Improve Your Online Reputation
Everyone looks at online reviews. Online reputation management should be part of your standard operations.
It takes a business a long time to build a solid reputation. Satisfying customer expectations, being trustworthy, providing quality services and products, keeps you in business. Good business practices bring repeat customers and keep employees happy too. It’s important to stay on top of any problems with your customers or staff before it’s too late.
Your word-of-mouth reputation is foremost but an online reputation is becoming more and more important to growing careers and businesses. A poor online review can significantly negatively impact your business. Make monitoring your online presence part of your work duties.
Online reputation management can be performed by you or someone on your team. It doesn’t require a full-time time commitment just regularly scheduled proactive maintenance time for monitoring and responding. Here’s steps you can do to be on your way to a better online presence.
Do a search on yourself. Do a Google search for your company to see what others see. Don’t forget to search for your name in Google Images too. Set up a Google alert for your business to keep track of any new content. You can have notifications mailed to you once a day, so as not to overwhelm your inbox.
Buy your domain name. If you haven’t already purchased your company’s domain name, do so. Most domain names cost from $10 to $20 on sites like GoDaddy. Buy the domain for a minimum of three years to be taken seriously by search engines.
Build a website. Opinions vary on how much effort, and money, you should put into this. What you want to present is up to you and how much your customers rely on your website information. It’s your storefront so make it as good looking and informational as possible. There many do-it-yourself web creators that you can use, or you can hire a professional to create your website.
Register with search engines. Improve your search engine optimization by signing up with all search engines. This includes not only Google but Bing, DuckDuckGo, and YouTube.
Create a Google My Business Profile. Sign up for your free Google Business Profile. Ask customers to write positive reviews.
Post on business directories. Prepare a brief statement about your company that you can use for listings. Then sign up or register your company on local and industry sites. These can include sites from Nextdoor to Yelp.
Join social networks. Even if you don’t feel like you have time to be active on these sites, do join them and fill out the profiles. The major sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Consider signing up for as many as you can so no one else takes your name. Scan your social media pages for comments and reviews. Reply positively to all of them.
Optimize your presence on social sites. Fill out social media sites as fully as you can, customizing the URL when you can, and repeating your name where appropriate. Also be sure to use your full name and not a nickname or slogan you think is catchy. Another important thing: Most websites give you the option of linking to other social media sites. Do this. It will make your online presence stronger.
Nothing is truly private. All the experts say you should never post any pictures of yourself that you don’t want the world to see. Facebook allows you to have more than one profile, your personal profile and business profiles. If someone else posts a picture of you on Facebook that you find embarrassing, remove the “tag” that identifies it as you. Also, don’t hesitate to ask others to take down pictures of yourself that you think could compromise your reputation.
If you don’t have time to keep up with your online image there are services that manage your online reputation for you. They manage and improve your reviews and brand. Business News Daily reported on the Best Online Reputation Management Services of 2022 and how to select a service. The costs run in the hundreds to thousands a month. It can be worth the investment if it can prevent costly negative reviews from surfacing.
It takes work to maintain a positive online reputation. Keep visible online with posts and comments. Maintain your credibility and reputation in person and online. Stay in touch with your customers after they’ve purchased your services. Ask them for referrals and online reviews.