Online Reputation Management

There's an old saying that states: "Perception is reality."  And whether you're a politician, the marketing director for a major company, or the average recent college grad applying for jobs, the image you project of yourself or your brand is being affected by internet searches.  People have become adept at utilizing search engines to find information, and at the same time the sites found within the SERPs are being relied upon to form opinions and make buying decisions at an ever-increasing frequency.  An "online reputation" thus refers to the perception of a name or a brand that is being proliferated by the webpages in the top of the search results for said name or brand.  In a world that has come to rely heavily on the web as an authoritative source of information, the idea of managing an online reputation is becoming more and more important.

Online reputation management is a forum where the skillset of search engine optimization (SEO) and old-fashion public relations (PR) collide.  Effective SEO can influence the search results in a Google or a Yahoo in such a way that a company can ensure that searches for their brand will yield positive, informative sites that help create awareness among the community and to help searchers better understand and research their products - which are in turn the goals of good PR.  The same can of course be done for any individual name.  There have been countless news reports recently of applicants being cast aside from jobs or public figures being smeared in the press because of information posted on their own (or their relative's) personal webpages, something that could in fact be avoided using online rep management. 

Ultimately, the goal of any effective online reputation management page is to control the top 10 search results for a name or brand.  Whether it's a disgruntled customer going off on your company in a forum or your college-aged child's photos on Flickr, the good news is that there are methods to go about pushing those things far from the eyes and conversations of the massess.  Optimizing your company's main website, issuing quality press releases, contributing to high-traffic forums in your industry, and "becoming a part of the conversation" on user-generated content sites are all ways that an online reputation can be managed.  Actively montioring the search results and participating in the web-o-sphere will benefit your online reputation all the way to that job you've been wanting, that political office you so covet, or the sales goals of next quarter.