Reputation Management Online - Service Companies

Would you use a service appears to suck? We wouldn't either. But how do you know if a service sucks or not before you've actually used it? You probably do what a lot of people do and go to a site like Yelp or Google local search results. You check the ratings and comments for restaurants, dry cleaners and other service related companies. A one-star rating for an Indian food restaurant and capital letters screaming DON'T EAT HERE will probably convince you to look elsewhere for dinner - even if it was posted by the internet savvy (but unethical) owner of the Indian food restaurant across town. It may be the best curry in the world, but you'll never know.

If you are the owner of the restaurant with the bad review you may want to either fix the problem or need to take down your shingle. Reputation management online for preventative or defensive reasons has become a basic part of marketing a service business. Whether your service company is a movie theater, a chain of restaurants, a photography studio, or any other service type company, the opportunity loss associated with bad reviews or comments can amount to millions.
 

Reputation management online in this regard isn't just a matter of posting a bunch of glowing reviews about your own company. Different trusted profiles must be used, from different locations (IP addresses). Reviews and comments must be truthful and honest. Remember, the best way to get good reviews is to actually have a great service - then to ask people to post the good news. Salespeople always say you need to ask for the sale, it's the same with internet reputation management because the odds of someone posting a negative review are many times that of someone posting a good one. Bad news is just more interesting... just turn on the news.

Google local search results are another source of online reputation pain or glory for service businesses. For example, a nationwide chain of restaurants won't be searched for from a national perspective; they'll be searched locally. For a local search a person will type the name of the city or other geographic area plus the name of the restaurant. Up will pop Google local search results and ratings. The fact is, people trust Google and they trust the ratings and comments in a Google local search almost as if Google had had something to do with them (Google is merely the conduit). Like Yelp reviews, Google local reviews should be the truth, from real Google profiles in the geographic location specified if possible. We manage online reviews for companies in way that is honest and if you have the resources to manage diverse profiles correctly you should resist the temptation to use the "dark side of the force" by faking reviews.

Third-party reviews and comments by trusted bloggers are another excellent source. There are myriad comment and review sites specific to almost any industry. Building trusted profiles, distributing real positive testimonials and comments, and optimizing the good reviews to rise in search engine result pages (SERPs) is key to a proactive or defensive internet reputation management strategy for any service business.

Reputation Management Online by InternetReputationManagement.com.