Looking to repair your internet reputation, but not quite sure how to get started? This is an extremely common occurrence among business owners. At least you realize the importance of reputation repair, so you’ve already completed the first step. So what comes next in the process of internet reputation repair? Follow this helpful guide to find out.

What is Online Reputation Repair?

Before anything else, let’s cover the basics of reputation repair and what it actually means. Understanding what reputation repair is will help you to successfully achieve it. To put things as simple as possible, online reputation repair is the process of improving your brand’s reputation. Not only that, but it is also the process of maintaining a reputation once it has been improved.

Why Brand Reputation Matters

WebFX says that “users can potentially see reviews for your company in search engines, social media platforms, blogs, and more — so it’s important to uphold your reputation!” This is certainly not the only reason that brand reputation matters, but it’s a pretty good reason, to say the least.

A recent study showed that over 90% of consumers read reviews before purchasing a product. If you think about it, this means you could be losing 90% of your potential customers if there are any negative reviews surrounding your brand. What you need to do is turn those negative reviews into positive ones. That way, you’ll keep the majority of potential customers on the hook as they read reviews from previous customers.

Common Strategies Used by Top Reputation Repair Agencies

Now that we’ve covered what reputation repair is and why it’s important, let’s talk about the strategies involved in successfully repairing an online reputation. The most common strategy for building and repairing a rep is search engine optimization. The first resource that consumers turn to is Google, so ranking high on Google searches should be your main priority.

But there’s no point in your website ranking high on Google if you’re not proud of your website in the first place. If you think your site needs improvement in any way, you’ll need to focus on another reputation repair strategy before you invest in SEO. That strategy is website development.

Web development can mean many things. Perhaps it means you need to fix the aesthetics of your site, or maybe the actual content needs fixing. For many company’s, functionality of a website needs improvement. Whether your website doesn’t look good, the content needs fixing, or the functionality is lacking, delivering a perfect site is a must for repairing brand reputation.

After you’ve fixed up your website and taken the proper steps to fully optimize it for search engines, the next focus is social media. If you already have social media business accounts, that’s great. But are you staying active on these accounts and keeping your followers engaged? This is vital, and something that a lot of company’s do not place enough focus on.