No matter how small your company is, you cannot afford to not invest in SEO. Even if you do not have the budget, there are plenty of DIY SEO tips out there to push your brand and services in Google search.

If SEO overwhelms you and you don’t believe you can do an effective job without hiring someone, this simple SEO guide will prove you wrong. Here are some great SEO for beginners tips you can start implementing today.

1. Produce Consistent Web Content 

“If you build it, they will come,” is the oft-quoted line from the 1989 film Field of Dreams. But it can apply to web content, too. If you do not have a lot of blog content or web pages on your site, there isn’t anything for web users to find.

So, one of the simplest SEO tips is to start creating! Brainstorm ideas, plan a content calendar, and create web content for potential customers to discover.

2. Track Your Competitors

If you are business savvy, you likely already know who your competitors are. But as well as tracking their scale, products, and sales records, you also need to track their web presence.

How do they rank in Google for search terms you want to rank for? What blog content are they writing? Tracking the competition will give you ideas to improve.

3. Link-Up Your Web Content

Looking for super easy SEO tips? This must be the easiest. When writing web content, make sure you link to other pages on your website. 

Not only does this help spread the good web authority between high and low-ranking pages, but it helps readers navigate (and stay!) on your site too.

4. Upload Smaller Images

Site speed is important for good SEO. While some site speed tips need some technical know-how, uploading smaller images is a DIY SEO technique that is easy to do. 

Find out how many pixels wide your website is (often they are less than 1020px) and do not upload images larger than that number. Use an online compression tool to shrink images down further.

5. Use Keywords in the Right Places

Finding keywords is doable for free, but using a paid tool is best. Click for more information on paid SEO services if this interests you.

But learning where to put those keywords in your web content is easy. On every blog post, this is where you should be using your keywords:

• Title
• URL
• Heading tag
• Introduction
• Body of the text
• Conclusion

Do not stuff your content with keywords, and try to use variations and supplementary keywords too.

Simple DIY SEO Tips to Start Using Today

SEO for small businesses might seem like a very technical skill that only qualified people can master, but it is much simpler than that. Even by using a handful of DIY SEO techniques, more customers will find your business and it will grow.

If you want to learn more tips to help your business, browse our website for lots of entrepreneurial inspiration!

The post 5 DIY SEO Tips to Boost Your Web Presence appeared first on ReputationResults.

No matter what kind of business you’re running, social media marketing is essential to your success. That’s because social media is the primary way that modern businesses reach consumers.

Here’s the problem. Social media is time-consuming. Uploading, posting, commenting, and replying is practically a full-time job.

That problem has led many businesses to turn to automated social media marketing. But does it actually work?

Keep reading to learn more about how automated social media marketing can transform your business.

What Is Automated Social Media Marketing?

It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: using an algorithm to automate typical social media activities like posting and commenting.

Social media marketing automation allows you to create a bunch of posts, upload them all at once, and then let computer software post them at the scheduled time.

This saves online marketers lots of time and effort. It also keeps social media feeds from dying, which can kill a business’s momentum.

Does Automated Social Media Marketing Work?

The short answer is yes.

That’s because marketing automation does more than just schedule posts. It retweets the hottest tweets, likes the most relevant posts, and shares important information.

That’s why 75% of businesses are already automating their marketing. It just works.

That’s true partially because social media users don’t just use social media from 9 to 5 on Mondays through Fridays. Social media is a 24/7 kind of deal, and social media marketing needs to take that into account.

Chances are that your users are scrolling through Instagram after midnight—and your friendly neighborhood automated marketing software can be right there interacting with them.

How to Automate Social Media Marketing

So how do you get started with automating your social media marketing?

You might be tempted to set up a post scheduler and call it good, but that’s not enough. Your social media account should be interacting with users like a real person, and a post scheduler can’t do that for you.

Look for an app or service that will provide smart, tailored marketing to reach the greatest number of users.

For example, services like the Blue Strawberry app provide you with up to 18 months of social media posts—all from just one post or web page.

Basically, it’s all in the algorithm. A smart algorithm means the best possible social media marketing.

Give It a Try

We think automated marketing works, but don’t take our word for it. Go ahead and check out automated social media marketing. See how it changes the way you reach your customers.

But one last piece of advice: don’t try to do it on your own. Good automated marketing is tricky, and it can take years to perfect the software. Trust the experts.

To learn about more ways to expand your business’s outreach, be sure to check out our Tools and Services page.

The post Automation Answers: Does Automated Social Media Marketing Work? appeared first on ReputationResults.

People are comfortable researching and buying products online. It doesn’t matter if you have a pure ecommerce operation, brick-and-mortar store, or a hybrid operation.

You need to meet your customers where they’re at. Reaching your business potential through online marketing channels has to be your top business priority as the economy rebounds.

Keep reading to learn how to improve your entire online presence with these digital marketing tips.

1. Revisit Goals

Digital marketing needs to start with your business goals. Figure out what you want online marketing to do for your business.

For some businesses, digital marketing is a lead generation machine. The sales team books appointments with those leads and closes them. It’s a better use of time than chasing hundreds of cold leads.

Other businesses use online marketing channels for direct sales.

Take time to outline your goals because they will help you make other important decisions in your online marketing plan.

2. Develop an Online Marketing Strategy

A strategy isn’t posting content on a handful of marketing channels. Strategy is the overall way you’ll reach your goals.

The best marketing strategies follow the customer journey path. Your customers take different actions at each point of the customer journey.

Your strategy should address how your brand interacts with customers at each point of the journey.

For instance, in the early stages of the customer journey, customers are blissfully unaware of your business. They’re likely to find your business on social media channels.

As they develop a need for your products and services, they’ll do an online search and click on the first few search results.

They’ll do more research, look at reviews, and read product comparisons. They might sign up to your email list. They’ll reach the point when they’re ready to make a purchase.

The best way to figure out your strategy is to create a buyer persona and customer journey map.

You have to know who you’re trying to target with digital marketing. A buyer persona is a fictional customer. You give them a name, job title, and other demographic information.

Go into detail about their day and why they want a product like yours.

A customer journey map is a detailed look of every customer interaction with your company.

3. Choose Your Online Marketing Channels

This step should be pretty easy if you did a good job developing your strategies. You don’t have a shortage of options when it comes to choosing online marketing channels.

You’ll still have some decisions to make after you draw your customer journey map. You might have discovered that your customers prefer to use search engines to discover new products and services.

You’ll wade into the SEO vs. SEM debate. Remember that SEO is focused on organic search results, while SEM harnesses the power of PPC ads.

Your buyer persona makes it easy to decide your social media marketing channels. Men tend to use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Women predominately use Pinterest along with Instagram and Facebook.

4. Create Incredible Content

If you want to make the most out of your online presence, you can’t write a post and publish it across online marketing channels at the same time.

You need to tailor your content for each marketing channel. Think about the customer and why they use that marketing channel to begin with.

Use plenty of quality images and videos with your posts to make a personal connection with your audience.

5. Be Consistent

It may seem like an uphill climb to create outstanding content. That’s not the most difficult thing about digital marketing.

It’s being consistent.

That’s how you’ll develop a following and grow your brand online. Just about every online marketing channel has a compound effect when you post regularly.

The most consistent you are, the more likely your content gets found. That’s how people come to know your brand.

6. The Journey Doesn’t End at the Sale

Have you heard that it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep your current customers? That’s why you need to keep your customers happy at every step of the customer journey.

How you treat customers after the sale is just as important as what you do before the sale.

You should also ask customers for online reviews to help boost your online presence.

If you left the after-purchase part out of the customer journey, make sure that it gets included.

7. Measure Success

What doesn’t get measured doesn’t improve. Without some set of analytics, you won’t know if you reached your business goals or not.

You always have to measure your results. That allows you to tweak your strategies and get better results.

It’s important to choose the right metrics to start with. Let your goals and strategy define which measurements to use to define success.

If your initial goal is to get sales from your website, you’ll need to look at your sales numbers, average order, cost per acquisition, and conversion rates.

You can then look at metrics at each step of the customer journey to improve the customer experience on each marketing channel.

The Top Digital Marketing Tips

How would you like to have a strong online marketing presence? It’s entirely possible when you follow the tips in this article.

You need to have specific goals and a strategy in place before you pick the online marketing channels to promote your business.

Most of all, you need to know your customers and align your marketing channels with their journey to become a customer.

For more tips to build your online reputation, check out the other articles on the blog today!

The post How to Maximise Your Exposure on Online Marketing Channels appeared first on ReputationResults.

53% of all website traffic comes from organic searches. Implementing an SEO strategy makes your website more visible to Google and other searches.

In turn, SEO increases your brand’s overall visibility online. Consumers deserve to know about your brand, and SEO makes that happen.

Keep reading to learn about the top benefits of an SEO plan.

Increase Your Brand’s Authority and Credibility

Why make a plan for SEO? Do it because it increases your brand’s credibility and authority in consumers’ eyes.

Modern brands are taking advantage of content marketing to build their authority. Publishing informative content makes a brand look more credible and trustworthy. This increases both brand awareness and brand trust.

As you publish more SEO-optimized blog posts, other websites will link to them. Whenever a website links to your content, it gives you a backlink and acts as a digital vote in favor of your website. 

Develop a Solid Keyword Strategy

One of the best reasons to have an SEO plan has to do with content creation. Using relevant, valuable keywords helps search engine crawlers discover and index your content quicker. 

Keyword research is the foundation of a strong keyword strategy. Including keywords with both high search volumes and low search volumes will keep your strategy well-integrated. That way, you’ll receive search traffic from both popular keywords alongside lesser-known ones.

Plus, you’ll be able to take advantage of long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are keywords that consist of three or more words. It’s easier to rank higher in search results for long-tail keywords.

Improve Your Website’s User Experience

The importance of SEO lies in its ability to shape your website’s user experience. Google places great emphasis upon a website’s user experience when determining SEO rankings.

Having an SEO-friendly website means it’ll have a fast loading time. This ensures your website will receive as much traffic as possible. It’ll also make your web layout easier for users to navigate.

User experience factors into SEO rankings more than you think. Researching “SEO Trends in 2021” by Boomcycle will tell you more about how user experience impacts your SEO standing. It’ll also teach you about the importance of search intent and user engagement.

Attract More Organic Traffic

Minding SEO brings in more organic traffic. Organic traffic is easier to convert into sales than other types of traffic.

Keep in mind that users conduct 50% of organic searches for long-tail keywords. That’s why creating content that focuses on long-tail keywords is one of the best tips for making an SEO plan.

As your website collects more backlinks, it’ll receive more organic traffic. It’ll also rank higher on SERPs (search engine results pages) eventually.

Create an SEO Plan that Beats Your Competition

61% of marketers consider SEO to be central to their marketing strategy. You’re missing out on sales every day you don’t have an SEO plan.

Getting a professional SEO audit will help you learn how to optimize your website. You’re better off having our plan drawn out before your competition does their own.

Improve your online reputation—get a free reputation audit on us. It’ll tell you everything you need to know about your brand’s reputation.

The post Why Your Business Needs an SEO Plan appeared first on ReputationResults.

But did you know that you can buy Instagram likes to give your profile a boost?

Before you do, make sure you’re aware of the pros and cons as detailed below.

The Case for Buying Instagram Likes

Though you might be skeptical, there are plenty of great reasons to purchase follows and likes on Instagram. Keep reading to learn more!

It’s a Common Practice

If you follow any celebrities on your personal Instagram account, you’ve no doubt found yourself in awe of their massive follower count.

But we’ll let you in on a little secret: Not all of those accounts are as authentic as they might seem. Quite a few celebrities purchase followers! In fact, estimates suggest that Kim Kardashian’s account was 44% purchased or bot accounts.

Buying social follows isn’t anything new, so why not give yourself a leg up on the competition?

It’s Increases Visibility

Social platforms tend to boost the signal of accounts with large follower bases.

By increasing your follower count, you’ll extend your reach to potential customers, thus giving you a way to grow your account organically. Therefore, you can expect to see results for days or even weeks after your purchase.

It’s Easy and Affordable

Let’s face it, digital marketing can be expensive. But thanks to companies like Famoid, you don’t have to spend a fortune to buy Instagram likes.

You can buy as many as 25,000 IG followers for less than $200. That’s an absolute bargain!

The Case Against Buying Instagram Likes

While working with an agency to boost your account can be a quick and easy way to get your profile some views, there are some drawbacks you’ll need to consider. Some could even seriously impact your account!

Below, you’ll find details on why it’s not always a good idea to buy Instagram likes.

Followers Could Get Purged

Though buying follows and likes on Instagram might be common practice, that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with it. In the past, Instagram has penalized accounts with ties to what it deemed as “inauthentic” accounts by purging followers.

The good news is that most companies will help you out should you lose followers. Moreover, your best bet is to partner with a company that only uses real, verifiable profiles.

Won’t Necessarily Translate to Sales

Once you buy IG likes or followers, the company’s obligation is complete. While you’re buying real-life follows, that doesn’t mean you’re buying customers.

You’ll still have to have a great sales funnel to make your Instagram marketing worth it.

Doesn’t Make Up for Engaging Content

Purchasing followers might help you climb the social ranks temporarily, but if you hope to keep building your audience, you’ll need a thorough content strategy. As such, it’s important that you don’t think of buying followers as a cornerstone of your marketing strategy, but as a stepping stone instead.

While it’s fine to buy likes on Instagram or buy IG followers, make sure you’re not relying on it too much.

Should You Buy Instagram Likes?: Our Final Thoughts

Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with buying follows and likes. It’s a common and affordable practice that can greatly benefit smaller businesses that don’t have a massive marketing budget.

Just make sure you’re not planning to buy Instagram likes in place of posting great content and honing your sales funnel!

For more tips on growing your business, make sure to check out the rest of our blog!

The post Should You Ever Buy Instagram Likes? appeared first on ReputationResults.

When we vet candidates for employment, we often request them to complete a background check. This often gets done with the police or FBI.

But today we can take care of the background checks ourselves through social media. Chances are, most of your candidates are active on social media.

This gives you a chance to see who they are beyond their job interview. You might get a better impression of them. Or, you might realize that they aren’t a good fit for the job.

But are social media background checks legal? What about the pros and cons of social media background checks?

Here’s what you need to know:

Can I Conduct Social Media Background Checks?

In short, yes you can. However, you want to make sure you know the rules before you assess whether a candidate is the right fit for your company. 

You can’t discriminate against a candidate based on the following protected classes:

• Race and skin color
• Religion
• National origin or nationality*
• Sex and sexual orientation
• Age
• Physical/mental disability**
• Veteran status
• Marital status

*Unless the specific role requires you to only hire U.S. citizens, you cannot discriminate based on nationality.

**Exceptions can get made if the specific role requires certain physical or mental competence.

While you can conduct a social media background check on your own, it’s always advisable to use a third-party service such as this company.

What You Should Look for

What should you look for when conducting a background check? What are the ‘red flags’ on someone’s social media profile?

You want to remember that whomever you hire becomes a representative of your company. In addition, you want to see how they present themselves on social media and if this fits with your company.

For example, let’s assume you run a corporate law firm. Would you be comfortable if a paralegal or attorney had beach pictures on their profiles? Or, would you prefer it if they dressed formally and didn’t share their private life?

What about political beliefs or other views? Do these conflict with your company? Can these views deter other team members or clients?

You also want to look for other types of ‘offensive’ content. These can include remarks that are racist or bigoted toward others.

You can choose to discriminate if someone posts sexually-explicit content. If there’s any illegal or violent content, this is definitely a red flag!

How to Assess a Candidate

After you get the results of a social media background check, how do you assess the candidate? How do you assess if they are meant to fit in?

For example, let’s return to the example of offensive content. One of the major controversies regarding social media today is free expression.

Many professionals worry about job loss based on how they express themselves online.

But how does one define offensive content? What views are acceptable and which ones aren’t? Is it fair to discriminate based on someone’s expression?

You have to decide for yourself what your company’s values are. You have to let candidates know this in advance.

For example, let’s assume your company values patriotism. You wouldn’t hire someone who bashes or mocks the country on social media. If your company values racial tolerance, you wouldn’t hire someone who makes racist jokes online.

This is an aspect of the hiring process that still isn’t clear for many companies. 

There are controversies on whether it’s okay to hire or fire based on social media posts.

The best way forward is to make your company’s values clear from the get-go. You can also create a social media policy for all your team members to follow.

Is This Ethical?

There’s a lot of debate on whether monitoring a social media profile is ethical.

If a profile is private, you shouldn’t try to hack into it to see what’s going on! A social media screening company will also avoid doing this.

However, if a profile is public, one can assume that the person is comfortable sharing their content with the public.

You can require potential candidates to share their social media handles on their application.

This lets candidates know that they will get vetted through social media. If they aren’t comfortable with this, they simply won’t apply!

You shouldn’t discriminate against someone unless there’s a serious red flag.

If their social media content can harm your company’s image this is a red flag. If their behavior might deter others and cause issues in the workplace, this is another red flag.

This is why it’s crucial to state your values in the first place. Many fired employees might feel that they are being wrongfully discriminated against.

They might feel that other employees are also posting ‘inappropriate’ content and not being discriminated against for it.

To save your company’s good name, set your standards beforehand.

Why Social Media Background Checks are Good for Candidates

By now, it seems as if social media background checks exist only to spot any flaws in a candidate. But they can also be the key to help a candidate land a job!

Social media profiles give an employer a more holistic view of a candidate. Suppose the candidate didn’t perform well in their interview or they have a weak résumé.

On social media, you might see an aspect of them that they couldn’t express. For example, you might get impressed by the articles they publish on LinkedIn.

Or, if you want to hire a graphic designer, look at how they create images for their Instagram profile.

Do you need someone to speak at company events? Do you need someone to become the ‘face’ of your company?

You can watch their TikTok videos to see how confident they are with presenting and speaking!

Start Your Background Checks

Now that you know the benefits of social media background checks, you should start implementing this for your business. The only major con is that this might deter some talented candidates. 

However, for the benefit of your company, it’s always best to vet each candidate as much as possible.

Hire a social media screener and then analyze the results to see if there are any ‘red flags’ or ‘green lights.’

Please share this guide with your fellow entrepreneurs. You can find more great business content on our website.

The post What Are Social Media Background Checks and How Do They Work? appeared first on ReputationResults.

But 2020 was a year like no other, especially for health research. COVID-19 impacted research priorities, funding availability, and public interest. The US cardiology market in 2030 will look very different than it does today.

Whether you’re an investor or company shareholder, you’ll want to understand the cardiology market trends. Keep reading, as this article explains how COVID is impacting the US cardiology market and what you should expect in the years to come.

1. COVID Overshadows Cardiac Disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been the greatest health menace to Americans for years. But by the end of 2020, COVID displaced CVD as the US’s leading killer. 

COVID has overshadowed CVD, absorbing funding and public interest. However, COVID-19 opens up new opportunities for cardiology research.

One study found that 60% of people recovering from COVID-19 showed signs of myocarditis. However, only 33% were hospitalized. COVID myocarditis is a serious (though often silent) side effect.

What effect will COVID myocarditis affect patients’ long-term health? What are the most effective strategies for treating COVID myocarditis? 

These urgent questions open up new horizons for cardiology research. The COVID crisis has redirected cardiology research. Expect to see new studies — and new funding — emerging to answer these questions.

2. Increasing Complexity of Cardiac Issues

Even before COVID, US cardiology trends showed increasingly complex cardiac problems. Cardiac disease is enmeshed in a tangle of lifestyle and chronic disease factors. This means that CVD treatment has to move away from generic solutions and find ways to treat with higher specificity.

COVID has increased the complexity of cardiovascular disease. People with established heart disease more likely to have severe COVID symptoms. They’re also more likely to have cardiac sequelae such as myocarditis. 

And the demographic most susceptible to COVID is also the one most vulnerable to cardiac problems in the first place: older adults. Treating chronic diseases in older adults was already a balancing act. And with COVID in the picture, treatment becomes even more complex.

What does this mean for US cardiology trends? 

Cardiology will continue to move away from generic treatment options. Instead, it’s heading toward more patient-specific treatments. Watch for more refined and diverse drugs to break onto the cardiology market.

3. Smaller Companies Break Into the Industry

With the market pushing for out-of-the-box treatments, investors turn to smaller startups. Small companies developing innovative treatment ideas have gained more funding than ever before.

With startups winning multi-million dollar deals, will investors pull back on other companies? A comprehensive analysis of these trends, which you can see here, focuses on the companies that form the backbone of the US cardiology market. 

Stay Informed About Cardiology

The world’s markets are reeling from COVID’s impact, and the cardiology market is no different. With this guide, you can stay abreast of the financial and topical trends in the US cardiology market and prepare to respond to them.

Was this guide helpful? Make sure to check out the rest of our blog for more financial and industry insights.

The post 3 Interesting Trends About the US Cardiology Market appeared first on ReputationResults.

Do you think your online persona won’t impact your real-world career? Think again!

Just ask the many victims of cancel culture who’ve destroyed their careers with one post.

Not sure what consequences can come from an online post? Read on to learn five ways your digital reputation could impact your career.

1. Lose Out On Job Opportunities

Your internet reputation can haunt you by limiting your opportunities in life. If potential employers see some red flags, then you might not ever get the chance to get the job of your dreams. Here’s what might put off potential employers:

• News articles referencing past criminal activity
• Social media posts that show you partying or partaking in illegal activities
• Tweets or posts that could get interpreted as inflammatory, racist, or conspiratorial
• Disrespect towards authority figures or police

Any of these online activities could put a stop to your career opportunities.

2. Get a Warning from HR

Do you already have a stable career? Don’t think you’re off the hook! If your co-workers spot a distasteful Tweet, they might report you to HR.

It’s legal for your employer to check out your online activities. In fact, most employers do. If HR spots a problem, then you could get a warning. This is especially true if your co-workers report the misdeed.

3. Lose Your Job

In the worst situations, HR might decide to fire you. Remember — it’s HR’s job to protect the company’s brand. If your posts reflect negatively on the company, then they have a right to end your employment.

Firing someone for online behavior is becoming very common. Keep that in mind before you post that sarcastic or politically-charged meme!

4. Getting Blacklisted and Shadow Banned

One of the worst things that can happen due to your online rep is getting blacklisted. That means you won’t even get considered for a position in your field or industry. You’ll get stuck in an auto-reject pile for what seems like forever.

Job recruiters don’t have an ‘official’ blacklist. Despite that, most candidates believe that one exists.

Shadow banning also prevents you from getting online exposure. You might have to buy followers just to appear legitimate. Click here for more details on that.

5. Face Criminal or Legal Consequences

On top of all these, you could also get hit with criminal charges due to your posts. You should never use the internet to threaten people or solicit illegal activities. If you gossip about others or your company, you could get hit with a civil lawsuit, too.

Your Digital Reputation Matters

Whether for your career or personal relationships, your digital reputation matters. Don’t fall victim to cancel culture or risk your real-life relationships. Instead, reign in your online behavior to reflect the you that you want the world to see.

Are you wondering how to manage your online reputation? If so, then you’re in the right place. Browse through our free resources to learn how to get the reputation results you deserve.

The post 5 Ways Your Digital Reputation Could Impact Your Career appeared first on ReputationResults.

Here are 5 ways you could help protect your reputation while still enjoying the Internet.

1. Work Profile, Play Profile

You don’t need to be a digital hermit just to protect your online reputation. Many celebrities, politicians, and public figures have both a professional and private profile. Their private profile usually uses their initials, a middle name, or a nickname that only their friends and family know.

Having a work profile means that you don’t get left out of any professional events, being tagged in photos, or forgotten in conversations. A work profile gets to be massaged, with every post vetted, adding to the allure of your persona. It’s actually very exciting for people when they only get a little bit of information about you at a time.

A separate private profile allows your family to post group photos with you tagged in them. They can reach out to you directly with anything, rather than your public profile which could be managed by an assistant. A play profile also allows you to have you to have real conversations and explore your humorous side, warts and all.

The biggest thing to worry about when you have two profiles is that you’re never posting to the wrong one. The best way to manage your two profiles is for your personal devices to be logged into your private account while your work devices are on your public one. You can maintain the balance by having to move to a completely different device to post.

2. Start Over

If you’re about to step into the public realm, you could always just press reset on your old life. If you’re under 40, you’ve lived a good portion of your adulthood under the microscope of the web. People have been watching your every move for years.

If you need a refresh, there’s nothing wrong with canceling an old account and starting a new one. You can even archive your old account, save the old information, and then scrub it from the world.

Starting from scratch for some people is like grabbing a ticket halfway across the world and starting over. It’s like moving to a new city where you don’t know anyone. Many people report feeling relieved and happier once they were no longer tethered to the false sense of connection and identity that social media provides.

3. Google Yourself

Searching for yourself online is the best way to see what your reputation really looks like to others. If you don’t see anything wildly incriminating in your first page or two, you should be in good luck.

Try to remember any crazy events you were at, political protest for causes you no longer support, or now-problematic celebrities you loved. If there are photos of you shaking hands with Sadaam Hussein, you might want to get control of those images. If there’s a report you wrote in the 90s about what a great movie producer Harvey Weinstein was, you might need to take those posts down.

If you posted to a blog that you no longer have the credentials for, all is not lost. It’s common for this to happen and tech support should be prepared to help you out.

Run searches on different engines. Use the name of any schools or universities that you attended. Plug in any incriminating terms if you’re looking for a specific embarrassing event.

4. Don’t Drink and Post

Drinking and posting online is a surefire way to end up in deeper trouble than you intended. Being drunk in photos can come back to bite you if you look a little too drunk. Everyone needs time to unwind, but yours shouldn’t overlap with using social media.

Lots of people post wild strange things online and then try to call it an accident, a hack, or a momentary lapse of judgment. It’s hard for the public to believe these excuses if the incidents keep happening. You’re better off just logging out of social media and off any blogging sites if you’re out having a good time.

If you’re really having a good time, what are you doing on social media anyhow? Perhaps you need a break from social media. View here for more ideas on what you could do instead of being on social media.

5. “Don’t Be Evil”

While this was once a key slogan in Google’s code of conduct, it’s a great credo for all of us to live by. Making conscious efforts to only do good in the world can easily trickle down to our online life. If we’re always trying to be constructive and make the world a better place, “don’t be evil” is a perfect statement to remember.

Being online allows us to say the mean things we’re thinking to a wide group of people without having to start the person we’re talking about in the face. That level of anonymity can belie some serious viciousness. “Don’t be evil” is a reminder to avoid that viciousness.

If you have the tools to hack into a system, to break into your ex-partner’s inbox, or to mess around with for former employer’s computer, think twice. Not only could you be violating the law, but you could be violating your own personal code of ethics.

Remember, don’t be evil.

Protect Your Online Reputation Forever

When you set out to protect your online reputation, you may not have realized it would be a constant struggle. Every post that you or anyone else makes about you could have ramifications out of your control. Without enough protection, you could be the next person on the news posted next to photos of a racy or poorly chosen Halloween costume.

If you’re more interested in building your company’s reputation, check out our guide for tips.

The post 5 Ways to Protect Your Online Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.

This shows how reviews can be so powerful to grow or quash your business. Therefore, as a business owner, you need to consider online reputation monitoring to know people’s opinions about you.

Your reviews on Yelp, Google My Business, and other local business listing services really matter. Most importantly, getting reviewed by journalists on major publications also impacts your reputation.

In this post, we’re going to cover the importance of monitoring your online reputation.

Read on for more.

Control Negative Reviews and Results

It’s always a nightmare when you do a branded search and all you get are negative search results topping the SERPs.

Keep in mind that customers are likely to trust the reviews they found online. By monitoring your reputation, you can identify these results and formulate a strategic approach to mediating the situation.

One way you can do this is through suppression SEO.

Typically, you create quality content around those search phrases that bring up negative results. You can link the posts to authoritative sites to help them rank high. This means your posts are likely to push the negative results to the third or fourth page of SERPs.

Manage Defamation

Then again, not all reviews out there can be genuine. Some companies and individuals are likely to defame your brand.

Online reputation monitoring allows you to identify such sites or journalists. You can contact them to pull down the posts or reviews. If they refuse, you can raise your grievances with Google.

However, Google may remove the links from their SERPs, but the reviews and content will remain live on those sites. The best approach to handle adamant website owners is to see legal counsel.

If you’re confident that a person or organization is defaming your business, a good lawyer can help you navigate the issue.

Put Your Business in a Positive Spotlight

Word of mouth travels fast. And there is an online adage that state “the internet never forgets.”

In some cases, mistakes can be made. As a business, you must be willing to acknowledge them. This is the first crucial step to resolving the issue. No one is perfect, and the best approach is coming out openly to your audience.

You can then proceed to clean your reputation. You can do this by improving your customer service. Also, issuing refunds or product replacements can help to ease your customers. The more you do this, the more you’re likely to get positive reviews from genuine clients.

Share your reviews on social media pages, website, and local business listing services. In the long run, it will be easy to put your business in the positive spotlight.

Online Reputation Monitoring – Final Thoughts

Today, the world is connected extensively. It’s more than a small village.

Negative reviews can spread easily and ruin your reputation. This will affect your bottom line, leading to a drop in sales and poor employee retention. Online reputation monitoring allows you to identify and fix issues before they worsen.

The post The Importance of Online Reputation Monitoring appeared first on ReputationResults.

Not just at the time that it’s sent, but there’s a chance it could come back to haunt you in the future too.

It’s always essential to really think about what you’re sharing and not only what it says to others, but what it says about you.

No matter what, these are are the top five things you must never share.

1. Pictures of You Partying Hard

The majority of people drink, the majority of people party, and the majority of people have had one too many.

Being wasted is so normalized that places like Stop Drinking Expert exist to help people learn how to only drink when they want to, not because they think they have to.

No one is saying you can’t party and have fun, but people do think it’s strange that you would voluntarily share images and videos of you drunk out of your mind and throwing up for the world to see.

It sends a signal that this person is out of control, they don’t value what others think about them, and they are reckless. I.e., don’t associate with them.

2. Sharing Offensive Opinions on Social Media

There is a huge difference between sharing your sincere opinion about a topic and just being rude.

For example, let’s say you disagree with the current president’s policies. Sharing a post that says “I believe we can do better than this!” is fine because it’s just an opinion.

If instead, you share one that reads “All the president’s supporters are disgusting sub-human monsters who deserve to die!” then you’ve crossed a line by a mile.

Anyone who sees that post will think that you are an angry, close-minded, and cruel person.

Always ask yourself: “does this post share my thoughts/opinions in a fair and balanced way?” Again, you can say and think whatever you like, but once you put it online, the internet can take it out of context and destroy you.

3. Posts About How Much Work Sucks

We all like to share our grievances and it feels nice when others agree with us or say they feel the same way.

But if you have even one colleague or boss connected to your social media accounts then that is sometimes all it takes for disaster to strike. Over 30% of people admit to searching other colleagues or competitors.

Even if you don’t, future employers may see your posts and get the impression that you’re someone who doesn’t like working and likes to complain.

4. Drama About Others

The things that happen in your personal relationships don’t need to go on the internet.

If you don’t like someone or something they said, then have a conversation with them in person. It’s not only a better way to communicate but is more likely to result in a positive outcome.

On the internet, people are quick to respond and often get as nasty as they want meaning statements are taken at the wrong tone and context.

Anyone seeing you do this will not only think poorly of you, but they will also worry that you may call them out on social media in the future too.

5. Your Personal Problems

You have an infection and it’s been getting you down so you reach out to social media for some sympathy. Or maybe someone cheated on you or your clothes don’t fit as well anymore.

Whatever it is, the internet is not the place to openly discuss your issues and share posts relating to them. It makes you look needy and crying for attention which can be very damaging to your reputation.

Be Smart

Just because a post makes you laugh or triggers a sincere emotional reaction does not mean it’s a good idea to share it.

Always take a breath and think about the possible consequences that could occur.

If you want advice or have already made some mistakes online then don’t worry. Just check out our other online reputation guides to help you improve.

The post Protect Your Online Reputation: 5 Major Mistakes to Avoid When Sharing on Social Media appeared first on ReputationResults.

When you put yourself or your company online, you never know how consumers will receive you.

There’s no doubt online reviews matter and can make or break you.

If you want to manage your reputation online check out these 5 online reputation management tools.

1. Hootsuite

If you want a social media management tool, then you should try Hootsuite. It will allow you to maintain and manage all of your social media accounts in one place.

Not maintaining consistent communication throughout your social media platforms could hurt your online reputation. With the help of Hootsuite, you can schedule messages, interact with followers, and more.

The free version of Hootsuite will allow you to connect up to 3 social media profiles. Of course, you can also upgrade and be able to connect up to 50 accounts if you desire.

2. Google Alerts

To get customized notifications from Google on specific keywords, you can take advantage of Google Alerts.

Google alerts will scan blogs, websites, and articles on the network and report the results to you. Setting up this service is fast and free.

There are easy instructions on how to do it you’ll start receiving alerts delivered to you in no time.

3. Reputology

Reputology has established itself as a platform used by multi-location businesses to track and manage their online reputation.

It will also allow you to be in the know on what other sources are saying about you, not just your social media sites. Reputology connects with other sites within your niche to figure out what they’re saying about you.

With Reputology on your side, you’ll be able to address negative reviews and incorporate other social media management tools such as Hootsuite.

4. Reputation Health

Anyone running a medical practice knows how important managing your reputation is nowadays. Potential patients are more interested than ever about what people say about you online.

Reputation Health is a reputation management tool for those in the medical field. This tool will help medical sites track their online reputation and reviews.

It will track 23 review sites such as DrScore, Vitals, UcompareHealthcare, HealthGrades, and more. You can expect you receive email alerts whenever a reviewer mentions your practice online.

5. IFTTT

If this, then that is a do it all app. IFTTT will connect your social media accounts, apps, and devices to simplify your life and make everything more manageable.

It will also keep track of your social media interactions and send alerts to your email or slack channel to notify you and the team of any interactions.

Also, it works across several channels. So if you like a photo on Instagram, it will send it an save to your Dropbox.

Try These Reputation Management Tools

These are only a few of the many reputation management tools you can use to manage your online presence.

Don’t know what people are saying about you online? It’s time to find out.

Take a look at our online reputation services, and request an audit.

The post 5 Fantastic Tools You Can Use to Monitor Your Online Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.

As many companies online are learning, having a bad reputation is a majorly negative mark on you in the eyes of your potential customers and clients.

Every year, estimates say that companies are losing $500 billion because of damaged reputations or problems with public perception of their brand. If you’re storing your data in the cloud, you might think that you’re taking an even higher risk or putting yourself in a tough position.

Thankfully, storing in the cloud is safer than keeping your information onsite where it could be hacked or stolen. Here are four ways to ensure that your move to the cloud results in higher security.

1. Start With Strong Passwords

While every password system will implore you to make a strong password that can’t be guessed, most people will use the easiest password to remember. Strong passwords are important but the easiest password to remember might be easiest to guess.

If your systems aren’t founded on strong passwords, you might have a system that’s ready to be totally taken over by hackers. Creating memorable and unhackable passwords is easier than your staff would think.

Give them a crash course as part of their standard training. The basic tips and hints are to create made-up words or combine words that are important to them. If your favorite dessert is a jelly doughnut, try combining the words into something a little bit goofy and incomprehensible.

Add numbers that aren’t related to a phone number, social security, or address. Most of all, don’t use the same passwords over and over, as you’ll be giving people around you the opportunity to hack one password and have them all.

If you’re skeptical about using cloud providers, take some time to learn more about how they can protect you better than physical servers.

2. Use a Password Manager

It can be a struggle to remember all of the passwords that you’re using for all different services. However, it’s essential to use a wide variety of different passwords for every service that you use.

That’s when a password manager can come in handy. A password manager locks all of your passwords into a vault held by a master password. Instead of having to remember every single password, your cloud storage can be held behind a master password.

Upon entry of this password, your credentials to protected websites will be populated into any password protected site. The apps that you and your staff use for reputation management can be as tightly encrypted and password protected as possible.

Password managers are a strong tool for reputation managers who need to use cloud data storage. It might be intimidating to store your data on the cloud. With a password manager, it will be under your control.

3. Two-Step Authentication is a Smart Choice

One of the best developments in cybersecurity in recent years has been the use of two-step authentication. Also known as two-factor verification, this added step adds an exponential layer of security.

Once the initial password is entered, a code is then sent to a device that’s connected to the system. This code is then entered into the website to confirm the identity of the actual person logging in.

Many of the second factors are placed under a tie limit. This will require someone to get to their phone within a couple of minutes to enter a code that will expire. It takes time for hackers to get into a system, often several hours to guess a password.

Even with “brute force” hacking, meaning when you try to get in via a sequence of numbers like “0001”, “0002”, “0003”, it can take a while to get in. If your team is outfitted with two-step factor authentication, you’ll keep attackers out of your system.

They’ll have to get ahold of your staff’s phone or devices in order to get into the system. Your reputation will be safe and secure when information is stored in the cloud if you implement this kind of authentication.

4. Encrypt Your Data

Depending on the system that you use, encrypting your information can happen at the press of a button. By turning on data encryption, all data is stored via a key and lock system that is unique to you and your system. If you suspect that your data could be hacked and accessed by an outside connection, you could save yourself the stress with encryption.

Mac and Windows have encryption built into their systems. With Mac’s Disk Utility or Windows’ BitLocker, you’ll have all of the information encrypted.

If you rely on a reputation management company, you might not always trust even the best companies in the industry. It’s your right to be paranoid, as nearly 30 million small businesses in the U.S. report having been hacked in recent years.

While the convenience of storage might be missing from this new reality, it’s important that your business takes this seriously.

If you’re storing your reputation data in the cloud, it’s especially sensitive to being hacked. Many companies will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just to fix a damaged reputation. One hack can send your competitors skyrocketing because of their ability to protect client information.

You’ll lose profits through a perception that you don’t take security seriously. Depending on your industry, you could also reveal that your system is rife with opportunities to be hacked and in violation of federal or state requirements.

Storing in the Cloud Makes Sense

If your reputation data is stored in the cloud, you could be more protected than you think. Cloud storage is employing the highest standard in security in the modern era. With the help of a service provider, you can ensure that your system is well suited to take advantage of cloud solutions.

If you want help restoring your reputation following a breach, check out our latest guide.

The post File Server No More: How to Store Reputation Data in the Cloud appeared first on ReputationResults.

This type of analysis is essential to gauge public opinion of a business’s brand. Companies want to see the impact they have on consumers, primarily through outreach online.

There are numerous tools available to help organizations perform this type of assessment. However, some are better than others.

Here are seven helpful tools that will assist your business with opinion mining and sentiment analysis.

Google Alerts

With Google Alerts, businesses can essentially eavesdrop on conversations that are being had about them on social media.

They can see how potential customers view their brand and its connection to the business.

Using Google Alerts allows organizations to track their online presence and view comments and likes that show support and satisfaction or complaints that signal areas in need of improvement.

Google Analytics

Another Google tool, Google Analytics, allows businesses to discover what about their brand is attracting consumers and how they can capitalize on it.

Google Analytics allows you to see the exact amount of visitors that have found your website, learn which exact terms your visitors type in search engines, and optimize keywords so that your site will hopefully rank higher.

Facebook Insights

If a business’s Facebook page has more than 30 likes, it can take advantage of Facebook Insights.

With Facebook Insights, organizations are able to see their page’s number of fans, number of likes, and page views.

More importantly, it also allows you to view fans’ demographics and who of them are daily active users, letting you to understand your social media audience better and craft more specific posts that cater to them.

Tweetstats

With roughly 950 million websites on the Internet, you are guaranteed to face stiff competition from other business. Tweetstats can supply information to help you evaluate your own progress and how you stack up against your competitors.

With Tweetstats, marketers can track and measure specific aspects of Twitter accounts, such as average number of tweets per day, growth of followers, and frequency of replies.

People Browser

If you really want to see the impact of specific marketing campaigns, People Browser is an amazing tool.

Not only can it find every mention of your brand, industry, and competitors and analyze sentiment, but People Browser can also compare the number of mentions before, during, and after campaigns.

Brandwatch

Brandwatch is another incredibly useful tool that provides its users with detailed information from over 70 million traffic sources.

Additionally, Brandwatch can review the tone of the posts it’s scanning so that businesses can examine how potential customers respond to certain types of content.

Semantria’s Lexalytics

People misinterpreting each other’s sentiments online is not a rare occurrence. A mean or sarcastic comment can be misconstrued as positive and encouraging.

Fortunately for businesses, Semantria’s Lexalytics breaks down each word in every sentence and assesses its sentiment based on the context of the post.

Semantria then compares that post with other related content to reach a more definitive conclusion.

Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis: Going Forward

All of these tools can be extremely helpful when it comes to building and monitoring your brand.

Be sure to keep them in mind when focusing on opinion mining and sentiment analysis.

Do you have any other questions about opinion mining or sentiment analysis? Can we assist you with your brand in any other way? If so, please contact us so we can help!

The post The Best Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis Tools for Social Media appeared first on ReputationResults.

It’s estimated that businesses spent a whopping $65 billion on SEO in 2016 and that 40% of revenue for businesses comes from organic search alone.

If you want SEO to truly do all it can for your business, your website needs a technical SEO audit.

Do you want to learn best practices for technical SEO audits? After you read this post, you’ll be able to perform an effective and comprehensive technical site audit.

A Beginners Guide To The Technical SEO Audit

Content-driven SEO can be easy to grasp, but technical SEO is a little more challenging. Technical audits are less about content and appearance, and more about the way your website is built and how it functions.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a master developer to perform a comprehensive SEO audit on your website.

We’re going to help you run your first SEO audit by outlining exactly what you need to have done. Once you understand the most essential parts of your audit, you’ll be able to perform a flawless one.

Master The SEO Basics

Before you perform a technical SEO audit, make sure that other basic parts of your SEO strategy are in order.

It’s easy to assume that some fundamental features of SEO are in order before you being a technical audit. Forgetting key pieces of SEO will skew the results of your audit, so make sure everything is in order before you begin:

Title Tags

Your title tags should be unique and have keywords that are relevant to the site content in them. You may have hundreds of pages that need to be indexed, but unique title tags are still important.

If you have a lot of pages that need unique tags, come up with a simple naming convention for them. A descriptive keyword paired with a dash and the name of your company can work well.

Headings

If you don’t have H1s, H2s, and H3s properly tagged on your site, you’re missing out on a lot of potential SEO.

Go through your site and make sure that header text is properly tagged, and that it contains relevant keywords.

Meta Descriptions

Like with title tags, meta descriptions should be unique and feature relevant keywords and text that make people want to click links.

Remember, meta descriptions are going to help readers decide if your content is relevant and interest enough for them. Write interesting and informative descriptions, don’t make them generic.

Content

Content is important for your online reputation and SEO. When was the last time site content was updated with relevant keywords?

It’s important to look at trending keywords to make sure that you’re still including phrases people are searching for. The content you have on your site now may be in need of a keyword refresh.

Take a little time to look into trending keywords and see how many of them are woven into the content you currently have. Also, don’t be afraid to bring on a little copywriting help to spruce up content if it needs a lot of work.

Site Look And Structure

If your website is poorly designed, a technical SEO audit won’t be much help. You’ll need to have a website that looks and works great if you want to improve your rankings.

A site like the one from Goodman Creatives is a nice example of a well-built site. The links work, the images are engaging, and it’s easy to move around to different sections.

If your site needs some work, focus on making it great before you worry about SEO.

Make Sure Your Pages Can Be Indexed

You’ve noticed your traffic steadily falling over the past few months, and it seems like you rankings keep slipping lower. It’s very possible that your SEO problems are being caused by pages that can’t be crawled.

If you’re concerned about pages being unable to be indexed, be sure to check these things:

Check Your Indexed Sites

There’s a very easy way to see which sites are currently being indexed by Google.

Simply do a Google search for site:yourdomainname.com and you’ll see a list of pages that are currently indexed.

Check Your Index Status

One of the easiest ways to see if crawlers are missing pages on your site is to check the Index Status report in your Google Analytics tools. You can easily see the number of pages Google has crawled under your domain name.

You’ll want to check the data to see that the page count is going up over time. If it hasn’t increased, your pages could have issues that aren’t allowing them to be crawled.

Beef Up Security

There are a lot of factors that come into play when Google ranks websites, and security is one of them.

Google wants to make sure that they’re showing the most accurate and helpful search results possible to searchers. Landing on a website that may not be secure can put people at risk.

Before you worry about forming a cybersecurity task force for your site, start by improving security on your own by switching over to HTTPS.

Google prefers HTTPS websites because they offer encrypted communication with web servers.

Audit Your Backlinks

SEO may have changed a lot over the years, but there are some fundamentals that are still the same.

If you want to improve your rankings, you’re going to need some high-quality backlinks from around the net. If your site has been around for a while you may have amassed hundreds of links you don’t even know about.

A full backlink audit should be at the top of your technical SEO checklist. You may find that your SEO problems are being caused by some particularly malicious links.

Find a good backlink crawling tool and have them do the tedious work for you. Once you have a list of your backlinks, you can start identifying the bad ones.

Handling bad links can be a tedious process. You have to reach out to webmasters individually to ask them to remove links. If you do come across a bad link, don’t be surprised if it takes a while for it to be taken down.

If you’ve truly done everything you can to get the links taken down, you can always use Google’s disavow tool. The tool is meant to be used as a last resort, and you’ll need to prove that you’ve diligently tried to get the links taken down on your own.

Don’t Forget About Mobile

A surprising amount of traffic comes from mobile today, and Google pays attention to how your site displays on mobile devices when it determines rankings.

When you’re doing a technical audit, make sure that your site is optimized for mobile use.

The simplest way to optimize for mobile is to use responsive design. Your website will be designed to create optimum experiences on every screen size.

Optimize Site Speed

Internet providers play a role in how fast a page or site loads, but developers have a lot of power when it comes to site speed.

There are plenty of tools you can use to measure your site speed. Google likes to show sites that have fast load times. Ideally, all of your pages should be able to load in 3 seconds or less.

Unless you’re a gifted developer, you may need a little help with some of the tasks. But in general, there are some things you can do to help improve site speed that won’t require a site rebuild.

Check Image File Size

The images on your website may be too big and could dramatically slow down loading times on your pages.

Take some time to go through and check image sizes. Try to reduce what you can without having to compromise image quality.

Remove Redirect Chains

Redirects should be a simple way to go from one page to another. When you start adding additional redirects to existing ones, things can start to get tricky.

See how many redirects you have on your current site and try to get rid of as many of them as possible.

Get Rid Of Duplicate Content

Duplicate content won’t get you a penalty, but it still isn’t good for SEO. When bots find duplicate content, they don’t know what version to index.

Search engines typically won’t show multiple versions of the same content because it wouldn’t provide the best experience for searchers. Crawlers are essentially forced to choose which version will be the best result.

Duplicate content can be tricky to catch because people don’t intentionally do it. Your duplicate content is probably caused by a small mistake that’s causing big problems.

You may have one page with an HTTP address and another with an HTTPS address. If you’re an e-commerce website, you may have duplicate content because you’re using whatever wording the manufacturer provides.

One of the easiest ways to handle duplicate content is to start using canonical tag links. The canonical tag will let Google know which pages are the most important and need to be indexed.

Next Steps

Now that you know how to perform a technical SEO audit like a pro, you’re ready to find other ways to market yourself online.

Have you ever thought about how customers are talking about your business online? Reviews are important and could make or break a business. That’s why we make review monitoring easy.

Get a free audit to monitor your online reviews and see where you can make improvements. And be sure to browse our blog for more helpful content.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Performing a Technical SEO Audit on Your Site appeared first on ReputationResults.

More than 9 million U.S. adults vape regularly. A quick glance at the state of the industry shows that there is great potential for businesses.

But vape companies are not without risk. Regulations, negative perceptions, and health effects have all been major drawbacks to the industry.

Brand reputation is critical to any business’s success. Reputation management can help get your company back on track and in control of the driver’s seat.

All vape companies know they’re in a controversial business. Here are some detailed reasons reputation management is so important for your business.

1. Bans

Have you heard of the vaping ban in New York?

New York recently approved a law that will ban vaping under the Clean Indoor Air Act. This mean’s people can no longer vape or use E-cigarettes in public areas.

The recent ban and added regulations have had a negative impact on vaping’s reputation. For a while, vaping was seen as an alternative to smoking. Now, it’s being associated with bans and adverse health effects.

What does this mean for vape companies? They have to compete with a flood of negative articles related to their industry. People are just as likely to find bad press as they are a vaping company’s website.

2. Being Lumped with Cigarettes

Public perception is changing when it comes to vaping.

Vaping rose to prominence for being a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes. They provide smokers with nicotine without the harmful tar that comes with cigarettes.

Unfortunately, e-cigarettes are now being associated with real cigarettes. Smoking regulations have begun to regulate vaping in the same way as other tobacco products. They are becoming associated with the dangers of smoking, despite little long-term health data existing.

Vape companies also have to jump through hoops to relay the message that their product is less harmful than cigarettes. State mandates have made it difficult to dispute health claims. As a result, public perception has taken a dive.

3. Control the Conversation

How can vape companies take control of the conversation? They can participate in reputation management.

Reputation management helps businesses overpower negative press with articles of their own. When someone Google’s their company, they can make sure that positive articles and good press outweigh the bad.

Vape companies can promote blog posts, images, and videos related to their brand. They can also use social media to promote their brand and stimulate good conversations.

Blog posts don’t have to be internal. Companies can also use the local search ecosystem to work on their reputation. These efforts can include enhancing Google listings, directory pages, or even a guest post!

These efforts will help brand reputation. This can have long-term ramifications on customer outreach and retention.

Your Brand Reputation

Vape companies face an uphill battle when it comes to reputation. Recent bans, regulations, and public perception have all hurt the industry.

Reputation management is more important than ever before. Not sure if you have a problem with your online reputation? Use our free reputation audit tool to find out today.

The post 3 Reasons Reputation Management is Important for Vape Companies appeared first on ReputationResults.

Affiliate marketing can be one of the best ways to generate revenue for your business. The problem, though, is that you may end up with some affiliates that are going to damage your brand.

Thankfully, there are some strategies you can use to protect your brand from rouge affiliates.

Keep reading and I’ll share some tips that will help you find good affiliates. Use these tips and you can enjoy affiliate marketing, without falling victim to problematic affiliates.

Let’s begin!

Take Your Time

You may have heard that affiliate marketing can be one of the fastest ways to grow your business. Because of this, you may be overly aggressive when recruiting affiliates.

This might sound like a good strategy, but it is not. It can lead to you working with people that are going to tarnish your brand or use marketing strategies that are harmful.

As long as your offer is good solid and it has the ability to make good money for affiliates, there will always be people willing to promote for you.

Following this, do not feel as though there is a rush to get your affiliate program out there. Take things slowly, and you’ll be able to prevent situations where affiliates might cause irreversible damage to your brand.

Vet the Affiliates You Work With

If you want to work with good affiliates, you need to make sure you vet them. This is perhaps one of the most effective things you can do to work with good affiliates.

How you vet an affiliate is going to depend on your own particular circumstances. For the most part, you’ll want to keep an eye on how they’re generating traffic.

You might want them to only generate traffic using certain methods. You want to make sure they’re not using traffic generation methods that are going to lead to your brand being affected. An example of this is bidding on branded keywords when running search campaigns.

Have Rules for the Marketing Material

You might also have some rules in the marketing material they use. You may suggest that they don’t use any testimonials from your site. You could also ask that they don’t use any kind of ‘fake testimonials.’

You could even suggest that they don’t use marketing messages that are overly pushy or rely on using fear to drive action.

If you want to be really thorough here, you should think about creating a terms and conditions document. This will detail all the requirements you have. You should then make sure that affiliates ‘sign’ this document before they become an affiliate.

If you have little to no experience creating a terms and conditions document, you may want to work with a lawyer. It might be a good idea to work with a lawyer that has experience with affiliate marketing. They’ll have a good sense of what needs to be included in your document.

Keep an Eye on Your Affiliates

You should also think about monitoring your affiliates. In doing so, you’ll be able to see how they’re generating traffic. You’ll then be able to see the ‘creatives’ that they’re using and what kind of marketing methods they’re using to send you traffic.

One of the ways you can do this is by checking your Google Analytics accounts. You can then source the traffic using specific URLs, and find out which affiliate is driving traffic. You can identify an affiliate using their specific affiliate codes.

In some cases, if you’re using a specialist affiliate platform, then you may be able to do this in a manner that is much easier. If you’d like to find out more about such tools, you might want to visit Be An Affiliate Marketer. There you’ll be able to see a list of tools that’ll help you manage your affiliate marketing efforts.

Don’t Feel the Need to Work with a Lot of Affiliates

One of the common misconceptions about affiliate marketing is that you need to work with a lot of affiliates. The more affiliates you have, the better right?

Taking this approach, however, can create a situation where you’re working with too many affiliates. This can make it hard to manage everyone and you may run into a situation where a rogue affiliate slips through the cracks.

The more you engage in affiliate marketing, the more you’ll learn that there are generally 20% of affiliates or so, that drive most of your revenue. If you’re in a situation like this, it can be a good idea to fire the rest of your affiliates. You can then focus on working closely with the remaining 20%.

Because you’re now working with a smaller pool of people, it becomes easier to figure out what you can do to help them make more money. It also becomes easier to run quality checks to make sure there is no form of marketing that goes against your brand guidelines.

Use Tools to Track Your Brand Across the Web

If you’re finding it difficult to keep track of your brand and how it is being promoted online, think about using some tools to help you.

One of the most basic, but effective ways you can do this is with the help of Google Alerts. You can simply create an alert centered around certain keywords that relate to your brand. Google will then send you an email at an interval of your choosing. You can then review where and how your brand has been promoted/discussed across the web.

You might also want to manually search social media platforms using keywords and hashtags that are relevant to your brand. Keep in mind that there are specialist tools that’ll help you do this too. But these tools can cost money. Thus doing things manually can help you keep costs low.

Is Affiliate Marketing a Good Idea for Your Brand?

Affiliate marketing can help you get your brand out there. But you need to be careful when choosing the affiliates you use to help promote your brand. Otherwise, you risk damage to your brand reputation.

In this post, we’ve taken a look at some of the things you can do to protect your brand when using this form of marketing. You need to think about writing some terms and conditions for your affiliates. You also want to focus on working with only a small number of affiliates.

It also helps to be proactive. Make sure you keep an eye on how your brand is being promoted across the web. This’ll help you gain a better understanding of the methods being used by your affiliates.

Want to learn how you can use testimonials to boost your online reputation? Check out this post to learn more!

The post How to Protect Your Brand Reputation When Doing Affiliate Marketing appeared first on ReputationResults.

Your online reputation is incredibly important and can make or break your company or your professional career. But, how can you know what’s out there on the internet about you or your business?

Check out these eight tips to monitor your online reputation:

1. Google Yourself

One of the most common ways to find what others think about you on the Internet is to do a Google search of your name or your business name. This pulls up a list of where you appear on the web.

These pages can include sites like WhitePages, your Facebook profile (or profiles – we’ll cover that later), and reviews about you or your business products and services.

There might not be anything you can fix about what is already on the Internet. But there are tools and best practices you can put in place to increase a positive online reputation going forward.

Setting up a Google Alert is a great way to help monitor posts or mentions using your name or business name going forward.

2. Search for Complaints

Even if you don’t want to know the negative things out there, it’s helpful to research any online complaints about your business or about you personally. But, how can you know all of the sites where you should look?

A tool called Complaint Search Box does that for you. Enter your name in the search criteria in the box on the screen. Complaint Search Box generates a list of 40 (or more) sites specifically set up to receive complaints.

These can include sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Yelp, and more.

But while this works great for websites, how do you check social media for negative reviews or comments? There’s a service for that too.

3. Check Social Media

When we say check social media, we mean all of it – not just your own posts or pages.

Using a tool like Social Mention will tell you what others are posting about you on social media platforms. This app generates a list of posts, images, or blogs that include your name or your business name.

The tool also rates comments and provides analytics for what people post about you. You’ll see the most recent posts about you and the top sites that reference you.

If you want to know how people on social media really feel about you, this is a great tool to see the good and the bad.

4. Target Your Profiles

There is wisdom in keeping business relationships separate from personal relationships. And that applies to life and relationships online as well as offline.

Do you want everyone you work with to see everything in your personal life? Do you want to spam your Facebook newsfeed with too many posts about your business?

The answer to both of those questions is “no”. A work profile should be separate from your personal profile.

Even after separating the two profiles, it’s possible that someone from your professional circle will be able to find your personal social media sites. However, it is wise to try keeping the business “you” and personal “you” contained to different audiences.

Directing your customers and prospects to your business Facebook page will help drive traffic to your site and increase your reach.

Likewise, personal photos and posts are best shared on a separate personal Facebook page.

5. Customer Service: Online

As many big corporations know all too well, excellent customer service is critical to a good reputation.

Bad customer service can lead to some of the most brutal reviews online. Often, a customer’s first experience with a company is online.

Customers may be looking for information or troubleshooting. They might chat online with a customer service rep, or use a form or an email address to send in a concern.

When it comes to your online customer service, you need to make sure email addresses are posted correctly on your website. Also, your contact information should be easy to find.

But online customer service isn’t everything.

6. Customer Service: Offline

Building and maintaining good relationships with customers can spill over into the real world, even if most of your business or communication is handled online.

The interactions we have offline can come back to affect our reputation online. Hiring the best staff to serve customers, ship products, or handle phone calls is important to building your brand and reputation.

If your budget is small or your office space changes, a great option is to outsource key roles to a company specializes in providing these resources. alldayPA, for instance, offers services that include a virtual receptionist or an outsourced call center.

7. Poll Your Audience

Customers need to feel like they have a voice and are heard.

Listening and making adjustments can improve your reputation and help develop positive feedback. Using customer feedback and success stories can help your brand – and your business.

Sending a short survey, posting a poll, or asking for testimonials gives you a way to shape your online message. Posting positive experiences to a testimonials page on your website will help generate positive buzz.

8. Online Reputation Management

With all of these areas that influence your online reputation, it can be scary to know where to start first.

Thankfully, there are services that can provide information, an audit, and ongoing coaching to help you get started. Your business is worth getting professional help in this area.

Start Building Your Online Reputation Today

Whether there is damage to control or you’re starting a new business with a reputation to build, take charge today.

Request a Free Reputation Audit to get started! We are here to help.

The post 8 Tips for Monitoring Your Online Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.

With the flexibility of the internet and broad reach of social media, it’s easier to go into business for yourself now than it had been in the past. Customers today want to buy from brands that share their values and beliefs. This is where your brand image comes into play.

Today, we’re going to teach you how to manage your brand image to get the most benefit from your business. Read along for our full guide.

What is a Brand Image?

Your brand image is determined by the way the general public perceives you and your business. Your brand is judged by past customers, future customers, and people who will never become customers. This goes beyond your logo and website layout.

Your interactions with consumers and other business owners, what media outlets are saying about you, the quality of your products, and your social media posts all affect your brand image. The brand image is the way people think and feel when your brand is mentioned.

Brand Image is Equal to Credibility

Your brand image and brand credibility fall hand in hand. If customers use your service or walk into your stores to find that your staff is rude and impatient when they were promised a personalized helpful experience, your credibility (and a sale from that customer) will go out the window.

What are your core values? What promises and guarantees do you make in your marketing materials?

These things need to be reflected at all times. For example, let’s say you own an art supply store. In your motto, you mention having strong ties to the local art community and knowledgeful associates throughout the store.

If a customer entered your business and wanted to know what type of paint would work best on a canvas she had in her shopping cart and the associate didn’t have the answer, the associate would be working against the product knowledge part of your brand image.

How to Improve

To keep things like this from happening, it’s pertinent that you create mandatory training across the board. Everyone from the store manager to the cashier should receive training that correlates with your customer guarantee.

Build Effortless Brand Recognition

People want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to invest in brands that move them. This is why you should involve consumer’s emotions in your marketing strategies.

According to Psychology Today, “Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) shows that when evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions, rather than information (brand attributes, features, and facts).”

This is the reason you’ve probably noticed an increase in emotional ads from major brands. Whether they be sad, nostalgic, or tell a humbling story, these advertisements are performing better than their counterparts.

How to Improve

Video marketing is the closest thing to having face to face interaction with your customer base and you’ll reach a lot more people while doing it. In fact, companies using video enjoy 41% more web traffic.

You don’t need to hire a film crew and actors to break into video marketing. Most phones easily record high-quality videos. With this marketing strategy, you can tap into consumer’s emotions by telling the story of how you got into the business, have staff share stories of their favorite customer interactions, or show some behind the scenes shots.

Have fun and be creative. But also, be genuine because people are good at picking up on forced content.

Fake it ‘Till You Make it

Maybe your business just launched a few weeks ago and you’re still working out some kinks. That isn’t an issue. Every entrepreneur goes through this and it’s a great time to learn some valuable lessons.

But what you don’t want is people who are looking in from the outside to realize you’re new at this. Your inexperience can scare potential sales away before they’ve gotten started.

How to Improve

There are small things that can give off a more polished impression. For example, don’t use a free email service like Gmail or Yahoo for your business. Set up an email using your professional domain.

If your name is Bob and you’re a freelance wedding photographer something like Bob@bobsphotos.com would be a great option.

Edit your social media posts, emails, and website content with a fine-tooth comb for professional looking spelling and grammar. And use a free website like Canva to create crisp, branded flyers, business cards, and menus.

All Impressions are Lasting Impressions

Whether someone is looking at your social media or a newsletter you emailed them, your messaging has to be the same throughout all your platforms. You can’t call yourself a “green” company on your website and then package your products in containers that aren’t recyclable.

People will remember what you said your values were and they will remind you when you’ve stepped outside of that bubble. You are accountable for your brand. Staying on brand will help increase your bottom line.

How to Improve

You need to know with full certainty that all your branding matches. We’re not just talking colors or logos, although those things are important too.

You have to gain a complete understanding of your brand in order to know how to move forward. This is a process that stumps many new business owners.

If you’re finding this step to be too challenging, enlist this company to help while you focus on creating a great customer experience.

Know Your Business Goals

It’s difficult to start a major project without planning where it will end up. When you’re thinking about your brand image, think about what you expect your business to become in the next several years.

The steps you take now will differ according to that plan. Whether you wish for your small business to become a large chain or you wish to stay small and sell when you retire.

How to Improve

Take some time to think about the future of your business by using the S.M.A.R.T. model.

S-Specific

M-Measurable

A-Attainable

R-Relevant

T-Time-Based

This action-oriented plan will help you lead your business in the direction of your choice.

We’re Here to Help

Our experts are here to help you make the most of your brand image. Check our site for a complete list of reputation services and business advice.

The post 5 Reasons Why Your Brand Image Matters, And Easy Ways to Improve It appeared first on ReputationResults.

Gaining positive customer reviews are more important than any other business activity. The reviews can make or break a business. Yet, many owners have no idea reviews are out there let alone manage them.

Here’s why they matter…

Customer Reviews: It’s About Online Reputation

Did you know? 70% of people place their trust in online reviews.

Online users find reviews through:

• Google listings
• Yelp
• Social media
• Review websites

Most users will check reviews before buying a product. These reviews, positive or negative, either drives them into the sales funnel. Or, sends them away.

Here are four ways reviews are determining your business viability:

#1: User Stories and Organic Growth

The content scope a business can create often hits a wall once main topics become exhausted. Businesses will turn to services to bolster content to encourage organic website traffic. Yet, all along is the opportunity to do so with user stories.

An open platform — where customers can leave experiences — creates new pages indexed by search. These become entry-points for inquisitive parties while reducing growth costs and invested resources.

An outreach program can encourage user stories, too. Track brand mentions and contact bloggers and social media users. Encourage them to publish their experience through your business blog.

#2: Flip the Discord

A dissatisfied customer will tell 8-10 people about their experience. Whereas, happy customers tell 2-3. Social media hyper-spreads the experience before a business can do damage control.

Their public outrage and negatively creates an opportunity to flip their stance. A positive response could have them rejoining the sales funnel.

Often, problems with products or services stem from miscommunication. Using a public forum to respond and offer compensation will change their perception. This transparent response, read by others, could create a positive customer service image bringing them into the fold, too.

#3: Squelch the Negativity/Promote the Positive

Customer reviews on popular review platforms will outrank many business search positions. These reviews appear before product and brand pages. Those finding negative reviews decide before ever reaching your site or using services.

Squelch negative reviews or promote positive ones by flooding platforms with new reviews.

How is this done? Ask.

Use an email list, post-checkout page, or social platforms to encourage reviews. The flood of reviews will push old ones down in listings. This is beneficial if a business went through a recent restructuring or rebranding.

#4: Referrals

Web users are keen on advertising and filter paid outreach. Many use adblockers or avoid websites because of banners, pop-ups, and native ads.

Referrals, from verified customers, are natural and devoid of bias. These customer reviews share personal experiences and gritty details. Their trust and authority generate interest from their community — sending new leads.

Why does it matter vs controlling the message through ads? Because 92% of people trust recommendations from people they know and follow.

Ready to Get (Reputation) Results? Let’s Talk

Use our free reputation audit tool to understand your brand image. Then, get in touch to learn about our reputation services.

Customer reviews can (and will) make or break your business. Do you want to risk it by not having control of the rapport? Let’s talk.

The post 4 Ways Customer Reviews Can Make or Break Your Business appeared first on ReputationResults.

Given that 84% of people trust reviews as much as they trust a recommendation from their own friends, having a strong reputation is important. This is surprising to lots of people, as it’s commonly thought that only the squeakiest wheels would take the time to leave a review. At the same time, online reputation management is essential because of these squeaky wheels.

Between Yelp, Google, Angie’s List, Facebook, and every other site with a review function, there are more ways than ever for customers to give you feedback. There’s a whole culture of people who enjoy leaving feedback which has provided the opportunity for brands to receive positive and negative criticism. Many people feel a social responsibility to let other people know about a bad experience or shine the light on a beloved stalwart with a glowing review.

Online reputation management can get the ball rolling. Here are three essential tactics to ensure you have a great reputation.

1. Post Great Content

Believe it or not, a great blog can help build your online reputation. More brands are getting hip to the idea that customers don’t like traditional marketing. The best way to market your brand is to show off your expertise.

Connect with your audience by showing them new ways to use or how to maintain your products and services. Talk about other local businesses that you enjoy. Build a personal relationship with your clients by being open and honest.

Share this content on your social media profiles and encourage others to like and share as well.

2. Respond On Social Media

When you get feedback on social media, the worst thing you can do is to ignore it. Positive or negative, you should respond within a few hours. This will let customers and clients know that behind the facade are real people at work.

Some businesses are getting really good at this.

Don’t get into a flame war and never feed the trolls, but if someone is clearly dissatisfied, take their responses seriously. Apologize for any mistakes in public and you can save face in a big way.

3. Get Good Reviews

Most sites offer a rating or ranking system next to your business’s name. You’ll be rated from 1-10 for any number of reasons. If you don’t have enough reviews, a few bad ones can drag on your rating.

That’s why you need to reach out to your best customers and ask them to give you a review. Run short campaigns where you reach out to 10 or 20 of your most engaged clients and ask them to review your business on one site. Run another with a new group and a new site to spread the word around.

Online Reputation Management Can Save You Money

It can cost hundreds or even thousands just to get clients to your website. If they are then deterred from working with you because of a bad review, that’s a problem that could have been avoided. If there are flat-out false statements online, you can reach out to site owners to have them removed.

The post 3 Essential Elements of Online Reputation Management appeared first on ReputationResults.

If you are making an offer to a prospective new employee they are five times more likely to turn it down if you have a bad reputation than if you have a good one. So says a study by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. Your online reputation makes a difference as to how prospective employees regard you.

In this article, I’ll be considering what difference your reputation makes to your hiring goals and what you might do about it. If you are responsible for hiring or your corporate reputation, you might be surprised by how important this is for recruitment.

Read on to learn how your online reputation affects your hiring goals.

Online Reputation

Businesses have always had a reputation. Reputation was about what people said to each other about you. If they had a great customer experience they told their friends and neighbors.

If people had a bad experience they also told their friends and neighbors. Word got about and a bad reputation was formed.

Now, reports about people’s experiences of businesses are spread across networks. They can be instant and repeated many times. They are accessible by everybody and you don’t even have to know the person providing the review.

Employer Reputation

Just as customer reviews of products and services have transformed corporate reputations so employers must now recognize they have an employment reputation. This reputation is formed on social media, job websites and on purpose-built employment reputation sites.

Try doing a search on Twitter for your business? Check Indeed for your company review. Glassdoor holds millions of company reviews as well as other information of interest to potential employees.

Are you surprised by how much information is out there? Are you concerned about what it says about your business and how prospective employees might regard you? If you feel pleased with what you find has it occurred to you how fragile this may be?

Managing Your Reputation

Your online reputation can make a major difference to all aspects of your business. Organisations that are switched on to this recognize the need to have a reputation management strategy and apply it to suppliers, partners, customers, and employees.

For example, if you’re selecting a user experience design consultant it would be sensible to have a set of ux design interview questions that help you screen out any risk to your reputation. By the same token, it is wise to have a strategy to manage your employment reputation.

What Difference Does It Make?

Having a good online reputation means positive perceptions. You get more applications and candidate searching for vacancies. You may reduce your recruitment costs, have less employee turnover and you may even be able to attract people and pay lower salaries.

What Can You Do About It?

There are two main opportunities for managing your reputation. One is reactive and the other is active.

Reactive management is about responding to the online reviews. If people are discussing your organization get involved. Join the conversation.

Encourage and acknowledge the positive comments. Respond to the negative comments. People at least feel listened to and you have a chance to show that you are willing to engage with feedback, constructively.

Active management is more strategic. Work on the culture of the organization so that its values and behavior are worthy of the reputation you aspire to. This is not a quick fix but it is the only sustainable way of delivering a great reputation.

To learn more about managing your reputation click here.

The post How Your Online Reputation Affects Your Hiring Goals appeared first on ReputationResults.

Do you know 96% percent of Americans prefer to shop online? This doesn’t stop at clothing and goods. They also shop for services.

If you think people will pull out a phone book and search for an AC business, you’re wrong.

Since your AC business has an online presence, you need to know what people have to say about it.

You need a reputation management strategy to ensure your AC business has the best online reputation. Read on to get started.

What is a Reputation Management Strategy?

How many times have you seen business lose the good reputation they’ve built over years because of a little bad press? Could the bad press have been prevented?

The answer is “yes,” and that’s what a reputation management strategy does. If you’re aware of your business’ reputation you can fix matters before your company’s reputation is compromised.

If you have an AC business, one bad review left by a customer can have a negative impact on your business.

Help Your Professional Image

If you have an AC business, then you know about all the competition around you.

What you need to do is always focus on your professional image in order to have the best reputation.

Reputation management can ensure customers always see the best and professional side of you.

Increases Sales

Before customers hire you, they will look at your online reviews and AC business website. When you don’t pay attention to what is said about you online, it could cost you sales.

If you manage the reputation of your business, you could increase your sales. Having control over what is being said about your business will ensure you don’t miss out on potential business opportunities.

Trust and Credibility

Nothing will kill your credibility faster than negative comments and reviews. If many negative reviews about your AC business float around the internet, your trust and credibility will be at stake.

Before your credibility gets destroyed, you should take matters into your hands. In fact, 38.9% of people who leave negative reviews want an apology.

If others read that you apologized, they’ll know you’re doing your best to make things right.

It Helps With Recruitment

In order to reach all of your customers and provide the service, you need employees to work for you.

Having a reputation management strategy will make you attractive to potential employees. Future employees want to make sure they work for a company that has a good reputation and will treat them fairly.

Get Online Insight

Managing your reputation will give you insight into what is going on online. Is there buzz being generated by your company?

If you find your company needs a little boost, offer them something to generate positive buzz. For example, tell them to click here for exciting coupons and offers.

Help Your AC Business with Reputation Management Strategy

Reputation management is necessary for businesses to control what consumers have to say about their business. A proper strategy can help business increase sales, help with recruitment, and even get online insight.

Do you want more tips on how to monitor and audit your online reputation? Visit us and learn how.

The post Why AC Businesses Need a Reputation Management Strategy appeared first on ReputationResults.

If it’s been awhile since you’ve paid attention, there could be something lurking that’s damaging your business’ reputation.

Pew Research has reported that 40% of adults in the U.S. have shared their experiences about products and services. If you think online reviews don’t matter, think again. Customers, potential customers, and search engines all pay attention to online reviews.

Keep reading to learn why online reviews matter and what you can do about them.

Online Reviews Impact SEO

The first reason why online reviews matter for your auto shop is because online reviews impact your search rankings.

As an auto shop, you’re considered a local business. With local SEO, you can generate many leads by improving your place in search results.

Think of SEO from the search engine’s perspective. They have one job–to provide the most relevant information to users. The faster search engines can give users the information they need to make a decision, the more likely users will that search engine again.

How does Google determine what’s relevant? There’s a complex algorithm that’s always changing to determine search results. Even though no one knows 100% for sure what that algorithm is, there are several variables that go into search results.

These include:

• Relevancy to a search term
• Number of backlinks you have from other sites
• How well your website is optimized
• How close your shop is to the user
• Customer reviews

The important takeaway here is that it’s not enough to have reviews on Yelp and other review websites. Your best bet is to have customers review your business on Google.

Customers Look at Reviews Before Deciding to Call

The most important reason why online customer reviews matter to your business is that they influence purchases. Put yourself in a customer’s shoes for a minute.

Let’s say you’re looking for a BMW repair shop. You look online and see a map with several options. You don’t know the difference between the shops listed, but you see that they have reviews.

One shop has 60 reviews with an average of four stars. The second has 3 reviews for an average of five stars. The third shop has 10 reviews with an average of three stars.

You look deeper. With the shop that has 60 reviews, they’re mostly positive, with a note from the auto shop after every single review. You see they also handle negative reviews well.

With the other reviews, there’s no interaction and very little details behind the reviews. You decide to call the shop with 60 reviews and take your car there.

In this situation, there are two important lessons:

1. Customers are ready to buy when they look up your services.
2. They are influenced by the number of reviews, the number of positive reviews, and the number of interactions between reviewers and the shop.

Reviews are incredibly influential for online buyers. Almost 90% of buyers trust online reviews as much as a referral from a friend. Plus, 88% of customers use reviews to decide if they’re going to buy or not.

What to Do About Negative Online Reviews

If you put your auto shop out there, chances are you’ll come across at least one negative review.

Your first reaction might be to get angry and upset that someone dared to leave a negative review about your business. You might be tempted to contact Google or Yelp and have them take the review down.

A negative review can provide an opportunity for you to learn and to do something better. It’s also an opportunity to listen to your customers.

When you get a negative review, engage with the person who left the review. The worst thing you can do is lay the blame on the customer for why that situation occurred.

Instead, use a template similar to this:

“Thanks so much for your feedback. We’re sorry you had a bad customer service experience. Here’s what we’re doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again. You can call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx to talk more about this situation so we can make it right.”

That’s how you show you’re listening and that a first-class customer experience is important to you.

How Your Auto Shop Can Get Positive Reviews

It is possible for your business to get positive online reviews. The easiest way is to ask your customers.

You do need to be careful, though, when it comes to asking for reviews. Some sites like Yelp have terms and conditions that strictly forbid asking for reviews.

That’s because they want to preserve the integrity of their online reviews. Businesses could have financial rewards for customers to post reviews, which could skew the perception of the business.

Other review sites aren’t as strict. Google’s policies state that you can ask for reviews, but you can’t give incentives to people to provide the reviews.

There are a few ways your auto shop can encourage customer reviews. If you have an email system to follow up with customers after you service their cars, you can ask them to rate their experience on Yelp or Google. Provide them with links to your shop’s listings.

Inside your shop, have a sign that says rate us on Google or find us on Yelp! And if you’re active on social media, you can periodically ask for reviews there as well.

Have a Reputation Management Partner

As an auto shop owner, it can be challenging to handle reputation management on top of everything else you do for your business.

The thing is, you can’t afford to let customer reviews fall by the wayside.

We work with small businesses to get more reviews. Our system handles asking your customers for reviews, and we filter out the good and the bad reviews for you.

If you’d like more information about this system, please contact us today.

The post How Auto Shop Reviews Can Impact Your Business appeared first on ReputationResults.

Does it matter, to begin with? No doubt. Up to 90 percent of your potential customers will look up your online reviews before visiting your store! That’s not all. 84 percent of internet users trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from friends!

If people are posting bad things about your business online, its reputation will take a hit. As a result, sales will also slump. If you don’t take steps to steady the boat, you may end up closing shop.

So, how do you maintain a good reputation?

Simple. Use social listening tools!

Here is how they come in handy.

Discover Negative Conversations in Real Time

Do you know 81 percent of Americans are active on at least one social media platform?

This means one thing: there are a lot of conversations happening on social networks (as well as other on platforms like blogs and forums) right now.

There’s a good chance someone is talking about your brand. The challenge is, how do you know what they’re saying?

Sure, you could start doing a Google search and digging around and maintaining a keen eye on your social network feeds, but given how vast the internet is, that will be a futile exercise.

What you need to do is use a social listening tool. These tools scourge social platforms on your behalf, and report any conversation they find, in real time!

The sooner you know what the people are saying, the quicker you can address their concerns and protect your good reputation.

Improve Customer Experience

Excellent customer service is the heart of any successful business.

However, it can be difficult to craft an effective customer service strategy if you don’t know what your customers really want.

Here is where social listening tools come in.

From the fact that they’ll help you know what your customers are saying about your brand, you can use the information to offer better customer service.

For instance, if many of your customers are saying your front office employees are not friendly, you can either retrain them or hire new people.

Get Content Ideas

In today’s digital age, one of the primary goals of a business is to provide content that’s informative and useful to the customer.

Like designing a winning customer service strategy, it’s also difficult to know the kind of content your customers need. What are their pain points?

Again, social media listening tools are helpful here.

What’re people saying? If you, for instance, find people asking “Does brand X offer home cleaning products” craft content around home cleaning.

Even if you don’t currently offer home cleaning products or services, there’s no harm creating content that helps your customers do DIY home cleaning.

By the time you start offering home cleaning products, you’ll have built a community of customers who will be interested in the products.

Social Listening Tools Do More Than Help You Protect a Good Reputation

Evidently, social listening tools are a must-have if you want to stay on top of your brand health. Beyond that, they will help you offer better services to your customers.

But how do you find the best listening tools? There are hundreds or thousands of options on the web, so settling on the best can prove challenging.

You don’t have to worry, because Reputation Results is here.

We’ll give your business a free audit, and then work with you to repair and build your reputation.

The post How Social Listening Can Protect Your Good Reputation appeared first on ReputationResults.

Imagine the damage to corporate reputation if a high-profile client trashed the business. Revenue would drop and recovery would become almost impossible.

Want to avoid these mishaps?

Read on to understand the how and why of your business reputation.

Why Corporate Reputation Matters in the Chauffeur Industry

There are over 188k+ employees in the “taxi and chauffeur” industry. That’s not counting the millions working ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.

The point: People have options.

One bad experience for a five-star client will have them hailing another service. The loss of this big-ticket client sends shockwaves throughout the industry. It reduces the brand value which impacts pricing and employee recruitment.

Public relations take a hit, too.

An unpleasant experience adds to the $62 billion bad customer service problem. The experience travels at twice the rate due in part to social media.

It’s not all negative, though.

Stellar experience and corporate reputation bring:

1. Increased employee satisfaction
2. Improved perceived value of the service
3. Accepted messages with new offerings

You may wonder how to improve the business standing. Pondering how to differentiate the business among the growing, competitive industry.

How to Improve Your Business Reputation

Ask the question, “What I use my chauffeur service?”

It’s a powerful thought exercise to detect strengths and weakness. It identifies key areas that could enjoy improvement — including:

Watch

Monitor your brand across several social channels and platforms. Use this for timely responses and gain a lifelong customer through memorable interactions. Else, solve negative experiences bound to spread on social media and search results.

Safety First

Client safety is top priority no matter their status and reputation. Improving client safety includes routine vehicle maintenance. Or, using EZWay Parking to provide personal space from the meandering public.

Employee and client injury are quick to make the news rounds. Stop the spread before it begins by ensuring safety throughout all business practices.

Influence

It’s easier than ever to promote your brand with Internet platforms and tools — consider:

• Creating informative blog posts on the business website
• Networking and building relationships on LinkedIn
• Producing video reviews and uploading them to YouTube
• Starting conversations and engaging with social media followers

Share great information about your industry and business. Overwhelm your followers with helpful content. This will build brand authority and drive leads to chauffeur business.

Associate

Leverage influencers by including them in your content creation and social media participation. Attend events they’re at to develop professional relationships with these individuals. Else, become a “regular” in their social news feeds. Do this by advertising or using mentions to get on their radar.

It’s called: Associate branding.

The brand improvement you gain when it’s noticed or mentioned by industry influencers.

Where to Begin

We’ve covered the mishaps of corporate branding. We’ve gone into techniques to improve it. Let’s now get you on the path to a recognizable brand.

See if problems are present by using our free reputation audit tool. Then, get in touch to find out how to we can work together on improving your efforts.

The post The Importance of Corporate Reputation for Your Chauffeur Business appeared first on ReputationResults.

With this in mind, what are people seeing when they Google your business?

To control your brand, you need to control your online reputation. Thankfully, there are plenty of online reputation management tools that keep you in the game.

Take heed of the tips below to create a winning reputation for your business.

The Top Online Reputation Management Tools

#1: A Free Reputation Results Audit

To control your reputation, you need to first and foremost understand where you stand.

Reaching out for a free reputation results audit reveals exactly what the web is saying about your brand.

This is a win-win situation. You don’t pay a dime, and you can touch base with a reputation management company that can tackle the problems piece by piece.

When people Google you, they need to see that you’re on top of your game. This reputation results audit scours the net for problem areas and helps you rectify the situation.

#2: A Site That Grades Your Brand

Nixing bad reviews is one thing, but you also need an all-encompassing look at your brand as a whole.

If you understand your brand recognition, ROI and other important factors, you’ll be able to continuously tweak them until you get the best results. And the more your brand gets out, the more people will share it.

This is important since studies show that 92 percent of people give credence to recommendations from others. When you get the word on your brand out, your followers will do the rest of the work for you.

#3: A Competitor Research Tool

This is a platform that shows you how your reputation is performing when compared to your competitors.

You’ll be able to not only tweak your brand but also communicate more effectively with customers. For instance, if you run a Medicare supplement agency, getting an edge on other Medicare supplement companies can shape the healthcare information you put out to the public.

This way, you’ll have the chance to jump on trends and stay ahead of the game.

#4: Google Alerts

Google is still king when it comes to online reputation.

This is one of the best online reputation management tools you can turn to because it brings you alerts and information from all over pertaining to your business.

You’ll see where you stand within the industry and can take the proper steps to bolster your reputation. Make sure to customize your Google Alerts to go to the device and address that lets you best use the information to your advantage.

#5: A Social Media Search Tool

This reputation management tool lets you know where you stand among blogs and social media platforms.

A social media search tool is worth its weight in gold since social media posts spread like wildfire and shape perspective about your brand. It’s crucial that you use this tool whenever you need to stay out in front of any criticisms, erroneous information, or misconceptions.

Hire A Reputation Management Company

In addition to using these reputation management tools, it’s critical that you get professional one-on-one help, too.

We staff professionals that can take your brand to new levels. Contact us to take advantage of our reputation services today.

The post 5 Easy Online Reputation Management Tools for Your Health Insurance Business appeared first on ReputationResults.

Someone might be looking for their new favorite coffee shop or an emergency contractor. They could need a hair stylist or a pet-sitter, too. Regardless, these people all have one thing in common.

Every one that searches for a business online is already judging how much they can trust you.

People use a business’ Google reputation to shape their perspective of a brand. Before they even click on your add, there is already a good prediction whether they will make a purchase or not.

Here are five ways your reputation on Google affects consumer trust.

1. The First Page Is Prime Real Estate In Terms Of Google Reputation

Google search results may not be Delaware Statutory Trust, but the first page is definitely the top real estate of the online world.

In fact, most users don’t even make it to the second page. People want instant gratification. They also start to lose trust for a company the lower they have to go on a list to find what they’re looking for.

2. Pictures Say 1,000 Words

As users scroll through Google, they are looking for pictures to tell them all about the services they want.

A business that has the same amount of reviews as their competitor but more pictures can see up to 200% more traffic. Traffic is a sign of trust. It does not always lead to a sale, but it says users are interested and want to learn more.

The more pictures you use to say who you are, the more users will engage in conversation.

3. Recent Interactions Matter

People want products and services that are consistent.

As such, your Google reputation depends more on what consumers have said in the past week than in the past few months. The more recent a good review, the more a new user is likely to trust you.

It shows you care to perform according to industry standards, and maybe even go beyond.

4. Wrong Information Gets In The Way

Don’t be the company that loses potential sales because they couldn’t market themselves correctly.

Be sure you are displaying the right information in your Google ads. Use clear and consistent brand messaging to gain consumer trust. More often than not, sales are lost because people found themselves clicking on the wrong information.

Start out on the right foot and say what you need to say to get your message across.

5. Negative Reviews Turn People Away

A bad Google reputation can sometimes do more damage than a strong reputation’s ability to do good work.

Negative reviews turn away up to 60% of your potential market.

This reinforces how crucial it is to get things right the first time. The more you make a good impression on the customers in your store or already following you online, the more your market will spread.

Find Out Your Google Reputation

Trust is an important part of any relationship, especially for consumers and their businesses of choice.

Show you are a reputable company as soon as you pop up in search results.

Get a reputation audit today to see how well you are already performing and what you can do to build more trust.

The post 5 Ways Your Google Reputation Influences Consumer Trust appeared first on ReputationResults.

The truth is, a lot of people are worried about their brand marketing ability. When it comes to confidence in their abilities, only 48 percent of brand marketers feel confident in their ability to do the job.

This is a shocking statistic, particularly for people working in medicine. Could you imagine if only 48 percent of surgeons felt confident in their ability to operate?

There are ways to develop a strong medical brand. If you follow these five tips, you’ll see real marketing results.

Understand Your Target Customer

There is no one path to successful brand promotion. This is because every company has a different target market.

For instance, a plastic surgery company has a specific target customer. Everything from their URL to their marketing materials can reflect that. But this same approach would not work for a brand offering something a bit more “life or death,” like MesotheliomaHelp.org.

If you don’t know who your target customer is, marketing is impossible. So know who you’re working with.

Build A Strong Social Media Presence

Social media is a vital part of any brand development strategy. If you are not on social media, developing your brand won’t be possible.

You should have an active Facebook presence for other reasons. One of the biggest is providing necessary information to potential patients. Everything from your address to operating hours can be found on your Facebook page.

You can even let people schedule appointments via Facebook message. So make sure your social media presence is strong!

Create Interesting And Shareable Content

Creating content is an important part of building a brand. The more content people read from you, the more people come to see you as a medical authority.

But the content you create has to be interesting, compelling, and unique. If it isn’t, you’ll find yourself hurt by a high bounce rate.

Your bounce rate is the number of people who look at one thing on your site and then leave the site entirely, without clicking on other on-page links. This can hurt your search engine rankings and must be avoided.

Consistent Brand Development Is Key

Brand development only works if you follow the same strategy every time. Failure to do so can result in serious problems for who you are. For example, you wouldn’t want to build up a sizable blog following and then not write for several months.

You need to regularly engage with your branding strategy. Change can be good, but reckless change means no brand will ever stick.

See What People Are Saying

Bad reviews and press can sink your brand like nothing else. A number of people trust the opinions of online strangers more than those of friends. So if you want to have a good brand, you need to know what people are saying.

We can help you find bad reviews and fix them. Get a free reputation audit with us for help!

The post 5 Key Brand Development Tips for Your Medical Business appeared first on ReputationResults.

88% percent of online

Don’t inhibit the potential revenue your business can have by disregarding what’s happening online with your brand.

One of the most effective ways to manage your brand is to create a space where people can give you feedback about your products or service. This way, you can directly interact with them by responding.

Take the time to listen, acknowledge and respond to your consumers. By doing so, you can elevate your online presence and make your customers feel that you care.

You’ll convert a once-in-a-while shopper to a long-term loyal customer by simply paying attention to what is happening online.

Here’s how ignoring your brand can kill your business:

Failure To Launch

Failure to respond to your reviews will ultimately cost your business money. When it comes to a stellar brand reputation, you have to respond to customer feedback.

In an oversaturated market of options, hospitality is key to a successful business. You can drive your sales, revenue, and bookings by specifically posting responses to online reviews and customer feedback.

Making them feel care for will make them feel inclined to keep doing business with you.

We Are Not Robots

Use their name, include all of the necessary info they are inquiring about. If there was an issue, then do what you can to rectify it through a review. When other shoppers see you’ve fixed a mistake, they will be more willing to give your business a try.

Being generic and general with your audience will drive away business. People are unique and have special needs in the business world. Staying unique, like Nickis does, will get your desired audience to your site.

When consumers don’t get a generic, automated response, they will ultimately look elsewhere for what they need. If you don’t respond and take care of them, someone else will. Get specific with people to keep them in your online doors.

Monitor Your Online Brand Reputation

Your online brand reputation will be clear through what’s being said about you online. If someone is posting about your product or service on Instagram or Facebook, you should know about it.

By hiring the proper monitor services, you can see what’s happening with your name online. If someone posts a glowing review of a product and you don’t know about it, then you can’t feature it on your page.

Search hashtags and keywords to find out who is talking about your business and where. Learn about your demographics and how to get through to your customer by knowing who they are.

You can kill your business if you aren’t in the know about what’s being said on the online streets about your products.

Brand Ambition

The proof is in the review pudding. Businesses with stellar online reviews are successful businesses. Managing your brand reputation online is essential to boosting sales and keep your customers coming back for more

When you are ready for the ultimate reputation results and premium reviews, contact us today for a free audit!

The post Ignoring Your Online Brand Reputation Can Kill Your Business appeared first on ReputationResults.