Your business cannot thrive without a solid reputation. On the flip side, you can do so much when you have a stellar reputation. Your reputation should be cared for the same way you would the rest of your business. Use these tips to manage your online reputation good idea.
To improve the online reputation of your business, optimize web pages with the right search phrase. It starts with the name of your company. Authority sites are heavily favored by search engines, especially Google. If you’re viewed as an authority, your business will move up the search engine.
Post moderation guidelines on each of your websites and social media sites. By posting guidelines, your visitors will know what is and what is not acceptable responses on your website and social media sites. If someone posts something that is not within the guidelines, remove the post and give an explanation of why the post was removed.
To maintain a good reputation, you must learn when you should respond. If a negative review of your business pops up, you must know what to do. If the complaint is legitimate, try responding privately and publicly to it. Try offering solutions like a refund. Try to avoid becoming angry or calling the review fake since it can make you look bad.
Watch what you say. This applies to both online and offline interactions. Avoid having any discussions about illegal activity or making derogatory comments. You also want to avoid having yourself and your business tied to images that are explicit or inappropriate. Also, try to avoid doing or saying anything negative that will be on a news station. Potential investors and customers may see these things as red flags.
If you receive negative feedback here and there, you should not remove it. Most businesses will have unsatisfied customers every once in a while. If you only have positive reviews all over the place, people will start wondering if you are doing things to make yourself look better than you are.
Have a plan available to deal with individuals who post numerous poor reviews with the intent of harming your business. It is better to have a plan and never need it than to find yourself the victim of such an attack and be unaware of your rights with no idea on how to manage the situation.
Make sure your company name appears prominently on the most important pages on your website. It should not be awkward looking or out of place. Just be sure to have an attractive logo tastefully placed on the page. It’s also a good idea to have the names of important people in your company listed on main pages. This fosters accountability and helps your page gain credibility.
Often when you purchase a .com domain name, you are offered the option to purchase the name with .org, .net and .info suffixes as well. It’s smart to do this, and it’s even smarter to develop these into related sites rather than simply having them all end up on your main website. If you have several different sites with high quality, pertinent content about your niche, it will help establish your authority and build your reputation online.
Having a reasonable number of high-quality subdomains can help you build credibility and establish a good reputation. You can build two or three subdomains, each focusing on a single product, service or aspect of your top-level domain. You would simply add the name of the product or service as a prefix to your domain name to create a new page. Be careful not to create too many of these pages because it can backfire on you and lower your search engine rankings.
If you want to have a good reputation, you can let your emotions get out of control. Become well versed in the art of stress management if you have to. Find an outlet, like jogging or working out as a stress-reliever. Don’t get into flame wars online, whatever you do. Your reputation will become ruined.
When confronted with criticism online, take the time to analyze it. Look at complaints carefully and isolate the specific issues you need to address. Determine whether or not the problem lies with you, the complainer or both. Consider the source. If the person complaining has a history of complaining in other settings, there may not be much you can do about this complaint.
Be thoughtful when replying to personal criticism. Make sure that you understand all sides before you say anything. Research facts to support your own perspective. If you do this, your reputation will benefit as a result.
Always go the extra mile when you deal with your customers. Good customer service leads to good reviews. The more positive reviews you get, the better your business reputation becomes. When you have a lot of 5-star reviews, the occasional one-star review becomes less significant to your overall corporate rating.
When you are hired by a customer, look to see if there are little extra things you can do for that customer. It doesn’t occupy much time or many resources, but the good results are invaluable. The customer will return and share their good words on your company with others.
Do not overlook cultivating your business relationship with your suppliers and sub-contractors. They can affect your business reputation as well. Always deal with them with the highest level of professionalism and fairness. Always honor your commitments. You want a good reputation among your colleagues in the industry so they would want to do business with you.
Make sure the people working in your customer relations department can keep their cool under any and all circumstances. When you’ve got an irate customer to work with, the last thing you need is your own personnel getting upset. Send your employees to work shops where they will learn self-control, along with amazing customer relations tactics.
You must have a good reputation if you want your business to be successful. Your reputation contributes greatly to your company’s profitability. Therefore, you will want to focus on your reputation at all times. Use these tips to help keep your business on the map in a positive light.
