Here's a simple, straightforward question that any small business owner should be able to answer: What are people saying about your company on the Internet? What, in other words, is your online reputation?

A good online reputation, of course, is worth its weight in gold. What's more, the status of your company's online reputation is really make-or-break for your business.

Consider the two potential extremes. The first is that your company has all good reviews and positive press, across the board. If someone conducts a Google search for your business, all he or she will find is glowing, gushing praise. If that's you, then congratulations -- you've got a sterling online reputation, something that's likely reflected in your sales!


The other extreme is that a potential customer Googles your brand and finds one-star reviews, BBB claims, or accusations that you're running some kind of a scam. This is bad news, of course, particularly if you've got competitors who get great reviews. Given that statistics show most consumers consulting online reviews before making major purchasing decisions, your brand's online reputation is obviously important -- and if you don't protect it, it could spell disaster for your sales.

It All Starts with Monitoring

Of course, before you can defend your business' online reputation, you need to know what your reputation actually is. It all starts with monitoring -- but what are the most efficient, cost-effective ways for small business owners to monitor their own brand reputations? Here are a few of the basics:

• Start by simply searching for your brand on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Search for your brand name, but also any possible spelling variants -- basically, any possible way in which consumers might actually search for your company. (If your business is called Zooey's, for example, searching for "Zoe's" might also be prudent.)
• Make sure you're logged out of Google before you conduct your search. Google personalizes its results -- and if it knows you own the business in question, it may filter out the bad reviews. Google's efforts to protect your feelings are certainly sweet, but if it's accurate information you want, make sure to log out!
• Search on Twitter, Facebook, and other leading social networks, as well -- to see what real customers and consumers have to say!

Defending Yourself


Those monitoring tips and techniques should provide you with some easy, cost-effective ways to see where you stand on the Internet. The next step is to defend yourself. Understand the basic concept that is at work here: If you fill the Web with high-ranking, positive content about your brand, it effectively creates a wall around you. If someone posts a defamatory review, then, the wall you've erected will keep it from breaching the first page of Google search results, all but ensuring nobody ever sees it. Building that wall of positive content is utterly vital, then, for your reputation management success!

• Start with buying the domain names that will rank the highest for the name of your brand. If your company is called XYZ Enterprises, and someone does a search for "XYZ Enterprises," the first entries to appear in the search results will likely be XYZEnterprises.com, .net, .org, and so on. Snatch up these domains -- even if you don't plan to use them right away.
  
• Similarly, and for the same reasons... get the social media account names that correspond with your business name.
• Start creating some strong, unique written content to publish to those domains, and to at least some of the social media profiles. The more content you produce, the stronger your defensive reputation wall will be!

What About Online Reviews?


The final topic to address is that of online review sites. Sites like Yelp and Angie's List are great for consumers, but they can be ruinous for small businesses. It's vital that you monitor the reviews your company gets on these sites -- and also that you know how to respond appropriately.

• If a review is positive, or even if it offers genuinely thoughtful, constructive feedback, then it's a great idea to respond as promptly as you can. A kind, polite, and timely response will help shore up goodwill for your brand.
• An unreasonable, negative review, meanwhile, probably doesn't warrant a response at all. A hasty or angry review can ultimately make your reputation problems worse -- and besides, responding to these reviews strengthens their traction in Google. If you respond, you're making it more likely for more people to see the review in question!
• For those negative reviews, the best response is simply to keep working on that defensive wall -- and do everything you can to bury the negative stuff before it does much damage!

The bottom line is that a brand's online reputation is invaluable. Protecting it is one of the best things you can do for your company -- and these relatively inexpensive methods should prove effective in doing just that.

Author Bio:
Over the course of his career Rich Gorman has been involved wiith multiple companies and a wide variety of marketing programs. He is an expert in reputation management and direct response marketing, operating the official blog for the Direct Response industry where he shares his thoughts on Direct Response Marketing.