Does Your Reputation Suck Online?

I'm just pleased as punch to introduce my new Monday feature. From now on you can look forward to hearing from guest bloggers on a variety of subjects. 

Some of which will include... 

• online marketing and reputations
• social media marketing
• tips for authors and writers
• publishing industry info
• blogging
• email marketing
• finding balance in home and work life
• etc

Today we start with Russ Nosalaski of eBlitz Group. They specialize in online reputation and internet marketing. Russ and I are in a local networking group called Local Impact Zone. LIZ is based off the Law of Reciprocity which basically means give first without thinking of yourself. 

Please make Russ feel welcome. And I'm so grateful he would take the time to share his expertize. 

Does Your Reputation Suck Online?
As a small or a medium sized business owner you are responsible for marketing your business and that means finding the best marketing opportunities available right now.   

You need to have an internet presence, as the internet arguably is one of the most powerful marketing platforms available.

If you are marketing your business and have a bad online reputation you are throwing some of that money down the drain because your potential customers and clients will be looking you up online to see what others are saying about you and your business.

What is online reputation management for small business about? 

Here are some things you should know:

Your reputation is available for everyone to see online.  If you Google your business name you will be able to see what others have said about the experience they had with you or your company.   

Online review sites such as Google Plus, Yelp, Urban Spoon and Foursquare provide a dedicated space for customers to leave reviews.   In addition to review sites your company’s reputation is affected by comments on industry forums, social media sites, online articles, blog posts, public record documents and more.

Why you need to care about your online reputation:

There are two different searches your customers and clients are doing every day.   One search type is when your potential customers and clients are searching for your service or product  in the search engines.  The second search type is even more important, in my opinion, than the first and that is when your potential customers and clients are searching for your company’s name.  The statistics tell us that 90 percent of all consumers research the internet when looking for a business to deal with.   That means that they will see what others have said about your company and that will affect if they want to do business with your or not.

How to assess what your reputation is online?

Simply search in Google for your business name and see what results you get.  (You might also want to search your name, the names of your high-profile employees, your brand and your product/service.) 

How to manage your online reputation?

1)      Monitor your online reputation.   Every so often search your business name and see what people are saying.

2)      Respond to your reviews: You need to join the conversation online that is happening about your company.  One way to do that is to respond to reviews that you are getting so that others will see that you care. 

3)      Implement a plan of action in order to get reviews from satisfied customers.

4)      Market your online reputation.  Once you have a positive online reputation  show it off by marketing it to potential customers and clients.

Don’t leave your reputation online up to chance.  Take control of your online reputation today.

About Russ:   RussNosalski of eBlitz Group is a reputation and internet marketing consultant who works with small businesses on ways to use the internet to generate leads and take their business to the next level online.