I
am not sure if every individual and business person has noticed but the
internet has been penetrating our lives to the core. What were once only
stories, hearsay and random opinions have become first page news on the
internet and good, bad or indifferent it shows up there without your permission
or any significant investigation or due diligence by the posting party or the
companies who post. Your life or what some random person suggest is your life
is now front page news on all the search engines and billions of people read
it, normally before you even find out about it. The insanity of all this is in
most cases you find out sometime after the fact usually when what has been
posted has a negative effect on you. The
unfortunate outcome is humans are close to being slaves to the technology.
Every
activity of yours is being tracked, with or without permissions. It is scary to
think but the facts are real and every passing day there are traces of your
presence left behind on the web. And like the famous Justin Timberlake song
'What goes around...Comes around', all the data & meta data will one day
come back to you, playing your life in front of you like a Sci-Fi thriller
movie. The script will be something someone else wrote unless you start taking
control of your digital self.
Some
might want to sit back and enjoy the show and maybe at time guess what’s coming
next. And a guess is exactly what they will be doing, they do have control of
what shows up as their daily footprint in life. Unfortunately, the piece that
many miss is someone else probably has control of their digital footprint and
the real and the digital today may have not as much in common as it should or
as a friend of mine used to say, “Never the twain shall meet”. In the middle of
this digital maze and that place called your digital story you may think you
have guessed the end correctly; the sometimes painful conclusion is you may be
taken by surprise. A surprise which you never saw coming. You might be able
recollect the events which led to this, but you are helpless and cannot alter
the end until you know something about defending your online reputation.
Professional
Online Reputation Management (ORM) service is that inevitable tool which gives
you charge of the story that has been created online. It tracks all traces of
your activities triggered intentionally or unintentionally which keep floating
in the web. At times the propagation may be passive or at times active i.e.
being pushed to the target audience by a specific community or anonymous
source. If the message is positive, there is no better PR activity that you
could have done but if it’s negative, you will end up paying a price you never
thought possible. Businesses as well individuals nowadays are facing the
repercussions of being careless in managing content being generated on the web
against them.
The
facts are in and daily there are blue collar and white collar men and woman
fighting life’s elements in an effort to secure that prefect job or in many
cases just a job only to find out their background verification check screams
problems. Sadly much of the negative information is not true even worse some of
the results are identifying another John Doe with your exact name and what is
hurting you at this exact moment is actually someone else’s digital crap.
Reputation libel has no boundaries and no guidelines so every individual or
company is fair game.
Here
is a sad example, Yelp, Rip-Off Report, Pissed Consumer all these
self-proclaimed keepers of the truth can shut down a 100 year old family
business that helps grandmothers cross the street and gives them free rides to
their doctor’s appointment simply with one stroke from their pen. A person that
got mad for a moment and wrote something that probably only has a touch of the
hard truth and instead a lot of anger and I’ll show you who is boss written in
its content can destroy that perfect company with a nasty comment and these so
called keepers of the truth allow it to happen every day. Without
investigation, without due Diligence, without any concern for the company or
the individual just like a terrorist they sneak up and drop a bomb on you, your
family, your business and anything else that stands in the way.
This
new world of Online Reputation Management services is amongst the best possible
way to paint the picture the way you want on the web. In many cases an ORM
company not only removes unwanted and negative search results but also fills in
the void with desirable content for the audience.
Undoubtedly,
prevention is better than cure. So, no matter if you are an individual or an
organization, controlled online activity is always the best way to avoid
unwanted web content. At MERG digital we offer controlled
review and analysis that keeps you ahead of the competition or on a personal
level in a clean place with you in control of your digital profile.
Sadly
with the good news most always comes the not so good? There are so many
companies marketing themselves as ORM Experts charging outrageous fees, making
despicable promises never meant to be kept and offering testimonials that are
as false as their promises. Almost always a monthly fee because it take 60 to
one hundred and fifty trillion years for their process to work, they say
nothing comes off the internet immediately and are able to get your money until
you finally figure out you have been paying their car payment in that $325 to $995
monthly fee for the last 120 days and realize nothing has changed on your
reputation and chances are nothing will.
Here
are some guidelines that may save you a few dollars and some grey hairs.
Firstly let’s start with the facts, the statement is correct when you are told
nothing comes off your search engine reputation profile immediately. (In some
very rare cases we have been able to do that but normally it included winning a
law suit and presenting that court certified documentation to the search provider).
Other than that or possibly some Black Hat unapproved approaches it takes time.
This is what an ORM person / company should offer immediately.
·
Good,
positive information to post under your name. Yes, articles that talk of all
your good attributes, articles that discuss the negative information and offer
an explanation. Keep in mind the companies that post the negative comments do
offer a place for you to present your side of the situation but they still
leave the bad comments up on the internet as the lead story instead of your
logical (REAL) response. Bad News sells more that the good stuff. That is why
you have your ORM team write articles with bold headlines that move those
negative headlines down the page and ultimately off the page which they should
be filling with positive information. It may not be perfect if they only move
the negative comments off of page one to
page 3, 4 or 10 but believe me most people will only look at the first few
pages when checking you out and if it is on page 5 it loses lots of its power
for the reader.
·
Ask
the ORM professional what addresses they sent their letters too when attempting
to remove those negative comments. If it is YELP ask to what division they sent
the letter and please show me a copy of the letter for my files. It is just too
easy for an ORM person so say we have sent off letters to the company. REMEMBER
I hate to say this but if the information does not come off your online
profile, you will continue to pay monthly to get it removed. There are more
honest professionals in ORM than dishonest I believe but it is a new profession
and lots are in the field that should not be. Get copies of everything and
confirm where possible there is such a person at the company like YELP to
confirm the ORM Company is doing their job.
·
If
the ORM has a direct line to the company chances are they can get the negative
information off pretty quick. If they say it could take months ask for your
money back they are lying. If you can reach the company and the correct person
or division you should have a response within 7 to 10 days. Once you have the
letter verifying it was a mistake from the company who posted the wrong or
incorrect information you can send that off to the search engine provider and
usually within 30 days or less it should be removed. (Note some search engines
move slow or want almost an unreasonable amount of proof to remove a post but
stay strong and continue to forward the letter with contact information for
them to be able call the provider also.
·
Within
60 days and normally less than that you should start seeing the positive
information start showing up all over the search engines and I am talking about
it being on page one and page two and 3 if the ORM expert is worth their salt.
We can get positive articles on the internet about you or your company within a
few weeks. And more than just one article but lots of information.
·
Stay
on top of your ORM people, if 60 or at most 90 days has passed and you see no
real change then they are just taking your money.
When
looking for a good Online Reputation Management company to assist with all the
negative issues or to hire as a monthly consultant to stay on top of your
company’s reputation be sure to find one that has a quick start game plan. You
have to get on top of the negatives immediately, the longer it stays on the
internet, the harder it is to get off. The search providers will say why today
is it so important to remover and not for the last 3 years? Think good content
to replace or override the negative.
Here
are MERG
Digital, we use a local SEO solution along with providing analytics to
highlight key issues and simultaneously provide the best possible solution to
overcome the web calamity knocking on your door. So the next time you, suddenly
witness an alarming drop in product queries in your business or lesser number
of views on your profile on a job portal, remember there might be virtual
forces working against you. Take control of your Online Reputation Management
and if you want to reach out to the professionals professional call MERG
Digital 310 945 7414, I will be more than happy to review your
situation and assist in coming up with a resolution to your problem..
By
Gary Monroe and Bill Greenberg, MERG Digital
For
More details you can also click here :- Gary Monore, Merg Music
Media Contact :-
MERG Digital Marketing the
Revolution
14431
Ventura Blvd. Suite 104
Sherman
Oaks, CA 91423
Phone & Fax :- 310-945-7414
Website :- http://www.mergdigital.com/
Email :- info@mergdigital.com
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