Reputation management is one of the major buzzwords in the online marketing community these days - it seems that you can’t visit an SEO blog without coming across posts entitled “The Importance of Reputation Management” or “Top Ten Reputation Management Techniques” or similar. Our SEO company has even written about managing your reputation online on more than one occasion.

The key to positive reputation management is honesty - from the very beginning, not after you screw up. If one of your products has a known issue reach out to buyers and offer replacements or adjust your return/exchange policy according. Or if your business has a customer service lapse (happens to the best of us) apologize for your mistake and offer a remedy.

One of big reputation management problems stems from businesses refusing to join the conversation from the start: you (or your online marketing company) should monitor the web (the blogosphere and social media in particular) for mentions of your company or brand and respond pro-actively. If you get a bad review, respond in a straihtforward, unemotional manner - don’t insult the reviewer or write an angry rebuttal. Admit you screwed up and move on - people tend to understand human error, after all, and no one is perfect. On the other hand, attacking people online (or offline) is no way for an ethical company to do business, and the last thing you want is to gain a reputation for being difficult to deal with and hotheaded.

Furthermore, the best way to counteract negativity is with good press and reviews - do something positive for your community, encourage your best customers to review your business on citysearch, yelp, etc., or send out press releases announcing your company’s latest good news. Link to these things on your website, consider starting a company blog (if you haven’t already) or up your posting schedule if you do have one, and reach out to other bloggers or websites in your niche and offer guest posts. Participate on Twitter and sign up for HARO (Help A Reporter) and get in touch with reporters that are looking for experts in your field. Of course, you should already be working with an SEO company that can help you make the most of this good coverage as well.