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I have already written about the most important consumer review websites that business owners should participate so the focus of this article is how to implement a proactive Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process.  

If you need the list of websites, visit this article on Internet Reputation Management.

Don’t Wait

If you wait until negative reviews show up for your business it will be more difficult to control the impact of a critical post. By creating a standard operating procedure for IRM you will ensure that positive reviews are being added on your business profiles each month.  When a negative post then hits, it will be in the minority of reviews and the single post’s power will be diminished. 

The biggest stumbling block for most businesses that can’t seem to implement a consistent Internet Reputation Management (IRM) system is time.  The time required to call, email and follow-up some customers is much longer than others.  That’s why setting up a system that can keep the process moving is so vital. Hard to reach customers have to be skipped over since you only need a small percentage of your customers to participate to effect change.

Creating an Internet Reputation Management System

We are now helping businesses setup a manageable IRM process that can be kept in house or outsourced.  The key is to prepare, in advance, a list of all the review sites you want to target and to create a script that someone can use to answer customer questions while on the phone. 

You must have a good FAQ sheet prepared so that when you call a customer and ask them to post a review, the caller is not taken off guard with their questions.  The FAQ sheet should include responses to:

• What should I write?
• How long should the review be?
• Should I give my full name?
• What if I had a mixed experience and can’t give you a five star review?
• Will I get compensated for my time?

Once a customer agrees on the phone to post a positive review, we recommend that you follow-up the call with an email explaining which sites you would like them to post. The email should include a direct link(s) to your business profile page.  Your email should also walk them through the review process on each site, calling out any special requirements that may be needed.

A well written email will make it easy for your customers and increase the number of posts that are actually made.   Don’t overwhelm them by asking them to post on too many sites. Listing one, two or three sites is all you need from any one customer.  By giving them a choice of sites to post, we have found it makes them feel more comfortable with the process.

Get a Commitment

When speaking with customers ask them to commit to a date that they will post their review.  Make sure you have a system to follow-up on these dates.  By asking them when they will be posting, it makes sending a reminder email very appropriate if they don’t post.

When implemented, a business owner can change the dynamics of web reviews in just a matter of weeks or months.  This of course depends on how many negative reviews exist for your business.  The key to remember is that Rome was not built overnight.   Take your time and let your IRM deliver steady reviews over the next year.

Take Your Time

Don’t rush too many reviews in any one month since dates are shown on review websites.  Never lie.  Never post reviews under anyone’s name other than yourself.  Never encourage your customers to lie.

If you create a process based IRM system, potential customers will see the great things you do on these popular reviews sites as well as Google Maps.  Positive reviews will generate more clicks to your website.   

The customers that we have implemented a process based IRM system have seen their pace of monthly positive reviews increase over 200%.  If you want to increase your online positive reviews, give us a call.

Business owners and branding specialists need to know what consumers are writing about on the Internet regarding their products or services.  If a consumer writes a negative review or posts misleading information about their brand it is important to know about the post in real-time.

By having this real-time information, a company then has the ability to respond appropriately.  Sometimes a business may need to take immediate action and other times saying nothing at all may be best strategy. Keep in mind that the longer a post stays up on the Internet, the harder it is to contain the possible damage it may cause.

The realization that business owners need this type of information is part of the reason why the Internet Reputation Management (IRM) profession is growing. As the profession develops, IRM consultants will become a part of most business development plans. Internet Reputation Management strategies have offensive and defensive components. I strongly advise every business owner to put in place a proactive reputation management strategy before they are hit with a negative attack.

A Free IRM Tool

You can get started with tracking what is being written on the Internet with a powerful, easy to use tool. Google Alerts is a free service that many business professionals are not leveraging.  Google Alerts allows you to register words or phrases that you want to track.  When that search phrase is found by Google on a blog, news post or website, Google will send you an email alert and link to the post.  These alerts can be in real-time or summarized once a day.

Business owners should have some basic alerts that include their brand name and product names.  If you own any trademarks they should be added to the list.  Add all the names of your top executive team on the list.  Anything that interests you or is a “hot” topic in your industry should be tracked.

Once you realize the potential of this free tool, you can make sure you are on the pulse of the marketplace for any topic.

Monitoring Your Competition

Google Alerts can also be used to track the public facing communications of your competition.  Track your competitor’s press releases and products posts in real-time.  This can give you good intelligence on your industry without having to hire an outside news clipping service.

For example, if you are in the Entitlement Management field and the competition launches a new hardware product call the “Whisper 500″.  You can set a Google Alert for the phrase “Whisper 500″. Anytime the “Whisper 500″ product is reviewed or written about you can get an alert.

The strategy is that if the product is flawed or if users discover problems with the product, you might be able to leverage that intelligence in a sales call.  Sometimes real-time competitive intelligence can make all the difference is a very competitive bidding process. If the product is successful, these alerts can compile a list of posts why consumers are so excited about the product.  This data can guide your future product develop strategies.

Are You Using Google Alerts?

I wrote this short post because so few people are using Google Alerts and it has proven to be an invaluable tool for my business. This tool is a great way to stay connected to what is happening across your industry and to read about what the thought leaders in your market are saying.

Setup your free Google Alerts account today.  www.google.com/alerts

We would like to you to attend a hands on demonstration regarding the strategies and steps required to update the META tags and Page Titles on your car dealer platform to mark your calendars for April 2, 2009 at 1:00 pm. 

I have been invited by www.DealersEdge.com to conduct a webinar to enable car dealer staff to update their websites to better comply with the recommendations set out in the Google SEO Starter Guide.  You can download a free copy of the 22 page booklet by following this link:  Google SEO Guide.

Brian Pasch will be showing participants how to research effective keywords to place in web page titles and META description tags.  I will be demonstrating how to update META tags and titles using popular web platforms that many car dealer already use. 

Anyone participating in the webinar can plan in advance to have PCG check out their platform and possibly include it in the webinar.  This is a hands on event so when participants are done with this webinar, they can have a positive impact on the visibility of the dealership website.

Register for Brian Pasch’s Webinar

If you would like to register for the webinar, the cost is $198. Without prejudice this is a great value.  By attending this webinar, car dealers can save hundreds of dollars in consulting costs if they had an outside party fix their website to be in higher compliance with Google’s SEO guidelines.

The register for the webinar, please follow this link;  Automotive SEO webinar