Always Keep Your Online Reputation Up!

Really very important statement and if you follow it, your business will prosper.

Have you ever tried to type your name/company name and see what is being spoken about you? It’s very important to scan everything and if there is any negative stuff, it’s necessary to remove.

How to monitor your reputation

There are many tools that can help you and the most important is setting Google Alerts. It’s free and it tracks all types of web results, like news, blogs, videos and more.

If you are using social media, for example Twitter, you can monitor your name using a hashtag to see what is written about you. And one more important thing about socials: go private – modify privacy setting in all your social platforms,  ensure that only friends with whom you don't mind sharing your personal life or photos will have access to that information. Also de-tag from any uncomplimentary pics of you.

There is also another way of tracking – Question and Answer websites, like Yahoo Answers. If anyone is asking questions about you, your company or a particular keyword, you can track those on certain Q&A sites.

Who needs an online reputation and why

Every human being, any company needs a good online reputation. And if you don’t control your brand online, your competitors will do. Imagine you work in a company which is not aware of your present reputation and competition finds this out. What will happen then? The company you work for is at risk, you, as well.

Another situation: you’re looking for a better job and you’re not aware of what is being spoken in the internet about you (there are lots of “kind” people around us). It would be so difficult for you to find the desired work, as many companies know how to check your “online reputation”.

Or you sell some product - today people don’t buy anything before checking who the seller is or what is being said in the product reviews.

Who really cares about your online reputation

As stated above, many people may be interested in your reputation, starting from consumers, business partners, marketers, journalists, stock holders to co-workers. The easiest way is just to have a “good” reputation.

How to manage your online reputation

There are some points you should follow to improve your online reputation. Google posted some good advice on how to manage your reputation through search results which says:

• Think twice before putting your personal information online.
• If something you dislike has already been published, try to remove it from the site where it's appearing.
• Proactively publish useful, positive information about yourself or your business.

Finally it’s not so difficult to be a “positive”, “kind” and “wise” person. Build credibility, be polite and accessible, respond to any criticism and you’ll prevent reputation problems. And the most important thing – think before you click!