How to Find the Best Online Reputation Management Service

The internet has made it easier than ever for consumers to find and buy from brands online. But what are they going to find when they search for your business? In this article, we’re going to show you how to find the best online reputation management service to keep your business’s online presence glowing.

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of creating strategies and tactics to influence the public perception of a business or individual online.

It’s similar to public relations in that you’re trying to show a business or person in a favorable light. A good online reputation management service can help you minimize the effects of negative reviews and feedback and create a strategy that will keep those things from happening in the future (with your help, of course).

Why Your Brand’s Online Reputation Matters

Your online reputation is what others think about you or your brand based on what they find about you online. This could include anything from reviews of your business to social media posts made by your employees.

Regardless of how big or small your business is, people are going to search for and find you online when they’re looking for products and services that you offer. If you got a bad Yelp review five years ago and haven’t worked on getting better reviews for your business since potential customers are going to find that and make judgments on your current business because of it.

That’s why it’s so important to know what people are saying about you online and how they feel about your brand.

When you’re on top of your brand’s online mentions, you can take steps to correct inaccurate information or address negative reviews in a way that will make your business look even better.

Finding the Right Online Reputation Management Services

Having an online presence is vital to operating a business these days. A positive online presence can bring in new business and get previous customers to come back for more.

A poor online image, or even not being online at all, is damaging to your business. It can keep people from coming to your business and buying your products and services.

But how do you improve and maintain your online reputation?

That’s where the right online reputation management company comes in. Many businesses hire reputation management agencies to boost their online reputation and improve traffic, leads, and sales.

What Do Online Reputation Management Services Do?

Reputation management services offer comprehensive methods to combat a negative online image and build a positive one. They first analyze your current online reputation before creating a reputation management strategy that will help make it better.

Here are some of the tactics online reputation management services use:

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about getting your content to rank higher in search engines like Google, Bing, and more. When SEO is done right it can drive tons of organic (free) traffic to your site, increasing leads and sales.

Reputation management services handle your SEO because it’s through web searches that consumers are going to find your business. This means that your reputation management company can work to get positive information to rank higher in search results and, by extension, get the negative information to rank lower.

Why is that important? When the positive information is ranked higher than the negative information, consumers will see the positive information first. And, depending on where the negative information ranks, they may never see it.

Content Development

To rank higher in search engines, you need to produce high-quality, useful content. This starts with your website and blog, ensuring that your website is well-organized and your blog posts are well-written.

A good online reputation management service will not only help you create new high-quality content but will also optimize your existing content to improve its ranking.

Social Media Management

If your brand isn’t on social media, you should get there fast. There are tons of marketing opportunities on social media and it’s likely that your target audience hangs out on at least a couple of social media platforms.

Social media can help you grow and shape your brand, either for good or bad.

With the right online reputation management service, you’ll be able to keep your social media content business-focused. Plus, your online reputation management company can monitor your social media to ensure that your business is coming across the way you want it to.

Review Management

Reviews are so very important to your brand’s reputation. 92% of consumers look at reviews before making a purchase, so it’s vital that you work on getting a lot of positive reviews for your brand and products.

Online reputation management services can help with review management. They will use tactics to get more of your customers to leave positive reviews and then promote those reviews for you.

What about negative reviews? While you usually can’t remove negative reviews completely, you can respond to those reviews to solve the problem or get more positive reviews to push the negative reviews into the background.

Third-Party Website Monitoring

It’s easy to control the things you have ownership of, like your website and social media platforms. But what happens when there’s negative information left about your business on third-party sites like Yelp, Glassdoor, or others?

Online reputation management services can help with this, too. They monitor the internet for mentions about your brand on third-party sites and can take steps to minimize the damage.

Each of these tactics is important for creating a healthy online reputation for your business, but it’s also important to remember that your brand is unique. You’ll want to find a service that creates a customized reputation management strategy based on your business needs.

In addition to reputation management services, Digital Marketing Agency offers full-service digital marketing services that can help create a cohesive online presence for your brand. We offer conversion rate optimization, social media marketing services, PPC and paid search advertising, and so much more. Contact us for a free quote!

How Much Does Online Reputation Management Cost?

The cost of online reputation management services depends on the tactics your business needs. Costs range from $300 to several thousand dollars each month.

Take a look at the pricing plans offered by the online reputation management services you’re considering. Do they offer preset service plans with dedicated pricing? Can you choose tactics a la carte? Is there a contract?

These are all important questions to consider.

What to Look for in an Online Reputation Management Service

Convinced that you need an online reputation management service to help you maintain or build a positive brand image?

Here are a few characteristics you’ll want your online reputation management service to have:

Expertise

Take a look at the skills and experience offered by the online reputation management services you’re considering. And be sure to check out their testimonials and case studies.

Communication

Reputation management is an involved process. You need an agency that’s up to the task of constantly monitoring your online presence, providing feedback, and making adjustments.

Trustworthy Tactics

Stay away from companies that use black-hat tactics. Period.

Find an online reputation management agency that uses white-hat tactics that follow search engine best practices, policies, and rules.

Transparency

It should go without saying that if you’re hiring a company to manage your online reputation, they should be willing to put their own reputation on the line and open up their practices to scrutiny.

How to Choose the Best Reputation Management Service

Now that you know some of the characteristics you’re looking for, let’s talk about how to choose the best reputation management service for your business.

1. Determine Your Goals

Before you take the plunge and hire an online reputation management service, think about what you want to get from the experience.

Do you want to simply monitor and improve your online reputation? What about your social media channels? Are you thinking about working on your SEO so you can rank higher in search results and bring in more traffic? Do you want a company that can help you get more positive reviews and manage the reviews that you get?

Your business is unique and your goals are, too. It’s important to really consider what you want from online reputation management before reaching out and getting dazzled by everything these companies have to offer.

2. Research Your Top Contenders

After you have a good idea of your goals, you’re going to need to do research to find the right company for you.

Google the company and see what shows up. You’ll likely find some online reviews and maybe even articles written by previous customers.

It’s not enough to know that the company avoids black-hat tactics. You need to know that this company you’re thinking of hiring to maintain your own positive reputation has a good reputation of their own.

3. Focus on How They Make You Feel

Once you’ve narrowed your search to a few companies, it’s time to reach out to them and ask questions.

Find out if you’ll have a project manager that will be your point of contact or could you potentially be talking to someone different each time you call?

Also, be sure to ask for case studies from businesses they’ve helped that are just like yours.

Throughout these interactions, you’re looking for indications that this company will be easy to work with and that they genuinely care about the clients they take on.

You want to work with an online reputation management service that asks questions about your business so they can understand what you’re looking for instead of a company that’s only interested in making the sale.

Red Flags: What to Avoid

We’ve mentioned black-hat tactics as something to avoid, but what are they, and why are they so bad? After all, black-hat tactics tend to work very quickly… isn’t that a good thing?

Not to search engines, it isn’t.

Black-hat tactics are bad because search engines could potentially ban you if you’re caught using them. Plus, many of them are spammy and dishonest.

Here are some of the tactics you need to avoid (and make sure that the online reputation management service you hire doesn’t use):

• Astroturfing:

  Creating fake accounts on review websites that they use to write positive reviews about your business. This can also include paying other real users to write positive reviews on your behalf.

• Fake websites:

  Similar to astroturfing, this black-hat tactic involves using fake websites and blogs to create more search results with the goal of hiding negative results about your business.

• Keyword stuffing:

  This is the practice of using as many keywords as possible in your content and metadata with no regard for the reader. Want more information? Here’s why

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• Invisible text:

  This is along the same lines as keyword stuffing, but in this case, someone might put tons of keywords in the footer of their site in text that’s the same color as the page’s background.

• Spambots:

  Using spam bots, denial of service attacks, or hacking to make it difficult for people to access negative content about a company is a definite no-no.

Focus on finding an online reputation management company that doesn’t even play with ethical gray areas. Instead, place a high value on honesty and transparency.