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Suggestions To Managing & Leveraging Your Online Reputation

People are talking about you without you. Before the Internet, businesses controlled their public image and message through television, yellow pages, radio and print advertisements. But now, people are openly discussing your business image, products and services on social networks, review sites, online directories and blogs. Not only that, what they say impacts the buying decisions of your potential customers.

The name of your business says a lot to new and existing customers. It could mean “great customer service.” It might stand for “unbeatable value” or it could be “rude salespeople, long wait, STAY AWAY.”

Your online reputation affects your bottom line because it can mean the difference between a consumer doing business with you, or doing business with one of your competitors.

Delivering excellent products and services at every transaction will always be the best foundation for maintaining a good reputation, but taking measures to manage your online reputation helps consumers feel more confident about becoming your customer.

It is essential that every business evaluate their online reputation. Special forms and tested techniques should be designed and developed for online reputation assessment analysis. However, businesses with serious reputation issues are advised to seek the assistance of a professional. Contact  WSI Barbados,  your Barbados Caribbean  WSI Internet Marketing  Consultants for assistance, if necessary.

Don’t under estimate the impact that your online reputation has on your business. This is about how consumers search for products and services. Most people start with a typical search on the service or the product and when they find something that looks like it meets their needs, they “re-search” by searching directly on the person or company they are considering.  Note the following:

86% of consumers check out business reviews online before making purchasing decisions.*
90% of consumers trust the reviews they read!*
58% of searchers visit a competitor’s site after seeing negative comments!*
*Source: Kudzu research study

The Internet is forever…when people say bad things about good businesses those things don’t go away by themselves. In fact they never go away… they can only be displaced out of immediate sight. Repairing a damaged reputation is going to cost you time and money. You have to decide how much it is impacting your business. Unfortunately you never know about the consumers who never contact you.

There are many things you can do to establish and maintain your online reputation if you are willing to integrate it into your regular business activities. If you don’t have the time… make it, or call a professional at WSI Barbados.

“If you’re not actively building your identity and establishing a presence online you’re letting search engines cobble together information, good or bad, and write your public story”
Jason Fitzpatrick
-Writer, Lifehacker Blog

Credits for this piece are also extended to WSI and  WSI Chuck Bankoff.

 

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