Using online reputation management to the optimum

Your company may be enjoying an impressive customer patronage and may be a name in the market to reckon with. However there is always a risk of a blog post reaching the first page of the search engine listing and causing damage to the goodwill that you’ve built steadily since a long time. A negative comment spreads like wild fire in the Internet and there are many who jump in the bandwagon, some doing it seriously while some adding a negative comment just for the kicks. Either way, your sales figure can pirouette and dip if you do not take concrete steps to resolve the matter. The answer is online reputation management.

Here are some ways to use online reputation management:

1. You can respond to the negative blog with a clarifying post. You can write them as comments in the blogs and message boards that have written ill about you .If you have proofs to back your stand, it is even better. You may even add a link that takes you to your corporate blog. While countering negative post, you must make sure that you do not use harsh language or any amount of exaggeration that makes readers even more suspicious.
2. You can host a corporate blog in conjuction to the complaints forum site. Readers will definitely benefit from this because they will be able to see both sides of the picture. A corporate blog can even be hosted as a part of your main website. Make sure the language in your corporate blog is polite but assertive. Using keyword rich content in your blog works for optimizing your web-page too.
3. Taking a leaf from the second point, make sure that whatever content you are adding either to your corporate blog, message boards or even on your main site, should be keyword rich. If you optimize your web-page well, there is a fair chance that your brand comes on the first page of the search engine.
4. Make sure you add the latest stories, achievements, success stories, customer testimonials, press releases etc on various article directories apart from your main websites.
5. Get access to trade magazines which reports on your business. Find out the latest buzz and if your company is going to be a part of a trend, make sure you let the readers know about it. Market your product or even soft-sell it in social networking websites. Participate in online business communities to get the pulse of the market and find out how you can use the news and data to formulate a strategy to give more exposure to your brand.