5 min read
A great brand story improves click-rates, increases dwell time, reduces bounce rate, helps branded content rank better in search results, and lowers the cost of promoting online content because it gets people to do much of the work.
6 min read
Every year take time to take stock of your online reputation and make adjustments to your reputation management campaign. Three-quarters of the way through the year, we've wrapped up these top tips.
7 min read
It’s been a year of ups and downs in the world of reputation management, with a President who uses Twitter to communicate directly with the country, sexual harassment in Hollywood powerhouses and the fallout that followed, and professional athletes protesting during the National Anthem, this year has been a busy year for PR folks. Here is our list of the top 10 shared articles on the web that focused on reputation management. Have any additional ones to share? Let us know in the comments and we’ll update our list!
4 min read
Welcome to Reputation Experiment #142
Sometimes you have to get the SEO ball rolling in order to improve search rankings. To get things started, consider a basic link and social media structure. Done correctly, it will attract organic links and shares on it's own without the need to buy links or engage in nefarious activities. While there are many, a classic link building pattern to prime content includes:
9 min read
The success or failure of your business can hinge on its online reviews.
From choosing the best hotels and restaurants in town to consulting the right doctors, most people rely on online reviews. Reviews are quickly replacing friend recommendations to become the main way we vet businesses against one another. In fact, we rely on online reviews so much that a single bad review can completely ruin the online reputation of a company.
A 2018 study suggests that 91% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations—as long as the reviews are authentic. But about 20% of reviews are fake. So can you really trust Yelp business reviews?
Using online reviews to help us make decisions has become so natural that we have started to do it without giving it a second thought. But why do we trust reviews so blindly? There are plenty of causes for concern when trusting online reviews.
This blog will share some of the most common types of review manipulation, and what you can look out for to become a more informed buyer. It's time to stop trusting reviews at face value and take a more critical stance when researching businesses online.
4 most common types of review manipulation:
3 min read
Have you ever bought anything online without looking for customer reviews first? If you’re like most adults in the U.S, your answer should be a straight “No!”. Studies suggest that 72% of online consumers read between two and 10 customer reviews and testimonials before actually making a purchase.Having no online reviews about your company is not a choice either. Because, according to research, even if you get one negative review from a dissatisfied client (or a shrewd competitor who hires fake reviewers to defame you), you’ll need about 12 positive reviews to counter its effects.
9 min read
One of the first questions we get from most of our reputation management clients is, “How long will reputation management take?” (The next question is of course "How much does ORM cost?")
Their anxiety is understandable considering that more than 80% of consumers now search Google before doing business with a company. What Google’s first page says about your business practically determines how potential clients and partners see you. And this is why determining just how long it will take to conquer that first page and secure your brands online reputation is not as simple as you might think.
14 min read
How do you get something removed from Google search? Well, there are five ways to remove content from Google search - or to effectively remove it. Content removal can be a tricky thing, but this guide should help.
5 min read
Crisis communications is the act of managing perception of an event. It isn't management of the even itself. It is communicating in a way to minimize damage. Crisis communications is viewed differently by various stakeholders. Attorneys will have the view of saying little to avoid or minimize future litigation. The CEO may have a personal view, trying to save face or retain some semblance of authority. The Board of Directors may be primarily concerned with stock price. One thing they all have in common is a desire to minimize damage.
3 min read
Why did the organic for your branded search traffic just drop off? Was it a Google search algorithm change or was it the content of your results that changed? It's a nightmare situation when suddenly you find that you're ranking for negative search phrases appended to your brand name, like "fraud" or "scam." Prospects are fleeing. The sales staff are freaking out.
7 min read
Create these five types of content at the same time, and in a specific order to give your inbound / SEO campaign consistency and make it easier to execute.
3 min read
Google announced something surprising back in 2016: the news that voice search made up 20 percent of their mobile queries that year.
9 min read
If you make or edit online content, you are are a content creator. As a content creator, you’ll need to strike that balance between SEO (search engine optimization) and a positive user experience. To make sure everyone is on the same page, here is a list of the different elements that combine to create an engaging and well optimized piece of content.
5 min read
Of all the categories involved in managing a business’s online reputation, reputation repair is the one most fraught with confusion.
Humans hate criticism - founded or unfounded. Any sort of negativity directed toward your business—earned or otherwise—holds an immense power to inflict damage in both the present and the future. How you respond can either improve the situation or exacerbate it, and with the stakes so high, not many businesses can afford a misstep.
5 min read
Prospective customers compare the search profiles between competitors. New businesses normally don't have the level of search profile that mature companies do. That puts new companies at a disadvantage.
Reputation and reviews drive the success of businesses worldwide. Every month, approximately 543,000 new businesses open up. 70% of new businesses survive at least two years, half at least five years, and a third at least ten years. Just a quarter of all new businesses survive for 15 years or more.
4 min read
Websites that are "authoritative" in their space rank much better. Google pays more attention to authoritative sites and pages. But how does a website become "authoritative"? Leverage different kinds of media to accomplish your goals.
5 min read
Which search phrases are killing your business?
Imagine your customer gets your business’s address from a friend, comes to your storefront, and every negative review from the last ten years is taped to the front window. At the same time, someone on the sidewalk yells through a megaphone, “don’t shop here even if it’s the last store on earth!” while a video showcases old footage of an employee stealing from a customer. Ouch.
You wouldn’t let it happen in real life, so why would you let it happen online?
3 min read
One of the biggest mistakes people make when performing online reputation management is to build a bunch of different web profiles and fill them with sloppy content. Worse, all these properties often can't be effectively maintained over time, and so lose relevance. The best way to manage reputation is to understand prospective customers, similar companies, and what search engines are looking for.
One of the first steps is to perform a form of competitive research called the search result audit. Here's why.
5 min read
Why do some web pages show up "above" the first search result? This is called a Featured Snippet, or "position zero" in the SEO field and it's one of the ways Google positions for SEO are counted. It's important because as voice search becomes more common, Google uses the featured snippet or "position zero" result for its "one true answers" response to voice searches. For instance, we searched "featured snippet" in Google and here's what happened:
2 min read
What's the difference between branded and non-branded content? Branded content is clearly about you or your company. Non-branded content is not necessarily about you or your company at all, but it contains references to either.
Both types of content include your branded search phrase and assist in your online reputation strategy, but are structured differently. Both types of content require freshness updates.