Blogs and blog comments are great for a small business owner because they allow you to socialize with others within your niche, which can indirectly promote your business.
This is true for both your own blog and comments on others, but one thing you have to be careful of is a commenter who is out to make you look bad.
Sometimes, it is your own fault, and sometimes, they are just being out of line, but either one can be damaging to your online reputation.
It is often tempting to defend yourself in either scenario, which can end up turning into a "flame war" which is always annoying to other readers. This will also reflect poorly on your reputation.
If you feel passionately about your stance and can keep responses in a professional light, you can also keep your reputation in this light, but when your resort to insults, that is when it gets ugly.
So how do you control your reputation in such a situation?
First off, if you know you are wrong, admit it from the start. People will appreciate your honesty and accept that you are human and make mistakes just like everybody else.
If you feel that you are not wrong, but others insist that you are, the best thing you can do is provide as many facts and details that support your view and leave it at that. Again, if you keep it professional, you will probably not hurt your online reputation too much. You may lose a battle of "flames", but you can rest easy knowing that you are the better man/woman and know that others that see your comments will understand what you're about.
In the end, you're really representing yourself how you want to, and no matter what anybody else says to you or about you, you have the power to defend yourself and represent your business professionally.
On the other side of the fence, Small Business CEO points to a humorous article by Yvonne Russell on how to get other bloggers to hate you. Avoid these!
Don't Let A Bad Reputation Drag Your Business Down5 Key Ingredients to Surviving in Online BusinessThe Social Part of BloggingManage Your Online Reputation in Real TimeOften Overlooked Places To Leave Your Stamp OnlineWays Online Forum Participation Can Benefit Your Business7 Steps to Earning Customer Trust OnlineeCommerce, Business Blogging, SEO, and Marketing: Tips and ToolsKeep Your Online Business Alive in 2008Online Reputation Management for Local Businesses | |||
| Do you have a business site? Submit your business related site FREE! | |||
| |||
Submit Your Article
Advertise
Newsletter
Comments
Finding the comments...
That's all very well if you know about the comments in the first place, but with so many blogs and forums floating around it would be impossible to track them all manually - Is there a tool which can scan blogs etc for your company name, thus alerting you to possible bad (or good!) comments?
Use google alerts for this
Use google alerts for this
RE: Finding the comments
Chris, I understand that,
Chris,
I understand that, but my point is how would you know to look at that blog/forum in the first place?
And yes we does use google alerts, but our brand name is also in use by various individuals so I've never actually received a relevant alert (maybe that's a good thing). Although I did just find out via and alert that there is a 'gentlemans bar' somewhere in the US with the same name... Luckily, I don't think our UK customers will get confused between us.... 8-)
RE: Chris I understand that,
blogging tools
It goes a lot further than simple google alerts which usually don't work as well as we like. There are however a number of tools for all the major blogging and message board platforms that will contact you through various means anytime a comment is made. i find this very helpful managing 20 blogs and writing for four.
For wordpress users this is a standard feature in your settings menu. Most blogs also have the ability to get a feed of the comments. One of the best plugins for wordpress from a readers standpoint is subscribe to comments allowing me to track comments on posts I comment on.
home business is truley a work of art, I agree about
thanks for the contructive jargin on othwer prospecters blogging comments and such.............
Fully agreed
If you find yourself in an endless battle of words like a mentioned "flame war" the best way is to keep it self-possessed and to hold on to the facts.
Blogging
The controversy that I usually find myself in is mentioning my web site. Most blogging sites do not allow a site url to be mentioned. They consider it spamming.
I struggle with blog rules that allow hidden forms of bad language and even out right rudenss but forbid online business owners to even place their url at the end of a very well thought out comment.
With out at least a blind link to my comment, blogging is just not worth my time and effort.
Negative blogs
Hi, I agree about not always knowing who's said something negative. There are so many people out there who have nothing better to do than post something bad, or just lie about a business or person. People still like to believe the worst whether it is true or not. Does anyone know a way to do a photo search in addition to a business name? Thank you for mentioning this topic. It appears there are many of us in similiar situations.
Post new comment