Expert Tips to Protect Your Online Reputation
A good reputation can often lead to more sales. This detailed guide will help you to protect your online reputation.
Are you ready to receive detailed advice on protecting your online reputation?
This article contains advice that can be used to manage your reputation and for those who have negative reviews or content online about you.
However, some sites can be very difficult or impossible to beat.
Management of major news sites, such as The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and New York Times, requires significant effort.
You should be an SEO expert if you have harmful content about you from a primary news website.
At this scale, DIY is not possible. These tips can be helpful for DIYers, but they won’t help you if you want to move on to a reputation management company.
Popular complaint website RipoffReport was hard to beat up until recently.
Some complaint sites have seen their search rankings drop due to recent changes in Google’s algorithm (which, we believe, occurred in September 2018.
#Tip 1: Provide Excellent Service
To avoid negative comments, you want to ensure that your service is excellent. You might consider going beyond what you are currently doing.
If you own a restaurant, perhaps offer a complimentary appetizer to delight returning customers.
It would help if you resolved any customer complaints as soon as possible. To make it right, offer a refund or free service to fix the problem.
It’s impossible to please everyone. For over 20 years, I’ve been providing SEO services and encountered many unhappy clients.
I have offered all my clients refunds or free services and maintained a nearly flawless online record.
The client is always right, they say. Although I understand that they sometimes are wrong, it is worth considering whether your reputation can be damaged by arguing with customers.
It could come down to the value of your services in dollars.
A negative review on Yelp, Google Maps, or elsewhere might not have an impact on your overall rating since you have many positive reviews.
What would you do if your review was negative on RipoffReport’s complaint site?
These reviews are often very damaging to the brand and can cause more damage than the amount you dispute with your client.
Over the years, I have offered full refunds for many clients because of the potential negative reviews on suitable sites.
I have seen firsthand the destruction businesses suffer, making me highly cautious.
Negative reviews can lead to thousands of dollars in reputation management (ORM), services that are meant to repair.
#Tip 2 – Ask for Reviews
Some professions are more likely have adverse outcomes than others.
Dentists, for example, often get high numbers of negative reviews.
I suspect that most people go to the dentist without a positive feeling. A dentist is usually there to treat a cavity or clean the teeth. This could lead to more work and further treatment.
Most people are upset when they have to spend money they didn’t plan to. Even the most expensive dental insurance will require a copay. This can make dental procedures costly.
Even if your dentist isn’t, you will get more positive reviews if they ask.
You might end up with negative reviews if you don’t ask your customers for their thoughts.
Before you ask for a review, ensure you are satisfied with your customers.
If you’re meeting your customers face-to-face, asking them how they feel about your service after completing the job may be a good idea.
You may also want to continue your follow-up after a few days.
Another tip is to have a different person follow up on the customer than the one who served them. If the customer was a staff member, you or a manager should follow up.
You won’t be as defensive if the customer tells you about a bad experience.
#Tip 3 – Incentives for Reviews
You might consider offering an incentive to reviewers, but this is against Yelp. It would help if you never asked for this in writing. Instead, you should always request it verbally.
Yelp may report you for this to their search results.
I’ve seen businesses ask for Yelp reviews and offer discounts for positive reviews.
Take a image of the item and email it to Yelp. Yelp will promptly follow up on your account with a Consumer Alert.
#Tip 4: Refunds for Unhappy Clients
Clients who are dissatisfied with your services should first be resolved. If this is not possible, offer a partial or full refund or other incentives such as gift cards or discount coupons.
Recognize that you were wrong. Clients will appreciate the effort to resolve problems rather than trying to argue.
Refunds are a way to either avoid a negative review or reduce the damage and make the negative review a positive one.
Clients have asked me for partial refunds, and that has made the difference between a 1-star rating and a 4-star review. A 5-star rating might be possible.
#Tip 5 – Review Generating Platforms
Many companies offer review generation platforms. It is important to gather customer emails and/or telephone numbers.
You can ask for their feedback by sending a text message or email survey after they visit.
You can ask the message to ask your customers how they feel about your services. If the answer is beneficial, you can ask them to leave a review on any review site you choose, such as Yelp or Google Maps.
If you get a dismissive answer, you can see the message and reach out to them to resolve the problem before they post a negative review.
These services can be run by you for as low as $30 per month, or as high as hundreds of dollars if you hire a full-service provider (ORM). This service is offered by the following companies:
- Birdeye
- ReviewInc
- ShoutAboutUs
- GatherUp