necessary.
But if negative reviews or disparaging information hurt your business without recourse, you’re likely to fail. Fortunately, the team at Reputation Sciences has your back.
For expert ORM and reputation repair services, call us today at
(844) 458-6735
to speak with an expert.