For the novice, internet reputation management is sometimes quite a difficult topic. It is hard enough to get an idea of how to maximise the benefits which you can obtain online, without understanding all the diverse ways in which things can go wrong. Problems can arise because firms do not understand the complexity of internet reputation management and these problems can be of a serious nature. Even firms which are large and have considerable numbers of skilled personnel sometimes make the most elementary errors in this area. The economic consequences can be significant. Some SMEs simply do not know the basic precautionary measures to take. It is therefore of use to go over some of the main things which can be implemented, before a problem has actually appeared.

At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we are familiar with the ins and outs of internet reputation management. Through combining theory and practice, we are in a strong position to deliver an effective service to client firms of all sizes.

It is crucial to recognise the importance of being proactive. Keeping one or two steps ahead of the game is vital when taking care of reputation management issues. For example, it can be a shrewd move to dominate the upper places of the search engine results pages for your keywords. This means that an SEO campaign should be pursued with vigour. Dominating the upper reaches of the search engine result pages in this manner means that negative publicity might never come into the top few positions. In other words, positive aspects of your firm will be highlighted and negative commentary may be made less visible. Keeping your critics from becoming too powerful can only be achieved if you do not respond in an exaggerated way to any complaints.

Another technique which can help ensure that your reputation management is conducted from a position of strength is soliciting reviews. If you can get your products and/or services reviewed in suitable online spaces, your brand will be in a strong place from which to endure a potential setback. There is no point in faking positive reviews; fake reviews are detected on a frequent basis. The aim should be to obtain a mixture of generally positive reviews. A poor review should never cause panic. Some of the finest restaurants in the world, for example, have easily survived a very negative review and there is simply no accounting for taste. A poor review can be responded to with courtesy in an apologetic tone, while any factual errors in the review may be mentioned. Submissions to appropriate directories may be listed in the same list as getting reviews.

Another major reputation management technique is to push for the status of an authority in your sector. For example, the reputation of a firm is harder to damage online if its presence has been noted in a favourable way. This means that tactics like guest blogging, blogging and using the new social media with care can come into their own. Hosting a high quality blog on your site and receiving and responding to comments can be central to the establishment of an impressive reputation.

However much we might emphasize the importance of SEO the truth is that people are right when they say that content is still king.

Nowadays, with the advent of blogs, website content has become easier and easier to generate resulting in more and more pages out there about every conceivable topic on earth. It is true that though emphasis is still placed in content this makes it even harder to come up with content that will stand out above (or at list distinctly) from the others. This is a problem because as we all know for a website to be truly successful in its niche it has to have content that will make visitors keep on coming back and even refer the page, whether via links or spoken word, to others. Without great content no amount of SEO will seal you and your website’s reputation.

The funny thing is that right now the general tack people take in order to get their websites to have the content they want is usually by adding a blog to their site. Now there is nothing wrong with blogs. If there were I wouldn’t be writing this blog entry. ^_^ In fact blogs are great especially if you simply want to share your hobby or passion. Blogs are also very good for generating fresh content on a more regular basis. It would be sheer folly to change your homepage’s content daily (unless your website is a news aggregator or is based on some dynamic concept) because it is important for your visitors (especially if you have an online business) to become familiarised with your website in order to help them locate the information they need fast each time they visit the site. Blogs are a good solution for giving your visitors fresher and more updated content. However, you shouldn’t rely on the blog to set your site apart from others in your field. Ok so there are some people out there who are so good that their blogs have become meccas for people in their own field. In search we have Matt Cutts, randfish, William Slawski, etc. But the point is that not everyone churn out as many excellent posts as frequently as they could.

So what’s my point?

My point is simply this if you wish for your website to be known for offering great content do not rely on your blog at once to do that. Instead it is better to consolidate your knowledge into one great resource and then put that up as your main content. It will take a whole lot more effort to come out with such content but in the end if you are able to come out with something that can be considered as one of the classic contents in your field then that will seal the fate of both you and your site. Do continue blogging but take time to publish the really useful resource. In the end your site will rise because of that one single page (or it can be pages if it’s really long…and it will be long if you take on an exhaustive approach to whatever it is you plan to write about) but your blog will not become irrelevant since it will be where people will check for updates. If you lack the time to do this you can just keep on blogging but do not be surprised if even if your blog does well enough, you don’t end up among the ranks of gurus in your field.