Online Reputation Management Blog

Online Reputation Management For Lawyers

July 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

What do you have when you bury six lawyers up to their necks in sand?

Not enough sand.

There are more lawyer jokes online than lawyers. Do you need any further proof lawyers might have an image problem?

Although the reputation of lawyers is not a byproduct of the digital age (the animosity dates back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans), the internet has made things much more challenging.

Clients are spending more and more time online and are using the internet to help evaluate their selection of counsel.

A comScore average daily internet usage report recently revealed what you probably already know from your own experience, the average American spent 32 hours per month on the Internet in 2010. Lawyers are no longer just “chasing ambulances” – they are chasing hits and clicks to attract new business and retain existing clients.

There is another trend. Attorneys are including online reputation management as part of their internet marketing strategy, and with good reason. While most people won’t choose their lawyer based on online reviews or the presence (or lack) of a dynamic web site, they may choose not to engage a lawyer based on a poor review on popular complaint sites (like RipOffReport, ComplaintsBoard and PissedConsumer) or because of negative content posted elsewhere.

According to a recent study by Lightspeed Research, consumers rely on online reviews and price comparisons to make purchase decisions, 62% of consumers said they would change their mind after reading 1-3 negative reviews about a product or service. Your online reputation is influenced by what you post online, and what individuals, groups, and search engine results expose about you online. Even lawyers need a good defense.

Online reputation management involves a combination of digital marketing, public relations, legal and search engine optimization (SEO) skills to promote, protect and defend your online image. Online reputation management can displace false, embarrassing or defamatory content by using social media, blogs, news media, personal websites and other tools to diminish the ranking of negative content. While every situation is unique, the best online reputation management firms will leverage some of the following techniques to help their clients:

• interlinking high impact positive web content;

• monitoring online mentions and coordinating a thoughtful, rapid response;

• creating professionally edited profiles on trusted web sites with high search engine visibility;

• optimizing existing websites and social media profiles;

• discretely contacting the source of the negative content to help minimize its impact; and, when appropriate;

• filing a formal complaint with the search engine or webmaster.

For some practical tips and tricks for online reputation management, check out my recent blog post: 7 Ways Lawyers Can Improve Their Online Reputation.

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ICANN Ready to Revolutionize Domain Name Registration (Again)

June 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Are you ready to be master of your Domain?  Starting January 12, 2012 you may have your chance!  ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and its Board of Directors approved a bold new plan to change the Internet’s Domain Name System.  The Board plans to allow an increase in the number of Internet  address endings – called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) – from the current 22, which includes such common domains as .com, .org and .net.  The price? Only $185,000 – or Bill Gates’s pocket change.
 
According to Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind.”
 
Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering individuals and entities around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and creative ways.
 
This has tremendous implications for the online reputation management community.  The chance to take greater control over your name or brand and reclaim exclusivity from a generation of cybersquatters.  It also will reshuffle search engine rankings in profound ways.  Because applicants for a new Domain will have to go through an extensive vetting process, the new domain names will have a level of authority that will ultimately be recognized by Google, Bing and others.
 
ICANN will have a lot more details to say over the coming months.  But the potential is exciting.  From .gaga to .matrix, for a mere $185,000 you have the chance to carve out your own space in cyberspace.

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Google Launches Reputation Management Tool

June 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

Last week, Andreas Tuerk, a Product Manager at Google announced a new tool to make it easier to monitor your reputation online along with some helpful tips to manage your reputation on the web. The new tool, Me on the Web, appears as a section of the Google Dashboard right beneath the Account details.

Like Google Alerts, the new tool can be used to set notifications for online mentions of your name, brand, company or email address. Me on the Web also provides some helpful resources to help control information that is posted about you online – touting the creation of a Google Profile as a great way to boost your web presence.

Although described as a bold new foray into reputation management, Me on the Web is more of a basic reputation monitoring tool that will provide the casual user with sufficient data to track his or her online reputation.

Me on the Web is missing analytics and metrics to evaluate trends, measure sentiment and analyze the sources of online mentions. This is a glaring weakness for an otherwise valuable service.

Business users and professionals who require more advanced reputation monitoring will need to look beyond Me on the Web towards other social media and reputation monitoring services. However, the arrival of Google and the development of Me on the Web furthers the legitimacy of online reputation management and heralds future developments from and beyond the Googleplex.

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