Archive for July, 2010

Elixir Interactive has finally released the results of a ground-breaking case study which carefully documents an ongoing attack against our brand.  “Brands Under Attack: Elixir Interactive Online Reputation Management Case Study” details the methodical campaign employed by an anonymous company or individual and designed to populate the search engine results for Elixir’s brand search terms with fictitious reviews and complaints.  The case study represents months of analysis and research going back to the first false complaints filed against Elixir in early 2010.

Online Reputation Management companies had been defending themselves against an organized campaign of false complaints since September 2009, if not longer.  When the first bogus claims against Elixir first appeared, the company decided to investigate the strategies being used and record the steps taken to protect the results for brand-related keywords.  A post on CEO Fionn Downhill’s blog detailing analysis of the initial attack may have sparked an even more vicious attack on Downhill’s personal brand (see “Elixir Interactive CEO Online Reputation Management Case Study”) as well as motivated the attacker to continue to strike against the main Elixir brand.

The anonymity provided by complaint sites allows anyone, even unethical competitors, to post false and slanderous reviews against a company or individual without proof or fear of retribution.  An SEO-savvy attacker, such as the one assailing Elixir Interactive, can utilize black hat linking strategies to get those complaints to rank high in the search engines – and stay ranked.

Because Elixir has years of experience assisting other companies and individuals protect their online reputation, there were already strong assets in place that made it more difficult for the attacker to gain traction in the results.  By taking careful steps to 1)answer some of the complaints and solicit complaint sites to remove fictitious reviews, 2) fortifying the digital assets that already ranked, and 3) generating new pages such as press releases and event announcements, Elixir has been able to successfully defend against the relentless methods used to damage their online reputation.

“Brands Under Attack” serves as both a warning and a solution to the dangers faced by anyone with an online reputation to protect.  It explains how complaint sites profit from the reviews posted on their sites and how current laws shield them from responsibility, giving them no reason to care if reports are padded or outright slander.

If you have decided that your company needs a reputation management campaign, it is likely that there has been some kind of attack on your reputation already. If this is the case and you go with a company that can’t produce the results they claim, it is a waste of your money and time. This can give those who are attacking you more time to attack you, and make it easier for them to get into the top results and solidify their position. Unfortunately there are rep management companies out there that will try to trick you into believing they are better than they are. The best way to not be taken in by them is to check their references carefully before going into business with them.

You should also know that if you deserve the things that are being said about you, the odds of a truly good SEO company working with you will be minimal. If there is an indication that you deserve your bad reputation, and they will find out if there is, you may not be able to get good service. This is because until you have improved your business practices all the SEO company is doing is putting out fires as they are created. Usually companies that are in this situation expect miracle results that cannot be delivered. If you have good business practices then the SEO company can put out the one fire and build up your defenses enough that there won’t be any more major issues. You will want to continue the management campaign after the fires have been put out so that the defenses won’t be damaged again.

The first thing to do in any online reputation management campaign is to analyze the current search results. Most people conducting a search won’t go past page one and the numbers that do drop off further and further for each page. The top thirty results are usually a good indicator of the farthest anyone is going to go, so looking only that far makes a lot of sense. After that a strategy can be formed as to how to improve the results, which websites should be promoted and which ones need to be pushed down in the results. It is never an exact science and something that works for one brand might not the right strategy for another.

Once a strategy is in place and results are beginning to improve, many companies then feel that they can drop their reputation management campaign. The truth is that just like traditional PR, online reputation management never ends. There is always going to be another angry customer no matter how well you treat them, and there will always be people who will want to attack you. The problem is that in the digital space, unlike when all of this was simply text and talk, it never goes away. Years down the road people will still see the things people have said. The only way to keep your pages strong enough to stay in the top ten is to keep the management up and keep getting attention to those pages.

There are a few things you want to get right before there is a problem with your online reputation. An online reputation management campaign won’t be as successful if you don’t already have certain standards in place. You will need to consider whether your organization operates with integrity and good intent. Do you live up to your promises, get results and provide excellent customer service? If the answer was no to any of those, engaging in online reputation management may likely be an uphill battle that you will ultimately lose.

Online reputation management takes all the good things about your company and brings them to the forefront of your online profile. Managing a reputation focuses on taking control of what information people see about you when they do a web search. Everybody and anybody could benefit from the use of online reputation management strategies, but people need to be aware that if you are not treating customers right, your online reputation can never be fixed — any company you hire will just be constantly putting out fires.  Staying in crisis management mode makes it extremely difficult for a company to clean up your search results, much less build them up so that they can withstand future attacks.

If you want to ensure that you get the reputation management that your company deserves, you need to start out right. You may have no current plans of putting your company online, however everyone else will be looking for you there. If you don’t have a presence, it will likely be your competitors and detractors, such as disgruntled ex-employees or dissatisfied customers. Start with online reputation management early and it will be easier to keep one or two angry individuals from blasting you and driving away lots of business. The fact is that people today rely heavily on online recommendation – sometimes more often than asking a friend. If you have bad reviews online, potential customers most likely won’t even think about doing business with you.