Repair Your Reputation Online – What Negative Publicity Can Do To Your Business
Anything online is pretty much fair game. Anyone can take potshots on anyone just for fun, and get it posted as the number one result. In fact, a couple of years ago, searching for “miserable failure” online resulted in the Wikipedia entry of the former President George W. Bush as the number one result. Good thing that Google was able to defuse that bomb. This just goes to show that in the hands of a malicious competitor, the efforts you’ve been making in spicing up your e-commerce site and ramping up your SEO online marketing will not be enough. You will also have to be vigilant against threats on your person or company through reputation management online.
As if that’s not enough challenge for the site owner, your products reputation management online is open to slander and libel–whether its from legit competitors or just internet savvy nerds who want to see reputations fall.
Are you a victim of negative reviews because your company screwed up? Or are you a victim of malicious reviews posted online by a competitor? Customers often cant tell the difference. Search engines results can be manipulated. And if you’re up against a competitor who wants to win by hook or by crook through slander and libel, you may find your brand completely wiped out someone who is posing as an unhappy customer all over the Internet.
Should you find yourself in such an unfortunate situation where a website gets a high page rank for an important keyword to your business, and it badmouths your products or services online, take heart. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. In this particular instance, however, only a few of the methods stand out to have any lasting result. Here are some things you can do separately or together.
One, do nothing and pray that the market knows better than to take them seriously, and that the ruckus will fade way sooner than later. Two, send a legal letter against the site owner for defamation of character with a court injunction to remove the offending content. Three, get professional help by means of a competent search engine reputation management company who can provide reputation online repair services. They can reverse the situation and bring down the offending site several pages down the search engine where they can do no damage.
Clearly, the first option wont get your anywhere and will only cause more damage to your already tarnished reputation. Negative publicity about you could linger in the internet for a long time, and a potential customer could stumble upon it and take it as a fact. As a result, your business could lose revenue due to all the defamation slander floating around the web.
Going to court is often the last resort for anyone with a grievance but it can be time consuming and expensive without a guarantee that the court will resolve the case in your favor. In the meantime, if no injunctive relief takes place to remove the offending content, the damage to your reputation online goes on until the case is resolved in your favor.
The best solution is to take positive aggressive action with regards to reputation management so you can overcome all the negative comments by your online detractors. In this day and age, it is not enough for brand owners to just promote their products or services. They must be prepared to ensure brand protection as well. This applies to both online and brick-and-mortar businesses. Make sure to get professional help and manage online reputation immediately.
Crush jealous laborer slander and libel off of the web. Get a FREE slander and libel anaysis immediately by calling (800) 825-9500.