Branding

How to Protect Your Online Reputation with a Blog

Do you know what ranks at the top of Google when someone searches for your name? If you don’t, your reputation is already up for grabs.

The truth is, no matter what ranks at the top of Google, then end user is going to trust what they read, whether it’s the truth or not.

  • 65% of internet users see online search as the most trusted source of info about people and companies (source: 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer)
  • 79% of consumers place equal weight on both online reviews and personal recommendations (source: 2013 BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey)
  • 85% of consumers use the internet for research before making a purchasing decision (source: yelp)
While these numbers might be quite upsetting for anyone who isn’t currently ranking for their name, brand or products on Google, the good news is that you still have time to improve what’s currently in place.A great way to accomplish this is through the use of a high-quality website and blog content to help with your search rankings. If you don’t already have a domain name for your site, I highly recommend you get set up with one today. Google doesn’t rank “free websites” like blogger.com and wordpress.com sites very well, plus they are seen as very unprofessional.
Reputation Management
When creating your site, keep in mind that’s its going to act as the main hub of your business or personal brand. The end goal here is to have the site rank #1 in Google for your name.
At the same time, it’s also important to realize that there are over a billion sites on the internet today. Content is important, but if you don’t have the necessary backlinks and foundation in place, your site still might not rank in Google. If this seems to be the current case for your site, it could be any of these common ranking issues.
To effectively rank your site in Google, you are going to need to focus on both content creation and backlinks. This can be done through internal links within your site, link backs from other sites, shares on social media and more advanced techniques like guest blogging and creating infographics.
While a blog is a great way to start adding content to your site right away, you should also consider other options for ranking in multiple page 1 positions as well. A perfect example of this would be through your major social profiles. Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest all rank extremely well in Google (and fast too). After going live with your site, make sure you link all of your social profiles back to your site, while also linking your site back to them as well. This will help Google see the connections between the two and start enable trust and link juice between your sites.
When it comes to actively monitoring your reputation online and seeing where other people might be using your name or brand within their content, you are going to want to use online monitoring tools like Google Alerts. For a quick 3-point checklist on how to effectively monitor, manage and repair your online reputation, refer to this article at onlinereputation.com.
The good news is that Google is only getting smarter about the content they rank at the top of the search results. If your content isn’t currently ranking there, then you need to make sure you are doing everything correctly and building an authority site around your name. Once you have the content and links in place, there isn’t any reason why your site shouldn’t be ranking on the main page for your personal or brand name.
To learn more about how top professionals, brands and entrepreneurs are using a blog to rank higher in the search results and protect their online reputation, be sure to read these actionable tips.
Once you follow these simple steps and start to implement them into your existing websites and brand marketing, you should see continual improvements in your Google rankings.

If you have any questions, please ask below!