It’s all about research. Knowledge is power and the more you know regarding what is being said about your business online the better.

Knowing where you stand is the best starting point; as in knowing if there’s anything that needs to be improved in order for your online reputation to be the best it can be.

Have you ever Googled your own name?
Come on, admit it, we’ve all done it at some point, just to see what search results come up. Well this is the same; Google your business name and see what comes up in the search results.

If you’re looking specifically for people’s reviews and opinions on your company then try Googling your company name plus the word ‘reviews’ or search social media websites the same way.

Results should be obvious:

• either nothing is being said about your business and you’re not using the power of the Internet to get new customers at the expense of your competitors,

• or you have negative reviews about your business, your products or services: you might lose customers because you are not marketing your reputation,

• or reviews (how many?) are generally positive. Are you sure you can avoid a future reputation crisis?

THE STARTING POINT: GOOGLE ALERTS

If you want to stay on top of what is being written about your company online then consider setting up Google Alerts. If you haven’t heard of this service before, it’s very simple and easy to use.

You can set up updates to be sent to your email address every time a new result appears that matches your query (in this case your company name). This is all in the name of research and is the very starting point of being able to manage your online reputation effectively, but it's not enough!

MONITORING GOOGLE REVIEWS

Claiming your Google My Business listing is the best way to make sure you get alerts whenever Google collects a new review.

MONITORING SOCIAL MEDIA

While managing your online reputation on social networks is becoming increasingly difficult, social media sites also allow you as the business owner, the opportunity to interact on a personal level with customers, giving them a chance to ask questions or run ideas and suggestions by you.

MONITORING REVIEW SITES

Monitoring reviews on all review sites can become a daunting task! No matter how you want to go about it, in order to receive new review notifications, you will first have to claim your listing on each review site. Of course, help exists, as services like Reputation Marketing include Reputation Monitoring on over 650 review sites worldwide.