Online Reputation Management Blog

Online Reputation Management for Accountants

July 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Reputation-Management-for AccountantsI’ve heard that online marketing for accountants is very difficult and it is hard to get your message across in a marketplace where the cheapest provider of tax services often shouts the loudest. One way to showcase your business is to be aware of your online reputation and work to strengthen it.

Reputation management will enable your business to achieve success beyond word-of-mouth marketing and help you win new business from a simple Google search.  Below are some tips on how to manage your online reputation and find online marketing success.

1. Read online reviews.  Not just of yourself, but of your competitors, too. Check out Yelp.com, AngiesList.com, and Citysearch.com to see what your customers are saying about you. Are the reviews positive? Great, you know you’re on the right track in providing excellent service to your clients. And if you see any negative reviews, use them as an opportunity to better yourself in a particular area. Reply to the negative reviews (some sites allow you to do this privately, which is always preferred, or you can do it publicly) and respond directly to the negative feedback. Work with the customer to get them to give you another chance to make it right. Even if you’re not given the chance, demonstrating your willingness to face the problem head-on will give you credibility in the online world.

2. Ask clients to give you an online review.  To ensure that there are more positive reviews than negative, ask your clients to review your services online. But, don’t proactively offer this option to every single client; rather, ask those with whom you’ve developed a great rapport and who was really happy with your work. The positive reviews will attract new clients.

3. Network via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Start a Facebook page just for your business and use it to engage with your clients. Offer incentives to your clients, like early bird discounts during tax season, and deals if you’re retained for multiple projects. Social media management services are also available to help busy professionals. To prevent your clients from learning too much about your personal life, be sure to set your personal Facebook account settings to private.

4. Start an accounting blog.  Use this as an opportunity to educate your audience and gain new clients. Corporate reputation management experts have been using blog marketing to help clients spread their message and build a loyal following. Offer troubleshooting tips, from how to file your taxes to taking advantage of deductions and credit available to the small business owner to how to set up your payroll system. Don’t give away all your secrets, but give enough information to make yourself stand out as a credible industry expert.

5. Hire an online reputation management firm.  When in doubt, ask for expert help. A top-rated online reputation management firm can help you push positive mentions of you to the first page of a Google search, while burying any negative mentions.

Filed Under: Online Reputation Management Tagged With: , , ,

Fake Reviews Online – Don’t Believe the Hype

February 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

According to a recent study, 83% of consumers say online reviews influence their perception of a company.  Positive reviews are critical for doctors, lawyers, small business owners, accountants, consultants, investment professionals, contractors, restaurants and travel and hospitality companies.  Many consumers depend on peer reviews to offer an honest assessment of a business.  However, many businesses seem to be getting their good reviews the old fashioned way — by cheating.

According to Gartner Inc. as organizations are scrambling “…to garner more positive reviews than their competitors… Many marketers have turned to paying for positive reviews with cash, coupons and promotions, including additional hits on YouTube videos.”

Paying for reviews may be more costly than you think.  Aside from the ethical implications and potential public relations fallout, the Federal Trade Commission is becoming more aggressive punishing companies who pay for reviews without adequate disclosure.   Gartner reports that “…organizations that opt to pay for phony reviews… have faced both public condemnation as well as monetary fines.”  In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission held that paying for positive reviews without disclosing that the reviewer had been compensated equates to deceptive advertising.

Social sites such as Yelp have also been cracking down on companies that post false reviews by putting a customer “beware” label on their sites.  Taking cues from this new-found practice of exposing websites that practice “fake reviews” Gartner says that some marketers have taken to policing the web in attempts to make their own companies look more honest and ethical.  “Organizations engaging in social media can help to promote trust by openly embracing both positive and negative reviews and leveraging negative reviews as a way to encourage customers with positive product or service experiences to share them on review sites as well,” says Gartner analyst Jenny Sussin.

While many are decrying this recent trend toward “paid” reviews, the practice is not going away anytime soon, in fact, it may be increasing.  Gartner says phony reviews will comprise 10 to 15 percent of all reviews by 2014.  Analysts also predict that “…increased media attention on fake social media ratings and reviews will result in at least two Fortune 500 brands facing litigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the next two years.”

As an online reputation management company, Reputation Rhino is frequently asked to help improve customer reviews on popular sites like Yelp, Google+ and other popular review sites.  The first step is diagnosing the problem.  Is there a widespread culture of poor customer service or inferior products or are we dealing with a small percentage of disgruntled customers or clients?  If the answer is the former, there is not much a reputation management company can really do.  If the latter, an online reputation management firm can help develop an effective and efficient process for obtaining customer reviews and promoting those reviews to the review sites that are likely to have the most impact on the business.  It is usually far better to have dozens of positive customer reviews and testimonials across dozens of review sites than to rely solely on a single review site.

Filed Under: online marketing, Online Reputation Management, reputation management Tagged With: , , ,

How to Remove a Page from Google Search

February 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

One of the myths of Internet is that search results are permanent and cannot be deleted.  In reality, online reputation management companies know that internet search results can and do change frequently.  What is on page one of Google today, can appear on page three tomorrow. And conversely, what is on page three of Google today, can appear on page one tomorrow.

Websites go out of business (or fail to pay their registration fees) and the domain is taken down.  Pages are deleted by site owners and webmasters.  Social media profiles on popular sites like Facebook can be easily deindexed or hidden from view by people searching for you online by applying basic privacy settings.  But did you know that you can remove pages from the Internet?  It’s true.

If you discover a page in Google search results that shares personal information such as your social security or credit card number, Google will review the request and may remove the information from their search results.  Examples of personal information which may be deleted by Google includes:

  • Your social security or government ID number
  • Your bank account or credit card number
  • An image of your handwritten signature
  • Your first and last name or the name of your business appearing on an adult content site (e.g., online pornography) that’s spamming Google’s search results.

If you discover personal information about you or your family online, your first point of contact should be the Webmaster that is publishing the confidential information and request removal immediately.

If the Webmaster or site owner is unable or unwilling to remove the content, you can contact Google directly and request removal.

When you contact Google to request removal, you will need to be very specific about the content that you are seeking to remove and why.  For example, you can:

  • Request removal of an entire page
  • Request removal of the cached version of a page.
  • Request removal of an image
  • Request removal of Google-hosted content (e.g., YouTube, Blogger, etc.) for legal reasons, such as copyright infringement

If Google cannot remove the information from their search results, you may want to contact a reputation management company to discuss how to remove or suppress the negative results from the first pages of Google and other leading search engines.

If you want to monitor whether personal information about you or a member of your family appears online, reputation management companies recommend you try The Me on the Web feature of your Google Dashboard can help you keep track of the latest mentions on the Web.

Filed Under: Google, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, reputation management Tagged With:

The Verdict Is in – Lawyers Are Gaining More Clients with Social Media

January 21, 2013 by 1 Comment

Lawyers who blog; leverage the power of social networks including Avvo, Facebook, LawLink, Legal OnRamp, LinkedIn, Martindale-Hubbell Connected and Plaxo; and are active on Twitter and other microblogs report that they are gaining and retaining new clients as a result of their online presence, according to the 2012 Legal Technology Survey Report, recently published by the ABA Legal Technology Research Center.  For attorneys considering whether social media pays, the verdict is in:

  • 11 percent of respondents got clients through microblogging in 2012.
  • 16.5 percent of respondents got clients through social networks in 2012.
  • 39 percent of respondents got clients through blogging in 2012.

The latest statistics support what online marketing companies have known for a while.  A 2010 study by Hubspot found that companies that blog get 97% more inbound links, 55% more website visitors and 88% more inbound leads than those who do not blog.

50 percent of respondents who blog reported spending less than one hour a week maintaining their legal blogs, while 44.3 percent said they spent 1-5 hours and 5.7 percent spent 6-10 hours a week.  Many law firms are turning to online public relations companies to manage and monitor their firms’ online reputation and improve social media engagement to help grow their practice.

Reputation Rhino and other leading online marketing companies work with attorneys and law firms on innovative inbound marketing strategies that demonstrate thought leadership and online credibility on current issues like new legislative and regulatory developments, important cases and settlements and other topics of interest to potential or existing clients or referral sources.

Filed Under: online marketing, Online Reputation Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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