Online reputation management, repair and how to fix your online reputation was discussed—among other things–recently on Rich Klein’s The Crisis Show.

This is an important topic since more potential clients turn to the web seeking reviews and positive information for professional services such as lawyers, and because a reputation can be tarnished—and, unfortunately—destroyed,  quickly in ways that were never possible just a year or two ago.

Other topics discussed during the nearly one hour long discussion and video include:

How are reputations built and defended?

There are many ways to build a positive reputation today. 

Usually, the three most effective techniques are search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, and social media.  SEO is crucial in this process because it helps define some of the key search terms used to help push up good information. 

Once those are selected, they are used in developing positive content that reader or clients find useful.  Finally, social media helps distribute this on various sites to help drive traffic and spread the word.

The best defense is having a good online presence.  Many clients can help themselves by using several key and free sites to both improve their online reputation and to defend it from potential problems down the road.  The top sites to use are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Places/Google Plus.

Are Yelp and other sites treated the same if a negative item is posted?

Each issue is unique and different.  If a problem shows up on page ten on Google, it might not be troublesome—except that negative press can quickly migrate to the first page if not treated. 

Note also that for some sites such as Yelp, reviews cannot be removed.  It really can be a question for the business owner: are they feeling pain, losing clients, and having less sales as the result of a negative reputation?

Who can be impacted by a negative online reputation?

Almost any business online can be impacted today.  Since so many people search on the web for professional services such as for law, finance and marketing, a negative item can make a prospective client jump to a competitor’s site.

How long does it take to repair a reputation?

Although the impact can be seen almost immediately, most projects take an average of three to six months to complete successfully. 

There are many variables, naturally, since many things can change during the project, such as Google’s search algorithm, the traffic generated from the businesses main site, etc.

Do news headlines impact an online reputation?

Some news events can adversely impact an online reputation even if nothing negative occurred for a particular business. For example, during the recent hurricane Sandy, businesses with “Sandy” in their name could be pushed down lower in Google’s search results and this could result in lower searches and lower sales conversions. 

In other cases, a negative term could be associated with a business that works in a completely different field.

Rich Klein’s show covers a wide range of topics revolving around crisis management for industry leaders and those in the legal profession and their clients.  Viewed in 85 countries, The Crisis Show explores and analyzes crisis preparedness/crisis management, crisis communications, litigation communications, social media crises and online reputation management.