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6 tips to boost the online reputation of your business

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Before the Internet came along, a disgruntled customer had few outlets to vent their fury. Once they'd finished moaning to your customer support, they’d probably tell their friends. They, nor their friends, would ever buy from you again. And that would be the limit of the impact.

Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs, a complainer can make their voice heard by many others. But that's not the only problem. When people search for your business on Google, the chances are that many of these complaints will be right there in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). So not only has that customer influenced everyone in their social circle, they're also colouring the perception of others who are actively looking for you.

So what can you do to limit the spread of this bad news, so that those who are looking for you aren't greeted by a slew of negative feedback? It’s all about controlling that entire first page of results on Google. Your website should be no.1 when people search for your brand. Here's 6 ways you can control the remaining 9 positions on the page, the ones where negative comments might show.

1. Set up a Page for your business on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter

Aside from offering a new way to engage with customers, Social Media pages should rank on page 1 for your brand searches. Do more than just open an account with each. Add content about your business including product news, latest offers and customer feedback. Users searching for you will then see an active, dynamic business that's working hard to relate to customers.

2. Foster good Reviews

It’s vital that your business generates positive reviews and feedback from customers and that feedback is published on third party reviews websites. Compile a list of sites where your industry reviews are published by searching for 'your market + reviews'.

If you're struggling, here's a list of general reviews websites:

truste-marketing.co.uk
webuser.co.uk
maxxsave.co.uk
dooyoo.co.uk
resellerratings.com
pricegrabber.co.uk
reviewcentre.com
shopzilla.co.uk
ciao.co.uk
dealtime.co.uk

The next time your customer gives you positive feedback either face to face, on the phone, or by email, ask them if they would post their feedback on one of these sites.

3. Claim your Google Places page

Previously called the 'Google Local Business Center', Google Places gives every website a free webpage that contain basic facts about the business, including name and contact details. As a business owner, you can claim ownership of your business page, and then add colour to it by including photos, special offers, and opening hours. There's even an area for customers to leave feedback. A Google Places page will rank highly in the Google search results, and also on Google Maps too.

4. Use your website profile pages

Many websites set up a single static page for every domain name that details basic information about that domain. Compiled from a mixture of sources including the Who-is register and Alexa.com, these services claim to be able to 'value' that domain.

As the domain owner you can claim and edit those pages, and include the missing information. These sites are usually well optimised, and therefore rank highly for domain searches.

Here's some of the sites offering this:

aboutus.org
valuatemysite.com
quantcast.com
websiteoutlook.com
weeviews.com
statbrain.com

5. Consider writing a Wikipedia page

An entry on Wikipedia will almost always rank highly in the results page. The challenge is getting your business entry approved. It needs to pass what are called 'notability guidelines’.

The other issue with Wikipedia is that your entry can be edited by literally anyone. So if you are lucky enough to have your content approved, keep a close eye to make sure it isn’t tampered with.

6. Answer your critics online

If a customer complains about you online, consider responding to them publicly in the place where they have complained. The original moan will of course remain, but what anyone reading the exchange will appreciate is that you're working hard to solve the problem. Every business has disappointed customers at one point or another, but trying to address the issues will win you respect from others, and should work well in the long run.

That's All

If bad comments are showing up in the results page when people search for your business, it’s not the end of the world. Take action to make sure you control as much of the page as possible. And for those that persist, try to solve the problem in public – other potential customers will appreciate it.

About the Author

If you want to discover more tips about boosting your online reputation and getting more traffic to your website, visit Euston Digital, a search marketing agency based in London. SEO services and PPC campaigns management are what we excel at.

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