Keeping An Eye On Your Online Reputation
Your word-of-mouth reputation on the street is important, but there is a community out there spreading that word online too. And you and I are both part of that! Former and current customers write reviews on their websites, comment on social media, and air grievances or share good experiences that hundreds and thousands of people can read if they want to on Google, Yahoo, and Yelp.
When consumers use search engines to find your company, what do they discover?
Monitor your Online Reputation
As your Nashville SEO Guy, I can help you establish a good reputation over the internet, but let’s stop for a minute and determine what sort of help you need. Have you checked up on ratings and reviews lately? Have you typed your company’s name into a browser to find out what people are saying about staff and services? This is the first step in discovering how good or bad your online reputation actually is.
Take a Closer Look
First of all, type in a search for the sort of business you run. Don’t ask for your name specifically: just for businesses like yours in your town. Make a note of where your name comes up in the search (page one, page two, or worse) and where on the page. Are there stars linked to your name and, if so, how many? Does the single sentence attention-grabber contain negative or positive comments or just factual information?
When typing your company name into the browser with the word “review,” count the number of good ratings you see before reaching bad ones, then weigh up good vs. bad for a couple of pages. Does positive outweigh negative?
Next, head to your social media links to find out what customers are saying. Is there chatter? Do people “like” you or “follow” your postings? Explore LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and head to a site that monitors all social media if you don’t know all the options.
How I Can Help
After following these steps you know you are in trouble when 30% or more of reviews suggest your customer service is poor, pricing is too high, products are faulty, or something else about your company is not living up to expectations. You know there is a problem if you possess virtually no online reputation to speak of. No one is talking about you at all. This is where I come in with my Nashville SEO Guy’s services as an online reputation management specialist.
We can discuss the many ways to improve internet-based status. Hire me as a consultant and take the work on in-house or use my expertise to bolster rankings while you continue your regular job. One thing I would recommend is utilizing social media to your advantage.
Social Media
We talked about this on another page here at the site, but, it bears repeating. Start a campaign that gets people excited. Encourage fresh interest by offering something consumers want: free products or services, coupons, rewards, or prizes. Let your customer base know how important their business is. Start the campaign on Facebook where customers can “like” you to be entered into a draw for free stuff you make, services you perform, or an unrelated but appealing prize. After a short while people will start commenting on your Facebook page and the more comments you get, the stronger your presence is on the internet.
With these comments building, general discussion will slowly outnumber the bad reviews you have received, some of which might be historic. Perhaps it is time for consumers to learn how you have changed since those old reviews were written; how you have made adjustments in response to complaints. Everyone deserves a second chance. It’s my job to show you how that happens.
As your dedicated Nashville SEO Guy, I can also take on that job: designing and handling the entire social media campaign. With your express wishes and instructions in mind, I will become your online liaison, writing comments and responding to them over social media. While taking care of that side, I will also ensure content is rich with SEO keywords that help browsers find you in the worldwide web.