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Online Reputation Monitoring is Important

7 Reasons Why Your Online Reputation is Important

You’ve got your business a solid website and setup a Facebook page. Sweet. It’s easy to think you’re now in control of your online destiny. A blog post here and there, a few posts to Facebook and your online profile is taking care of itself.

Hold that thought. Have you ever Googled yourself or your business? Truth is, most of us have. When we search for ourselves individually we might find another version of ourselves as a carpet fitter in Glasgow. That’s more common than you might think. However, search for your business and the results can be quite alarming.

While you have control of your website and Facebook page, it’s likely that you’ll find a large amount of ‘other’ information that you have no control over and haven’t contributed to. Business listings, reviews and images of your business seem to appear from nowhere.

The potential for damage can be quite daunting. Your business reputation could be at stake and it’s easy to feel like you have no control over what’s being said.

What Is Reputation Monitoring?

Your online profile can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s important that, wherever possible, your business reputation is squeaky clean.

Search engines show everything. There is nowhere to hide and you can bet that potential and existing customers will Google you to ensure they’re dealing with a reputable, respectable company. In fact, studies show 90% of customers read online reviews before visiting a business. What your reviews say about you online can be crucial to your success.

The 7 Reasons You Need to Monitor Your Online Reputation

With everything from Facebook fake news to bad reviews, online information can change quickly – your reputation is no different.

We’ve put together 7 reasons you should keep your reputation in check. All you need to do now is hide those pre-internet photos and love letters. Let’s get started.

1. Your Online Presence is Everywhere

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Quora, Reddit, Google reviews, Tripadvisor. The list could go on.

There are a ton of different platforms online for you – and your customers – to find out information about a company.

Blogs and social media give you a great platform to share positive feedback with your audience. The challenge is keeping track of your customers comments, conversations, thoughts and feelings about your business. This doesn’t mean you should hide away; it means you should embrace it.

Join in the conversation. Respond to every comment in a positive, professional way. Even the bad, downright negative, Monday morning comments from clients that may not have had a good experience. How you respond says a lot about your business and shows other clients you care. We naturally want to do business with people that care, which lead’s into….

2. Responding to Reviews is Crucial

84% of people trust an online review as much as an in-person, word of mouth recommendation. That means that your online reviews can make or break your business.

Responding to a positive recommendation, mention or even negative comment will help to improve engagement and show that you care. Responding to negative reviews, in the right way, allows you to publicly rectify situations that have the potential to spiral, in turn minimising any damage to your reputation.

3. Unknown Website Listings

There are a ton of different online directories. Yelp and Trip Advisor are some obvious ones. Perth Map is a favourite of ours but there are many others online that people don’t know about.

Some of this could be quite innocent. Perhaps your SEO agency added your business to a directory to help build backlinks. Providing the directory itself has a good reputation this is fine. We advise that you, or your agency, keep track of directories that ‘go rogue’ and whose link back to you has a negative impact on your site. These may need to be disavowed in Googles Search Console platform.

It’s also worth looking at businesses that may have been listed with the same or similar business names. Ensure you claim your business name on as many of the well-established business directories as soon as possible. Not sure which directories to hit on and which to avoid? Drop us a line and we’ll guide you.

4. Claiming Back Your Listings Can Take Time

Anybody can list your business online. Yep, anyone.

Just as we can buy our business domain names and register our business on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram anyone else can do exactly the same. A quick search for Start Digital shows:

  • Start Digital
  • Start Digital Publishing
  • Click Start Digital
  • Digital Start

And there’s nothing to stop someone from registering www.startdigitalarepoo.com. It’s available and, if someone were so inclined they could create a site that set about dismantling our little empire. Don’t get any ideas though.

In a world of catfishing, where people get impersonated, it’s not unusual for businesses to become targets, the same as individuals. The great news is, if somebody does list your business, you can take steps to reclaim control.

Whilst platforms such as Google and Facebook are excellent at rectifying this, sadly, the process isn’t instantaneous. You’ll likely need to demonstrate various forms of certification and verification. During that time you’ve got no control of what’s happening online.

You can claim back your Google listing or request ownership of an existing listing here. There are many variables in Facebook but the ‘Reporting a Violation of your Rights’ page might be the best place to start.

5. People Trust People

Online reviews are powerful. It’s clear that, as in real life, people online trust other people.

Time is quickly becoming a rare commodity and people rarely do any fact-checking – hence Donald Trump. Just putting 5 golden stars on your website can unconsciously convert a casual visitor into a client. Similarly, a negative review can be hugely damaging for your business – refer back to point 2.

We recommend social proofing your website – it’s a quick and easy way to showcase your client list and demonstrate that your business is trustworthy. Highlighting client logos, testimonials and linking to other review platforms directly from your site helps build trust.

6. Word of Mouth is Fast Moving

The ‘word of mouth’ concept has shifted in recent years. No longer reserved for street corner gossip, social media allows word of mouth and user experiences to travel at the speed of light. How many times have we seen big businesses #fail on social media and it have a massive effect on their reputation? From McDonalds to Kmart and large corporates, it’s easy to see how things can come unstuck. And we know that the internet may forgive but it never, ever forgets #screenshot.

McDonalds Tweet Trump

(Don’t worry McDonalds – it’s not your hands we’re laughing at…)

It’s important to, firstly ensure that what you’re posting is relevant and doesn’t clash with your business ideals – not difficult right? And secondly, it’s important to keep a close eye on your social media channels. It’s not just rogue employees that can affect your posts but the comments to each post on each platform could range from inappropriate spam through to slanderous erm, slander.

7. Automation Tools = Crap Content

As time becomes the new gold we’re seeing more and more businesses rely on tools to automate their social media accounts. We’ll admit to using them ourselves for Twitter. There is a reason why we need to delete our Twitter account and start again. More and more businesses and business directories are pushing and pulling content that may seem relevant to an algorithm but has no real business relevance. Content may still be king but it needs to be authentic and relevant.

If your business uses any of these tools it’s vital that you monitor the content that’s being pushed to your accounts. We’ve been caught out more times than we care to mention by ‘smart’ automation. Social users are savvy and know when a business is automating their content which, depending on your view, can dilute your brand and reputation.

Conclusion

Much like real life your online reputation is difficult to keep track of.  In real life however it’s easy to shrug off gossip and move on. Not so online. Whether it’s from disgruntled clients, ex-employees, dodgy competitors or spam content your business profile has the potential to come under constant attack. It’s a bit scaremongery but ignore it at your peril.

Of course, it’s not all negative. There’s the potential that you’ll discover some great insights into your business and uncover reviews that you didn’t know existed. When you do, make sure you update your website to show the world what your clients think of you and spread the word. Check out our post on how social proof works for more information.

If you want more help managing your reputation online, get in touch today.

startdig

We are a collective of designers, coders, producers and technologists from around the world who collaborate on a shared passion for innovative websites. Based in Perth, Western Australia, we bring style and innovation to the projects we undertake. Taking time to understand our clients requirements we strive to produce quality web design work for an affordable price. We then leverage our years of experience to make sure that our websites are responsive, SEO friendly and meet the clients requirements.

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Thoroughly professional and well communicated. Thanks Neil
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I am from Brisbane, my name is Craig, I have a dog training company, it was my first time attempting on page SEO, after calling nearly all SEO companies in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, this was the only place that gave me some time to help me out. 5 star from me, well done in being a human and not worrying about what you could have got from me. hats off to you !. from dogtrainingbegins.com.au
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Knowledgable, inspiring and helpful. Getting my online presence created and managed by the Start Digital is the BEST decision I ever made.
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Neil & The Team at Start Digital are fantastic to work with. Our new website is exceptional. The guys here have fresh, modern ideas and the process from start to finish was flawless. Highly recommended.
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03:57 11 Jun 19
Neil and the team at Start Digital provide such an excellent service and have been a massive help for us since we launched late 2018. Their attention to detail is unmatched compared to other digital agencies we've dealt with, and the team go out of their way to ensure the best result is achieved in the most time & cost efficient way. Thanks again Start Digital
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A huge thank you to Neil and the Start Digital team! We engaged them to redesign our Move Homes website to take our brand to the next level. Not only does the website look fantastic, but throughout the website build we received frequent and transparent communication- we knew exactly what was happening and why. Start Digital listened to what we needed and would offer their advice on how to achieve our goals. Aside from their expertise, they’re also great people and really easy to deal with. We look forward to working on more projects over the coming years!
Sheila Woods
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04:36 12 Mar 18
Neil Mason and the Start Digital team have done a tremendous job with the design and implementation of Interstaff’s new website. Our brief to Neil was for a clean, modern website which visually communicated our brand values, ‘sharp, dependable, expert and human’ to both business and individual clients, and importantly to offer an engaging and easy-to-navigate online experience optimised for SEO. We are delighted with the design as well as the level of consideration and attention to detail Neil and his team put into shaping the online experience of our brand. Start Digital have been very flexible and easy to collaborate with and nothing was ever too difficult. They went above and beyond – even working over the weekend to help us have our website ready to launch ahead of one of our key business seminars. We look forward to continuing to work with Neil and his team in the future and would definitely recommend their services.
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The Start Digital team built us a new website and have been managing our SEO for over a year now. During that time our site has moved into the top five on page 1 of Google for keywords such as IT Company Perth and IT Support Perth which has increased our traffic considerably. We're very proud of our website and highly recommend Start Digital.
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Neil and his team at Start Digital go above and beyond expectations. Having worked with many web agencies I can honestly say that Start have been one of the most open and cost effective agency I have worked with . They come highly recommeded
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Excellent Perth website design, development and SEO agency
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After years of tolerating our old website, we are now proud owners of a sleek, responsive and easy to use new site, thanks to Start Digital. Professional, practical, affordable and easy to work with-Neil and his stellar team delivered our site along with 22 additional sites for some of our congregations. Our organisation is complex and this project was massive. Throughout the project, Start Digital were flexible and patient with us. They responded quickly to emails and phone calls, kept us in the loop and always made time to touch base in their cool office. We can’t thank the team enough for their tremendous effort. It’s only been a month, but we have received plenty of positive feedback since launching the new site. We look forward to working with Start Digital for future digital projects and highly recommend anyone who needs a new website to give them a call.
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08:25 02 Dec 17
Neil and the team created an AMAZING website for Inventium. We have received so much positive feedback since launch. I highly recommend Start Digital - they are awesome!
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03:54 16 Nov 17
Fantastic Service, Really Knowledgeable in all areas of Website and Marketing strategies, they built us a fantastic looking site and nothing was too much for them throughout the process, We also found them to be very reasonably priced compared to other quotes we had, highly recommended.
Dean Capelli
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06:22 11 Jul 17
Start Digital have built 3 websites for The Highways Group. We've been impressed with their attention to detail and quality of design every time. They're a friendly, professional agency and our go to web team.
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07:45 19 May 17
We highly recommend Start Digital service, their efficient , personnel approach and professional skills gave us great results thanks .
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Knowledgeable and excellent service at a great price I highly recommend Start Digital. We engaged them to redesign our website and manage our online presence. Previously we were a few pages back on a google search, however after only a few months we are in and around the top 5 on the first page. The guys at Start were great to deal with providing straight forward easy to understand information without the typical sales pitch that we have experienced many times before from other providers in the industry. We continue to receive updates on the progress of our website and their SEO service all for a very reasonable rate (ie. much cheaper than we were previously paying for a lesser service)
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Neil and his team was responsible for the design and re-branding of our website, business cards and marketing material. They quickly understood our business, they identified the market we needed to target and delivered an excellent solution to match. We would highly recommend Start Digital.
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Neil and the guys at Start Digital took care of some problems we had with our website performance. They were really efficient, responsive, easy to get along with and gave us some great pointers to help us with SEO. Unlike many digital marketing companies out there, Start Digital were very genuine and well-priced. Would definitely recommend their services to others.
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Great design ideas and technical capability means a complete solution for small and medium sized businesses like us. Neil & Co actually take an interest in what you are trying to achieve rather than just turn and burn volume website factories out there! I recommend them.
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We have had the pleasure of working with the team at Start Digital recently as we wished to update our website for our restaurant business. WOW! An amazing new, innovative, trendy and professional approach taken by these guys has resulted in a brilliant new site, clearly directing so much more traffic through our business resulting in increased brand awareness and google presence. As a relatively new business, Start Digital will definitely be going places ! We really look forward to continuing to work with them in the future and watch both our and their business grow! Thanks Neil and the team at Start Digital.
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