Online Reputation Management Part 3: Contribute

COMMENTS: 1 Comment | Reputation Management, SEO, Social Media

Welcome to part three of my ongoing Online Reputation Management series. The first two installments covered how to monitor your company’s online reputation and how to respond to feedback in various online arenas. Today’s topic approaches online reputation management from an SEO and online marketing perspective.

If you are still concerned about the negative results that appear when somebody searches for your company, it may be possible to replace some of the unfavorable listings with more favorable results. Depending on who you wish to displace, you may be able to reclaim the first page of search results by creating and contributing content on other sites. When done correctly, this can reduce the risk of potential customers finding less-than-favorable reviews and feedback.

So how do you pull this off? Create valuable, useful content and distribute it to other online sites. Find reputable sites that allow submissions and spend some time developing high quality work to share. Make sure you don’t simply copy and paste content from your site or others, as this will likely just be filtered out by the search engines’ duplicate content filters.

Examples of effective content include:

• Write Op/Ed pieces for local and national newspaper sites.
• Publish articles, white papers, case studies, or unique research.
• Create user profiles on social media and social networking sites.
• Submit useful content and promote others’ content on the social media and social networking sites.
• Write and submit press releases to online media outlets and PR syndication sites.
• Provide social media sharing options on your site to allow your visitors to promote your content.
• Ensure all of your listings in online directories and internet yellow pages (IYP) sites are up-to-date and complete.

These are just a few examples of the places that accept user-generated content, and that tend to try to rank their content in the major search engines. Take advantage of their SEO savvy and let them help you replace the negative content in search results.

Of course, these are only band-aid solutions that won’t cover up a gaping wound in your operations, quality, or customer service. Make sure you addressing the root causes of the negative feedback and taking care of the spurned customers. Otherwise, no amount of SEO will be able to replace the backlash that is sure to follow.

Any other questions or comments? Leave a note below and I’ll make sure to follow up with more detailed information.

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