3 Easy Ways to Assess Your Business’ Online Reputation for the New Year
3 Easy Ways to Assess Your Business’ Online Reputation for the New Year
As the year begins to wind down, this makes for a great time to tidy up your business online. Get your business ready for the start of a new year. Take some time to assess your online reputation and determine whether it is good or bad, keeping in mind that the absence of any web presence can be just as bad as a negative reputation. If your business has few or no search results, it can look like you’re hiding something, or that there is nothing positive to say about your business. Even worse, if your business gets a negative review, it will be right at the top when searched for, and your business could become synonymous with that single bad review.
Did you know that Google’s algorithm changes frequently, which translates to search engine results being in perpetual flux? Because of this, positive or negative reviews that were once found way down the line may move to the first page where everyone goes to find you.
It is imperative for small business owners to either enhance or at the very least, fix your online reputation, but first you must first determine whether your online reputation is good or bad.
No. 1: Search your business’ name. Potential customers considering your business will usually research your reputation online, which you should also do to assess your standing with customers. If your sales have been suffering and you’re wondering why, those answers can oftentimes be found online via customer reviews, especially if negative, as 83 percent of consumers read online reviews before making purchase decisions. Additionally, do not just limit the search for yourself to Google; make sure to also use other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.
No. 2: Conduct outside searches. This means enlisting the help of family, friends and/or trusted colleagues to give you an honest assessment of your search results. As human beings, we often don’t agree with others’ assessments of us, which is why it is sometimes crucial to get the opinion of a neutral third party who will give you an unbiased, and perhaps brutally honest viewpoint.
No. 3: Keep going. When searching the name of your business online to assess your reputation, the information on the first search engine report page (SERP) typically tells you a lot about your business’ estimation. However, it behooves you to keep going because people researching your business usually will; in fact, three out of four users will click on results within the first three SERPs.