online reputation management

[TopDog]

I've seen ads for online reputation management firms, which say they can take care of negative Internet comments/reviews about your business. How does this work? Is there a way someone can manage their online reps on their own?

[brodybrian]

Online reputation management is a comprehensive strategic approach that helps in maintaining the reputation of any business or brand. There are many service provides, that proffer online reputation management with the effective search engine optimization services.

[Shreyas_Convonix]

Well, I work for an internet marketing company called Convonix, and online reputation management is not about removing negative comments/reviews on the internet. It is more about creating & syndicating positive content about a brand online. Now, most of the times, this is perceived as hiding inconvenient truths about a brand. However we do it in a different manner. We do not try to remove negativity, but we promote our positive content about the client online. The ultimate aim is to outrank this negative content on a search engine result page.

People write all kinds of stuff about companies that do not have any verified source. In case of complaints, they do not provide reference transaction numbers, which will help companies redress grievances. This casts a doubt of the authenticity of these claims. Trust me, if you were a company, you would rather want a prospective client to see neutral, if not good things, about you. The nature of the internet is such, that the years of reputation that you have acquired over the years can be doubted by a single, random comment by a person who is not in a position to make a statement. You would rather go for an online reputation management effort or work hard yourself, and keep every person you deal with, happy!