Reputation Management Section on BHW?

I voted aswell even though the mods are always doing an excellent job. I find that the more categories the better its great for both user and mods imho.

I vote yes! I've always been interested since the original 7878 thread

This is a great idea! Voted Yes! Looking forward to the new section.

Great idea OP. Reputation management is part of my business now. It would be a very valuable section.

BHopkins said:

Reputation management and SEO have some similarities and some major differences, I would like to propose a section that is devoted to the practice and learning relating specifically to reputation management.

Reputation management is to public relations as SEO is to marketing. They are similar, but the end goal is different.

If you, members of BHW are interested in reputation management and would like a section devoted to the implementation, practice, tips, techniques, finding clients, closing deals, pricing, outsourcing, white labeling, and more, vote Yes.

I would be happy to moderate this section so it doesn't become a burden to the existing mods who have their hands full.

Discussions would be focused on the complete life cycle of reputation management from acquiring clients, pricing, closing deals, accepting payment, monthly vs one time fees, web 2.0's, newspaper content, high quality articles, link building, reporting, campaign management, finishing the work, upselling the client and more. If you didn't notice, that's my exact game plan for how I handle my business.

So vote now and let me know what you think!

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Its a good idea

This is a great idea. Not much information available on net regarding this topic. Most of the time people talk about this but they don't have any idea how to do. Waiting for the section and tips and tricks from the Reputation management pro.

This is a great idea... Reputation Management is becoming big industry so it's natural we should have one section dedicated to this. It got big potential but this is not for starters and if this section is in open every body will start selling reputation management from next day...

LOL If I were Jr. VIP I would have asked it to keep in that section because lots of noobs will start trying their hands in this industry and start killing it for bigger players. HEHEHE I might have to become Jr. VIP if you put this in closed section...

Absolutely - would be great to see!

With the importance of ORM now, I'm really surprised that this hasn't already been implemented...

Most definitely YES!

For those that are 'on the fence' or missing the big picture here, it's really important to understand that there's little point in spending time and money on advertising, marketing and any kind of search optimisation, if when a customer searches online for a business, they find negative reviews - or no positive comments or ratings as ‘social-proof'. They'll simply end up going to a competitor who has plenty of positive comments.

I've personally seen clients waste thousands on marketing, PPC and SEO - because they either had bad reviews sitting on the first page of Google (which prevented conversion), or they had strong competitors who were ‘stealing' all their business - with their strong reviews and social proof. Buyers inherently avoid risk.

This is what is happening right now to millions of traditional ‘bricks & mortar' businesses world-wide. A continual and steady erosion of sales from new and repeat customers; because of the ‘invisible loss' of customers to competitors who have a better public image and reputation.

And don't think for one minute that this only applies to major brands. We have a fish & chip shop client who lost a significant amount of business over a year simply due to 2 (just two!) bad Google+ Local Business reviews (which were actually completely biased and unfair); and the business wasn't even aware that these reviews existed. The owner had no idea why his business was falling away. Several months later, with the right help, the situation was completely reversed.

This situation is repeated thousands of times over. And when you consider all the businesses that don't have any bad reviews, but simply don't have any positive commentary to make them stand-out, you'll realise that there are literally millions of businesses that are experiencing this silent and hidden loss. Over time, customers will migrate to those businesses that have established a strong and positive service and quality image. For further proof of this social-effect, just look at Amazon or eBay - and the difference in sales between those items with a high rating, and those with a low rating. It's actually quite scary, from a business perspective, how easy it is to dramatically alter a company's long-term sales and success with mere customer ‘chatter'.

The real key here is that due to fundamental changes in the way that the internet and search-engines have grown and socially evolved, what we used to term ‘Online Reputation Management', has now become ‘Offline Reputation Management' as well. Although the acronym ‘ORM' means managing your reputation online, it has now become impossible to separate online reputation from offline reputation. No-one uses the phone-book anymore; we just Google it. And if what pops-up on the first page is a bunch of negative about that business, or there is a lot of positive about another similar business - which is only a click away - which way will the customer go? It's frankly obvious when you think about it.

BHopkins... if any help is needed on moderation etc, I'd be happy to work with you.

I vote Yes! Sounds like a great idea!

Hi Bhopkins,

We like to have contact about your ORM service. Hope to hear from you!

Regards,
Erwin

Definitely a vote from me as well. ORM follows all of the same principles as general SEO, but there are some major and important differences with end points. Having a dedicated section for ORM is a fantastic idea. I would prefer to see it Jr. VIP for several reasons, mostly because it would allow people to share ideas more freely and it would also provide great incentive for other users to go blue!

Looks to me, according to the poll, that the people have spoken.

Damien et al, what do you think?

Agreed. its A yes!

Seems interesting idea if it's maintenance and activity going on like it needs also just my thoughts

I voted Yes. A different section will make things easier and more organised. I agree that ORM is different than pure SEO alone and would be great to brainstorm ideas with ORM specialists. Been in SEO since 2005, just started ORM for my clients in 2012.

Sounds great. Most clients trust online reviews, so today reputation means everything

BlackArcher said:

I voted Yes. A different section will make things easier and more organised. I agree that ORM is different than pure SEO alone and would be great to brainstorm ideas with ORM specialists. Been in SEO since 2005, just started ORM for my clients in 2012.

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That's almost the exact plan I took, but the years were different. I started with SEO in 2004 and reputation management in 2007.

I would definitely be active in this section if it were available!

I guess if people want it then sure, I know there are a few differences but quite a lot of ORM is SEO based tbh, my fear would be too many sections being added will lead to stuff mixed up all over the place and some sections becoming less active, I've seen it happen on large forums in the past then the owners having to trim them down again.

But won't know until we try I guess