Internet Reputation Management

Blogs are a great equalizer: they give anyone with internet access a chance to express their views, tell about their lives, and communicate with other people throughout the world. Weblogs - blogs - are basically online journals and can be devoted to any number of topics: business, entertainment, sports, personal lives, and more. According to Technorati, a site that searches for and organizes blogs, currently tracks an incredible 112.8 million blogs. There are 175,000 new blogs created each day. What does this have to do with internet reputation management? Everything.

Bloggers wield an enormous amount of power. Business Week magazine ran an article in 2005 about this new force to be reckoned with:

'[Y]ou cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours... blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite.'

Dell experienced this explosive outbreak in the form of one blogger complaining about substandard products and customer service. Internet users take complaints about products and services very seriously, and negative press can severely damage a company, as it did to Dell.

The good news is that businesses can harness the power of the blogosphere to work to their advantage. Here's how:

• Part of your internet reputation management should be monitoring blogs to see what is being posted about you or your company. If you notice a piece of negative press, you can respond before it snowballs.
• Participate in blog discussions. If you identify key influential bloggers, you can keep track of what they're writing and comment when it is relevant to your business. Keep it light and friendly, and you can develop a reputation for being willing to mingle with the masses.
• Send press releases of important businesses events to bloggers. They are under a lot of pressure to post fresh content; most would be happy to publish your news.
• Start your own blog. You can post news of your products, initiatives, community interaction, and employees. This also gives customers a forum in which to voice their opinions.

Blogs are not going to fade in popularity anytime soon. Your business should embrace the opportunity to make them part of its internet reputation management efforts. Let us help. Take a moment to contact us today for a free quote.