Online Reputation Management Strategies by PR Experts

SEO for Plumbers

February 10, 2014 by Todd William Leave a Comment

SEO for plumbers is the best way to grow your existing business with a local online marketing strategy to help your Web site reach the first page of Google and attract more customers. According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online and 20% of monthly searches are for local businesses so by thinking about online marketing you have nothing to lose — except more business.

This is important for plumbers because many of your potential customers will be looking for someone local that can get to their house fast.

Most plumbing jobs are emergencies, so no potential customer will bother searching past the first page of search results.

Search engine optimization (SEO) will help you stay competitive with your other local plumbers so those with a plumbing disaster on their hands can find you and call you quickly — or else they will call your competition.

SEO Tips and Strategies

There are many ways to conduct SEO for plumbers and some of the tactics are unethical. Be wary of SEO tactics like social media spam and blog comment spam, and excessive article marketing. Conducting SEO in the ethical way will take some time, but it will be worth it in the long run. Engaging in black hat SEO may give you a boost for a short while, until the search engines realize what you’re doing and then end up penalizing your Web site.

SEO Tactics

Marketing budgets for all companies are beginning to shift away from outbound marketing and toward inbound marketing tactics, like social media, virtual events and SEO.

1. Determine relevant keywords. The first step in SEO for plumbers is to optimize your Web site with relevant keywords to your customers that relate to your business. The key here is to figure out what your customer will be searching for. For example, they may conduct searches like “emergency toilet overflowing” or “pipes burst.” Make sure you use these terms within the text of your Web site, and within your headlines. Don’t forget to include mentions of your location, and be specific. If you’re located in a big city, it won’t be enough to simply say “New York City.” Instead, get specific about the boroughs you service, since that specificity will be in the user’s search. And since plumbing emergencies can take place at any time, be sure to state your hours, particularly if you are available for emergency help 24 hours a day and/or on holidays.

2. Blog to increase frequency of content. Search engines will recognize the frequency of your posts to your Web site, and will give your Web site more weight if it’s updated frequently. A good way to do this is to start a blog and plan to update it a few times a week. Not only will this show that you’re updating frequently, and therefore providing new information constantly, but you’re also adding Web pages. The more Web pages you have, the more the search engines will have to search through, therefore giving you a higher ranking.

3. Linkbuilding. Another important SEO tactic is linkbuilding. This counts for both inbound and outbound links. When you’re blogging, link to other pages of your Web site within your blog post. A good way is to use anchor text, which implies that the page you’re linking to is about the keyword you use as your anchor. This will help the search engines understand that you are using these keywords organically.

Outbound links also are important, and the higher the authority of the link, the better for your Web site. Network with colleagues and ask to post a guest blog on their site, or if your business will be in the news, ask them to include a link to your site. It’s important to remember here that the quality of the link will always trump quantity.

4. Hire the best SEO company. Many SEO companies exist, how do you choose the right one? First and foremost, look for a company that has outstanding writing skills. The content of your Web site is what’s going to drive traffic and improve your page rank, so having solid, natural writing is paramount for SEO.

SBA and Yelp to Offer Free Online Reputation Management Training

February 6, 2014 by Todd William 1 Comment

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is joining with Yelp to offer a free, two-part online reputation management training webinar program to help small business owners learn how to better manage their online reputation and how to manage online reviews. The first webinar is scheduled to take place on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. EST. The second webinar is scheduled for Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. EST.

According to a 2013 BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey (see chart above), 85% of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses (up from 76% in 2012). The SBA and Yelp webinars are intended to provide reputation management training for small business owners adjust to the challenges of online reviews and take advantage of new opportunities to engage with customers online.

The hour-long webinars will cover:

How to get started with online review sites
How a small business can join the conversations that are happening about their businesses online
How to handle negative feedback and respond to reviews
How to generate more buzz by creating exciting promotions and monitoring customer leads

Click on this link to register for the Feb. 11 webinar: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/668501351. This webinar will feature a home service industry business that is building a strong online reputation.

Click on this link to register for the Feb. 25 webinar: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/917749319. This webinar will feature a food-based business that is building a strong online reputation.

Real Estate SEO Strategies That Really Work

February 3, 2014 by Todd William Leave a Comment

Search Engine Optimization for real estate agents, also known as SEO, will help your company’s Web site reach the first page of Google for your keywords. It is critical to understand real estate SEO strategies to grow your business since 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.

The more keywords contained within your Web site, the more search engines will find you. Building your positive online profile will help your online presence count across the board, from utilizing SEO to blogging and creating social media profiles. By understanding how to use SEO for real estate, you can capture more page views and, ultimately, more clients.

SEO Tips and Strategies

You may find it hard to let go of some of your old marketing strategies in favor of inbound strategies like SEO for real estate. However, it’s important to engage in these inbound marketing tactics, like social media and SEO, in order to reach your local customers in a new way.

Make sure that you’re engaging with SEO in the proper way. It may be tempting to pay someone to get you fast results, but more likely than not, those results are unethical and the search engines will penalize your Web site for it. It’ll take some time to work with SEO, especially since it’s an ongoing project, but it will be worth it for your online reputation in the long run.

SEO Tactics

A HubSpot study found that inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than outbound marketing. More marketing budgets are shifting to focus on inbound marketing.

1. Choose keywords wisely. One of the easiest SEO real estate strategies that really work is to ensure you’re using a specific list of keywords on your Web site. These keywords will be specific to your industry, business and market, and will be ever-changing as the market and consumer wants/needs change. Think about ways to reach your customer in the way that they are thinking. Make sure that specific neighborhoods are listed on your Web site, especially the popular ones.

Don’t regulate your keywords to just the text within your Web site, use it for your pictures too. Pictures of the homes you’re trying to sell is obviously the number one priority on your Web site. Search engines are able to read the file name of the pictures that you post. So, instead of a default file name, like “house 3021,” identify it as specifically as you can, like “bungalow on western avenue.” Next, create an alt tag for each photo, which is a short piece of code that allows you to tag each photo with a short text caption. These captions will also be searchable by a search engine.

2. Blog to increase frequency of content. Make sure that your Web site is frequently updated. One way to do that is to start a blog. Real estate agents have a lot of material to write about. Some ideas can include: changing trends in the neighborhood, school systems, taxes, and local businesses. Writing about things other than houses, yet still impacting buyer/seller markets, will garner even more traffic to your site.

3. Linkbuilding. Engaging in linkbuilding will help your Web site gain a higher Page Rank. A Page Rank is a measurement of how important Google thinks your page is as it relates to your competitors. Having a link to your Web site on someone else’s site gives your Web site more credibility and authority. But beware of link farms and low quality business directories; these sneaky SEO tactics can be detrimental to your Web site. Always remember that it’s the quality of links, not the quantity, that is important to linkbuilding.

4. Hire the best SEO company. Many SEO companies exist. How should you choose? Look for one that is knowledgeable about the rules and regulations that real estate agents face when marketing their business. Also, look for a company that has a great writing portfolio. Be wary of companies that seem too affordable to be true…they probably are. Some companies outsource their writing overseas, which makes the result hard to read and understand.

Fighting Revenge Porn

January 28, 2013 by Todd William 2 Comments

The Scarlet Letter has been cruelly reimagined and digitally enhanced for the information age. A woman’s sexual indiscretions were harsh and humiliating back in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s day, but there is something even more invasive and insidious about the scourge of revenge porn and its free speech apologists.

Revenge porn sites are simply the modern version of victimizing and embarrassing women and men who find themselves on the wrong side of a slighted ex or an unscrupulous hacker. Revenge porn sites allow the posting of private photos of men and women in compromising positions without consent and often under the shield of the Communications Decency Act, a cruel misnomer if there ever was.

The ABA Journal recently reported that if a person finds themselves on the growing number of revenge porn web sites without their consent, fighting to get the photos removed is often a frustrating, expensive and potentially dangerous proposition. Often these sites have comment areas that can be rude, insulting and even threatening to personal privacy. In some cases, information like a home address, place of school or work or social media accounts accompany the images.

According to the ABA Journal, “[o]nly two states, California and New Jersey, make it illegal to post a sexual photo online without the subject’s consent. Though experts say revenge porn may violate other state statutes, it’s common for police to say no law was broken unless the picture is child porn, of those under 18 when a photo was taken.”

Victims “…have threatened or filed lawsuits alleging privacy violations….But while suing the website is efficient, the law may forbid it. Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act grants website operators immunity from lawsuits over their users’ speech—a measure intended to preserve online free speech. Revenge porn sites often invoke it, and some experts believe it protects them.”

So is there hope for these victims who find their lives, careers and online reputation have been ruined by these sites? Sometimes victims can claim copyright infringement, if they have taken steps to assert a copyright interest in their photos, but typically copyright belongs to the creator of the image, which is rarely the victim. Also, efforts to sue these sites have had mixed results in the courts. Some sites operate offshore where they are able to evade the very laws which shield U.S. companies from liability.

A group of lawyers recently started Without My Consent, a non-profit organization seeking to combat online invasions of privacy and empower victims to seek justice and redress. Claimants have asserted a variety of causes of action, including Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Negligence, Stalking, and Invasion of Privacy claims, as well as civil restraining orders and other affirmative steps to protect privacy and prevent further online harassment.

Founder of IsAnyoneUp Goes Down

January 25, 2013 by Todd William Leave a Comment

In a recent development involving one of the most notorious revenge porn sites on the internet, IsAnyoneUp.com, founder Hunter Moore and Charles Evens were charged with conspiracy, unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, Moore operated the website isanyoneup.com, where he posted, among other things, nude or sexually explicit photos of victims. The pictures were submitted without the victim’s permission for purposes of revenge.

However, to obtain more photos to populate the site, Moore allegedly instructed Evens to gain unauthorized access to—in other words, to hack into—victims’ e-mail accounts. Moore sent payments to Evens in exchange for nude photos obtained unlawfully from the victims’ accounts. Moore then posted the illegally obtained photos on his website without the victims’ consent. The indictment alleges that Evens hacked into e-mail accounts belonging to hundreds of victims.

If convicted, Moore and Evens face up to five years in federal prison for each of the conspiracy and computer hacking counts. The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence to run consecutive to any other sentence imposed in the case.

Who’s Afraid of the BBB Accreditation?

January 18, 2013 by Todd William Leave a Comment

Over the past several years, I’ve worked with small and midsize companies all over the country on BBB accreditation and resolving outstanding disputes to improve their Better Business Bureau rating.

In almost all instances, the BBB is eager to work with the company and its reputation management consultants to close outstanding customer service issues and complaints and work on policies and processes that will lead to BBB accreditation and an A+ rating.

The BBB is frequently misunderstood by many consumers and even business leaders as a government organization or regulatory agency — it is neither.

The Better Business Bureau (or BBB) is a private, non-profit organization, local to your business community with a goal to promote ethical business practices and assist consumers with complaints or issues with businesses in their community. According to the Council of Better Business Bureaus Annual Report, consumers contacted BBB more than 103 million times in 2011 and handled 927,256 complaints.

The umbrella organization, called The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), is located in Arlington, VA and is supported by 230,000 local business members. The BBB was started in 1912 and was called the “Vigilance Committees” of Advertising Clubs, and established to ensure the accuracy of advertising. Over the years they eventually branched out to monitoring business complaints and ensure ethical activity of community businesses.

What Does the BBB do?

The BBB performs the following tasks:

Collects and reports information to help prospective buyers make informed decisions.
Develops programs to encourage firms to regulate their own advertising and selling practices.
Serves as a neutral third party to help settle marketplace disputes.

In addition, each BBB branch strives to provide consumers information about various local companies and businesses especially if there are complaints or issues. They can also act as a mediator or recommend arbitration services for resolving buyer/seller complaints and disputes.

How do you file a complaint against a business with the BBB?

A complainant is usually asked to submit a complaint in writing to the BBB, so that an accurate record exists of the dispute. The complaint is then taken up with the company involved for resolution.

What is a BBB Accredited Business?

You might see signs or wording on a shop window for instance or a website that a business is accredited with the BBB. Being accredited is a very positive recommendation for a business as it means the company meets high standards of product/service excellence and places a high value on customer service.

Is there anything the BBB does not do?

The BBB does not have policing powers so they cannot take any action to close down a business or force a business to settle a commercial dispute with a client or customer. In addition, the BBB cannot provide credit information to consumers nor can they report the business in question to credit bureaus.

SEO for Plumbers

SBA and Yelp to Offer Free Online Reputation Management Training

Real Estate SEO Strategies That Really Work

Founder of IsAnyoneUp Goes Down

Who’s Afraid of the BBB Accreditation?

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