How to Manage Your Business's Online Reputation

As a small-business owner, you’re no doubt aware that virtually everyone turns to the Internet to conduct research before buying goods or services. And on the Web, your business is only as good as everyone says it is. In 2011, Inc. magazine reported that 97 percent of consumers used online searches to find local businesses. The information about your business that’s available on the Web is absolutely critical. If you’re not keeping a close eye on your company’s online reputation, you might as well hang up a “Sorry, We're Closed” sign.

Online reputation management is a growing field, one that is tightly related to search engine optimization. In both cases the tactics tend to be the same, requiring you to monitor and act on search results to improve your online standing. With SEO, the goal is to make your website rise to the top. With ORM, you’re not necessarily concerned about helping your own website rank highly in search results; rather, you want to ensure that positive information and commentary about your business ranks higher than anything negative--no matter who said it.

It’s a subtle difference that requires greater and more complicated interaction with a larger range of online constituents. ORM is so important that Google offers a dedicated page with its own advice. In the sections that follow, I’ll cover Google’s basic tips--and a lot more. I’ll also provide brief reviews of a variety of tools and services that can help you tackle the job.

Start With Search

Any online reputation management process begins with a search, so that you can set a baseline for how much attention you need to give the process and how much action you’ll have to take. Start by searching for your business using a wide net. For example, if your business is named XYZ Widgets, Inc., and is based in Dubuque, you’ll want to try each of the following search terms:

xyz widgets
“xyz widgets”
xyz widgets inc
“xyz widgets inc”
xyz widgets dubuque
xyz widgets sucks
xyz widgets review
xyz dubuque

Remember, Web users are much less concerned about proper spelling--or even the official name of your company--than you are. If you operate a business called, say, Chabo Sandwich Shop, you might also need to keep tabs on searches for “Chabo’s Subs,” if that’s how people know it colloquially.

Be sure to log out of Google while checking your online reputation. Google defaults to delivering personalized results when you’re logged in, which will naturally favor the effusive content you’ve written about yourself. Everyone else will see a different picture of your business, and those results are infinitely more important to monitor.

Google should be your primary search tool, but don’t neglect Bing in your analysis. Its search results will differ--sometimes significantly. Combined, Bing.com and Yahoo (which is powered by Bing) have nearly a 30 percent share of the search market, and that’s worth paying attention to.

Next Page: Using Google Alerts