Building a business from the ground up is difficult to say the least. It requires jumping through hoops, juggling many moving parts, and sometimes doing what seems to be the impossible… all while trying to keep up good appearances throughout society. Not only do you need to focus on inventory lists and marketing strategies, but also online reputation repair and management.
Here you can read a step-by-step guide on how to get started, not just with building a reputation but also repairing it if things have started to go south in terms of brand reputation.
Develop a Website
If you haven’t done this already, creating a website should be your first step. You can do this on your own, but we recommend hiring a website building service if you have no personal experience with web building. Remember that a website essentially serves as the face of a company. Everything from its appearance to its functionality should be taken into consideration. Even if you already have a website set in place, there is always room for improvement.
Study Your Competition
Maybe you think this is a sketchy company-building tactic, but there is no problem with examining your competition. You should be studying what’s working for them and what isn’t, because chances are they are doing the same for you. If the competition’s website ranks higher than yours, there’s a reason for that and you need to find out what it is.
Reach Out to Customers
Customer outreach is a major aspect of brand reputation. After all, you wouldn’t be in existence without your loyal customers. It is important to get in touch with them whenever you can, especially in terms of reviews. It has been proven that almost all consumers utilize reviews when they’re in the market for a new product.
For this reason, review monitoring and management is the first step in reputation management. No matter if a customer leaves a positive or negative review, reach out. Try not to focus on only the negative reviews, a common mistake for both startups and major corporations. Of course you need to resolve any negative issues with customers, but let the happy customers know that you’re grateful for their business.
Hire a Content Writer
We’ve already talked about the importance of a quality website, but a website is only as strong as its content. Everything on your website is considered as “content” no matter if it is in the form of words, pictures, or videos. It is essential to make sure that each and every piece of content is high in quality and has a purpose.
Quality content is what builds trust with your customers, and it also allows you to rank higher on Google. Google can actually determine whether or not internet users will find your blog posts and video tutorials valuable. It uses advanced algorithms to determine your placement within search results, and one of the major factors is content.