If your small business has recently established its online presence, building credibility is a vital part of your online marketing and advertising plan. A proactive online reputation management strategy is more important than ever; with the growth of blogs, discussion forum activity, and other small websites that can go unmonitored, many small businesses can become the victim of online attacks through negative postings and commentary. This was once only a problem for large corporations; however, small companies are particularly at risk when they have not established a strong online presence and are beginning to branch out online.

Every small business needs to work on their online branding strategy, ensuring that their image is not affected by consumers and clients. A few spam comments, flaming posts on social networks, or negative reviews can all affect your business and turn off potential customers. If your small business website runs a blog along with the basic product and services site, a successful online reputation management strategy can help you improve your brand image and encourage more visitors to your site. Blogs, social networking, and link building are just a few ways to boost credibility.

Blogging helps you interact with customers and clients in a personable and informal way. Even if your website look is highly structured and organized, a blog can create a more 'human' feeling to your business and help you engage customers on a variety of topics. Blogging has grown to become a valuable online marketing and social networking tool for businesses of all sizes. Making sure you update your blog regularly can help you build credibility in your industry, provide useful information for your visitors, and easily enhance your online reputation management strategy. You may consider tackling a variety of subjects relevant to your customers and prospective clients, and making an RSS feed available. This enhances your credibility, and encourages visitors to post comments and ideas on a regular basis.

Social networking is another important component of online reputation management. Participating in many of today's leading social networks helps you become more visible and approachable to customers, helping to drive traffic to your site and enhancing your brand image in the process. Joining multiple social networks in your industry, or even building your own, helps your brand and business become highly visible; this can increase the 'comfort level' for prospective customers and help build a positive reputation.

Link building is another element of online reputation management. Inbound and outbound links located on your website and blog can not only boost your search engine rankings, but also provide visitors with valuable resources. Link building helps visitors find even more information about a specific topic or subject, and they can start relying on your business to provide them with quality and relevant information.

Building your positive image is much easier when you have a credible website or blog, and makes it much easier to extinguish negative posts and other feedback that may have been posted across the web. Online reputation management is just as important for a small business as it is for large corporations; proactively taking the steps to enhance your brand and company image is easy with social networking, blogging, and building quality links throughout your site.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Entrepreneur and outdoor photography adventurer Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing communications materials and writing copy for some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Her small business columns are syndicated online, and she publishes the popular e-Zine “Maverick Internet Marketing Secrets.” Learn insider Maverick Marketing secrets you can use immediately to find new customers and increase your sales. Get your FREE subscription at www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com today!

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