Online Reputation Management (ORM)

About Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management (ORM, also called search engine reputation management, or SERM) is exactly what its name suggests: protecting your stature where virtually all research is performed. It's used not just for political campaigns, organizations and their employees, but sometimes for individuals who have had their name tarnished for whatever reason. [As you can see, this is a popular subject for our blog.]

Reputation management contains three active parts:

• Develop a plan
• Monitor conversation
• Respond to threats

We purposefully did not use numbers for the above list. These are fluid, interactive parts. Responding to threats may be the first thing you do - it's crucial to have a strong base in Google, Yahoo!, etc. through search engine optimization and social media optimization. Otherwise your job becomes infinitely more difficult later. Similarly, plans may need to be changed as time goes on and response is necessary at all times.

Once a crisis has occurred (and keep in mind - this may be a true crisis, a rumor, or even a case of mistaken identity), ORM focuses on a variety of areas. One main goal is to take up as much real estate in related searches with official or other positive Web sites, profiles, blog posts, and stories. Doing so helps push negative news and Web pages down lower. Even controlling just the top three spots in the natural listings and one or two of the top sponsored results (from paid search) can make a huge difference.

Even if successful in pushing down bad results, keep in mind that many of those sites still maintain traffic of their own exclusive of the search engines (at least for those specific search terms). Therefore, a key component of most campaigns is actually reaching out and responding to allegations and negative reports on these sites. Why risk losing potential clients, investors, and employees for fear of possibly validating these claims?

Free Reputation Management Consultation

We can help you develop a plan to protect your reputation (and your key employees) as well as help you respond after a crisis has struck, although the latter is much tougher to do without any preparation - much like traditional reputation management and press strategies.

To learn more about our ORM services and how we can help you, call 1.800.979.3177 today or request a FREE Online Reputation Management Consultation.