Seattle Business Coach: Best Practices to Manage, Protect Your Web Reputation

March 8, 2012 - PRLog -- With Internet opportunities come critical challenges says Seattle business coach Terry Corbell, who provides best practices to maximize your Web presence and to manage your online reputation.

“The key to Internet dominance is to think integration,” advises the Seattle management consultant who publishes hundreds of business-coaching strategies on The Biz Coach, http://www.bizcoachinfo.com.

“Naturally, the first steps include a multimedia Web site and synching it with your social media, business listings, inbound links and other elements,” says Mr. Corbell.

He says many small businesses have made a tactical error in thinking Facebook is the crème de la crème in marketing.

“You never want to let any social medium presence outclass your Web site ranking,” he warns. “You want to use a social medium to enhance your site’s presence and drive traffic, not have it stop there.”

However, the business-performance consultant says Facebook is a threat to businesses four ways:

1. Facebook has a tendency to cannibalize a company’s Web site. In the minds of consumers, a Facebook page is frequently more relevant than the Web site, and often search engines will list a company’s Facebook page ahead of its Web site.
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2. Facebook users have come to expect discounts and coupons.

3. The majority of Facebook fans aren’t local.

4. Facebook fans are inconsistent. Within a month or so, they decide a business’ Facebook-page offerings are boring.

“As for advertising, it rarely helps small businesses to insert their ads on the social medium,” he adds. “It’s better to save the money or budget it for prospects to offer loss-leader discounts to try your products or services.”

Despite the Facebook buzz about its 850 million members, he says published reports indicate it began losing members in North America and Europe in 2011. Facebook’s growth is in emerging Third World countries.

Mr. Corbell says a strong Web site is of paramount importance. Insert your Facebook, Google+ and Twitter widgets, he suggests, if you cater to a professional clientele, include LinkedIn.

“Otherwise, the big Kahuna to generate local customers is Google Places,” Mr. Corbell explains. “If a consumer searches for a local product, Google weaves the top seven results at the top. Normally, the top three business listings attract the most customers.”

To maximize your Google Places’ presence:

1. Complete all the information – physical address, telephone number and your relevant categories.

2. Insert professional pictures and a video.

3. Synergize your listing on CitySearch, Local.com, Manta, Merchant Yelp, YP.com and mobile sites such as Foursquare and Facebook Places. Produce an informative video for YouTube.

4. Entice your best customers to insert reviews. If feasible, encourage them to take a moment to write a review before they leave your business.

Mr. Corbell says it’s important to reinforce your Web presence:

1. Regularly update your Web site. On your home page, every week make a change, even its small such as a loss leader or testimonial. Again, include your social media widgets if you have a blog, insert the latest headline. Customers and prospective customers will notice. Just as importantly, so will the search engines.

2. Strategize with media centers of influence. Write search engine press releases and submit them to local media outlets if you have a newsworthy item. If you need PR, but don’t have a budget, see how to leverage news media at http://www.bizcoachinfo.com/archives/8137.  In addition, insert a press page on your site and include your releases. The news media will be a big source of credibility.

3. With blogging success, others will want to re-publish your work it or otherwise link to you. Don’t allow them to do so, if they have an inferior Web presence. The first step is to check their site’s Google page rank.

4. Regularly monitor your Web presence with search-engine news alerts, especially with Google Alerts and Tweetdeck. Daily search for what’s being written about your business, and evaluate any changes to your search rankings and customer reviews. Respond quickly. So develop a prototypical emergency response strategy including templates. Why? Some competitors of businesses are gaming the system with false reviews for their gain or to badmouth others to enhance their online presence. They furtively do this and can quickly dominate the Internet by downgrading your presence. So keep a careful record of your business listings, and have template responses ready to insert in advertising along with key words ready to implement on the search engines and other sites. This includes responding to journalists, social media and other online forums.

Mr. Corbell also advises making sure you take measures in cyber security with security precautions and response philosophy. For tips, visit http://www.bizcoachinfo.com/archives/8285.

Mr. Corbell's portal, The Biz Coach, provides countless business-coaching strategies in Planning, Operations, Marketing/Sales, Finance, Technology, Public Policy, HR, and Wall Street.

Plus, it has informative news videos: World, U.S. Business, Economy, Markets, Health and Sports.

All columns and videos are free.

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Seattle business coach Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. As a longtime media columnist, he publishes performance-enhancing strategies at The Biz Coach: http://www.bizcoachinfo.com, Proven Solutions for Maximum Profits.