Reputation management is a hot topic in online marketing these days. Potential customers searching the web can stumble upon both positive and negative search engine results, and are more likely to click on the negative one. Companies need to make sure that not only their web design, but also their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is in strong focus in any new web design project. This is important is today’s world in order to properly manage your company’s reputation in the marketplace.

An attack by a customer or competitor can be handled retroactively through an SEO strategy, but the best defense is to be proactive. Although requiring constant monitoring, it is possible to achieve reputation management goals by effectively boosting the occurrences of positive content regarding your company.

Web design can also play a major role in preventive reputation maintenance. Creating new content is one way to bring positive results to the top of a search engine result. The use of social media, blog posts, and a well composed and monitored social profile are others.

Positive Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is still the best strategy. Due to the nature of spider-driven search engines, it pays to control the placement of your own positive search engine results near the top. There is always the option of using an SEO strategy to lower the ranking of negative content or of using take-down requests to keep bad press down, but nothing is a better bet than making sure that your own content outranks any defaming results in a keyword search.

In the long run this approach is more about promoting business positively than a reputation management seeking to repair the negative. The increased return on investment is just an added benefit to protecting the company name. A positive post landing high on a results list will certainly increase traffic to a company’s web site, but perhaps the absence of a negative post high on a results list will have a greater impact on the bottom line in the long run. As mentioned earlier, potential customers are more likely to click on those negative posts. Therefore, a company must be vigilant in their process, making sure that the “good stuff” is what appears high and most often.

The diligent browser may still be able to dig for the negative information, but any company interested in reputation management should never make it easy. A great web design partner can help with this process. Call us at 615-292-8642. Or click here for a proposal for reputation managment services.