Fionn Downhill – Digital Shenanigans

In these difficult economic times, it is more challenging than ever to build and maintain a successful business. Traditional business methods– running ads and relying on word-of-mouth — are no longer enough. Instead businesses have to think outside of the box, and more specifically into the cyberworld.

Regardless of the type of business, the Internet is often the first place that customers go when seeking a new service. Not only is the Internet quick and easy to use — simply type what you are looking for into Google and nice long list will come up — but it also gives users many different options. The Internet is a one-stop shop for listings of different companies and customer reviews.

As a business owner many tools can be used to your advantage. With the proper seo tool you can monitor and help influence your websites on search engines like Google and Yahoo . To begin search engine optimization (SEO) helps improve your sites ranking on the search engine. This involves being aware of popular search phrases connected to your business as well as having pages on popular social networking sites like Facebook or Linkedin . The goal is to improve your ranking so that potential customers won’t have to search through 10 or 15 pages of results to find your site (because most of them won’t search that far). This also increases your company’s visibility.

Another benefit of SEO is helping monitor your company’s reputation . Every business, no matter how long it has been established or how honest it is, has had disgruntled customers. It’s just part of the business. However with the Internet being so easy access and use, customers can spread their displeasure much easier and wider. SEO can help you keep watch for negative reviews that could damage potential business and reputation management can push those sites out of the primary ranking.

With SEO your business could be on the leading edge of the internet market and well on its way to even greater business success.

A company has a product. Employees sell that product. Companies, big companies such as Starbucks and Dominoes Pizza, have been called upon to defend themselves and to save the reputation of their brand, their services and their products, and their own moral fiber, because once something happens, it happens forever. This is becoming more of the case norm, as widespread media is not contained to the newspapers nor the nightly news anymore, but it is in the hands of the public. A public who may go online and post reviews, articles, and blogs, which reach millions through their computers each and everyday.

 When a company deals with the public, one aspect that they may face is that all of the people may not be pleased all of the time. And also what stands true, is that mistakes may be made. This is what happened with the Toyota car company. Currently, a large number of Toyotas are being recalled and reevaluated for safety issues. The Toyota company conducted the massive recall of their vehicles, when it was discovered that the gas pedal sticks, causing great concern not only to the owners of the vehicles, but the company itself. U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, stated last week, that the company was pressured by the U.S. Government to recall those vehicles, and now the Toyota company has stepped up to take full and complete responsibility for the safety of their customers. Which they should do of course.

The Toyota company would have done well to look after their own online reputation management, monitoring today’s platforms for modern media dissemination of information. To do this a company should keep track of the happenings on such popular social sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Even a company without the popularity that Toyota has, will benefit from the diligence taken to ensure that their brands and products are not receiving this negative mass press. Online reputation management involves protecting one’s brand and protecting one’s own reputation. When companies find that they have neither the time nor the skill to do just that, is it time to hire specialists in the field of online reputation management. The services that are offered will not only protect one’s company today, but far into the future as well.

Wikipedia is a powerful tool for learning and researching information. It is an online encyclopedia that features community-contributed-content. The articles get added to and improved on continually. The goal of Wikipedia is to include articles that are both accurate and neutral; however, because it is open to public involvement there can be inaccurate and biased information.

Because of the authority of much of the content, Wikipedia entries are often very highly ranked by the search engines. Also, people are using social search – community based sites to do their searching. Type a brand into Wikipedia and it returns a wealth of objective information as well as links to the official and related sites. Social search (based on human information and recommendations) is taking over the old algorithmic search engines such as Google. Some major brands receive a large percentage of visitors from Wikipedia.

Many companies and business entrepreneurs, CEOs etc., are featured in the site, thus allowing you to use it to communicate with your target audience. If you have a Wikipedia entry, it is in your best interest to monitor the information. Be aware that competitors will often use it to try to discredit your company and products. Also, be aware that any attempts to sell your company or products, alter opinions in your favor, or change accurate information may have repercussions within the community and your brand reputation may be discredited.

Although anyone can edit Wikipedia articles, more weight is given to members of the community that contribute regularly. Wikipedia has editors that monitor the activity of users. Therefore, if you want to contribute to your own listing it is advisable to find out all about the site and become a regular and valued participant.

So, what do you do? First of all read the Wikipedia policies and guidelines. Then you should become a regular active contributor that adds value to Wikipedia. When you want to edit an article make sure you communicate with article editors when you are making edits. Include only verifiable information, (that you have written and is not plagiarized from other sites), and cite references. Contribute to the talk page of articles to which you wish to contribute. Stay within the Wikipedia code of conduct and respect other contributors.

There are over 2 million articles on Wikipedia. Have a look around, contribute, and help grow your brand.