Online Mistakes Businesses Must Avoid in 2025

Learn about the most pressing online mistakes that businesses should avoid in 2025 and beyond.

In the U.S., more than 23% of businesses fail within the first year, and after five years, almost half fail.

Those are big, intimidating numbers if you’re a business owner. Luckily, online reputation management (ORM) can help you avoid the most common mistakes that companies make in those first crucial months and years.

ORM works to improve the way consumers view businesses, and it can also elevate the reputations of people who work for the company.

In this article, we’ll help you understand the common pitfalls that businesses tend to make in the online world. Don’t let your business suffer because of a few negative online reviews, unflattering articles in the press or poor search results on Google.

Here at NetReputation, our team works to promote your business (or yourself) in a positive light by using quality, engaging content. Contact us today to learn more by calling 844-461-3632 or filling out the form below.

What Are the Top 5 Reputation-Ruining Mistakes Businesses Make?

Mistakes are common and happen to everyone at one point or another. Even if you think your own common sense should point you in the right direction, you’re bound to make an error eventually.

But do you know how to resolve a brand crisis efficiently? And more importantly, do you know how to avoid one in the first place?

Being aware of your online reputation, including what people find when they search for you online, can be the difference between winning or losing in business.

The best way to avoid making a big mistake online is to be aware of these common mishaps:

1. Ignoring negative feedback and letting poor reviews go unanswered
2. Neglecting to act on negative search results quickly
3. Having zero or very few positive online reviews
4. Poor online reputation management
5. Misleading customers and eroding their trust

Although there is no quick fix, there are many reputation management strategies you can start to implement today to alter search engine rankings or rectify poor customer feedback.

At NetReputation, we work with individuals and businesses to help them build and take control of their online reputation. Give us a call at 844-461-3632 to learn more.

Now, let’s get into each one of the mistakes in detail.

1. Ignoring or Not Responding to Negative Reviews

First and foremost on our list is not responding to negative reviews on the internet. In this day and age, individuals scour the internet before making their purchase, so it’s important to address all reviews, not just the positive ones.

Start responding to every review that is left for your business online.

Why? For starters, if an individual posts a negative review about your business online, and you can justify or somehow take responsibility and resolve the situation, you may lessen the blow.

Make an attempt to contact the disgruntled customer to make amends. Popular incentives include offering a refund, discount or gift card.

The most important part about responding to negative reviews online is that you have a chance to voice your side of the story. Do not blame the customer or be impolite. Simply apologize and admit fault.

Not only will this solve the initial problem with the unhappy customer, but you’ll also demonstrate to prospective customers that you value your customers and will work to provide the absolute best service.

Remember, instead of removing a negative review, reply publicly and professionally, then take the conversation offline to work with the customer some more. This is a much better strategy than leaving the comment unreplied to.

2. Not Suppressing or Removing Negative Search Results

Today, most people turn to the web when looking up information. Think of it in your own life: Do you head to Google out of habit? We’re guessing you do.

And why wouldn’t you? Google is a quick and easy way to find answers to practically any questions you have.

In addition, more than 93% of online shoppers read reviews before making an online purchase. Plus, 36% of consumers use two review sites when researching local businesses, and 41% use at least three sites.

Additionally, there are a lot of people who trust online reviews more than they do personal referrals and recommendations.

As a business owner, one of your top priorities must be your online reputation. The online presence of your business will be the decision-maker between having a company that lasts one to five years and a company you can hand down to your grandchildren.

Here’s another consideration about your business’ presence in search results: 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, most users don’t go past the first SERP — less than 1% were found to click on a result on the 2nd page.

What does this mean for your business? Clearing the first page of Google of any trace of negative press or bad reviews is the first step to ensuring a positive online reputation for many years to come.

3. Lack of Positive Customer Reviews

In today’s digital era, having a high number of positive reviews for your business is extremely powerful.

As mentioned earlier, consumers turn to the internet to find answers to all of their problems. Sites such as Tripadvisor and Google are typical outlets they use to uncover the truth about a prospective business. Google is the most-used website for reviews, in fact, followed by Facebook, Yelp and Tripadvisor.

Having just one negative review online could be detrimental to the overall success of a business. For this reason, it is imperative that business owners and their employees work to generate as many positive reviews as they can.

You can encourage customers to leave reviews by sending follow-up emails after they make a purchase, routinely sending surveys to your mailing list, or posting on social media and asking for feedback. Also, any time your company is spoken about in a positive light, it needs to be showcased online for new potential customers to easily see.

Don’t let a negative review rob you of a new customer. By consistently generating more positive online reviews, you will flood out any negative feedback along the way. 

4. Not Managing Your Business’ Online Reputation Properly

A couple of easy ways to manage your online reputation are through business listings and the content you control internally. These listings offer potential customers reliable information concerning your company.

Also, making business profiles on social media platforms such as Instagram, X and Facebook keeps your business socially connected with existing and prospective customers.

It is important to utilize tools such as Google Alerts to track your brand online, too. This way, you can work to combat any mistakes that occur in a timely manner before they worsen.

At NetReputation, we provide a broad range of services to individuals and businesses who want to create, grow or repair their digital reputation. Our ORM services include content removal, review management, branding, content creation and more. Speak with an expert by calling 844-461-3632 today.

5. Damaging Customer Trust by Over-Promising and Under-Delivering

One of the biggest considerations when making a promise to customers is whether or not you can actually deliver on that promise. This is the biggest downfall of the modern salesperson. Over-promising and under-delivering can lead to devastating results and scrutiny if it happens often.

When working with a potential client or customer, make sure you remain as transparent as possible. This means that you should not mislead the prospect. Don’t let them think that they’ll receive more than they will, and don’t deliver less than they expect.

If you don’t remain trustworthy and transparent with your customers and clients, you’ll receive countless phone calls and emails questioning you about what’s going on.

For this reason, implementing an onboarding process is a popular method for many businesses. Whether you’re selling a product or a service, telling a new or potential customer exactly what to expect — whether that’s shipping times, the schedule for regular meetings, etc. — will set their expectations in a realistic way.

This way, both the business and new client or customer are on the same page.

Get Professional ORM Services To Help Your Business Succeed

You can absolutely take control of your business’ online reputation, whether you’ve just launched your brand or you’re rebounding from a crisis. Our expert team of digital reputation professionals will perform an audit first to understand the current state of your online presence. From there, we’ll work with you to design a tailored strategy that will help you reach your goals.

For a free consultation, call us at 844-461-3632 or fill out the contact form below.

by Net Reputation

NetReputation was founded in 2014 by Adam Petrilli, a results-driven leader dedicated to empowering individual and business success on the web. Our award-winning process and team of online reputation management specialists allow us to remove, suppress, repair, and monitor your online presence. Within our first two years, we were recognized by some of the world’s leading business publications for our company growth. Today, NetReputation operates offices in Sarasota, Florida; and Kansas City.