Online Reputation Management - The Basics

There are a wide variety of reputation needs and remedies. Below is a list of common solutions utilized by businesses that have had their reputation, image and good name attacked?

Reputation Repair: This could include negative press, reviews, blogs, press releases and news. Solutions would include either completely removing the negative item or pushing it deeper in your search engine rankings where very few people will see it.

Reputation Management: This would include monitoring your search results to see what people are posting about you or your company. Are there negative items that need to be addressed? Are there positive items that should be pushed higher in your search engine results?

Rip Off Report: This is one of the most damaging and challenging website to deal with. Their website is full of fake reviews placed there by competitors, angry customers, disgruntled ex-employees, etc.

Social Media & Social Bookmarking: TechTarget.com defines Online Social Networking as the practice of expanding the number of one’s business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals. While social networking has gone on almost as long as societies themselves have existed, the unparalleled potential of the Internet to promote such connections is only now being fully recognized and exploited, through Web-based groups established for that purpose. Websites such as Face Book, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are popular examples of social networking websites.

Remove Negative Press: This is incredibly damaging to your reputation. Making this problem even more serious is the fact that search engines like Google place a special emphasis on news websites. These websites will rank very high for your name. They will also continue to stay ranked in a high position until they are dealt with. It is very rare for these items to fade deeper in your search engine results over time. They usually get stronger with time and continue to rise in your rankings due to how the search engines value this type of content.

Reputation Assessment: Some companies and individuals do not have a real grasp of their online reputation. You need to have a handle on how the world sees you through the eyes of the search engines. Is there negative content that is causing you damage without you even being aware of it? Is the positive content that needs to be pushed up higher where it can do the greatest good? Is there someone using your name for their own purposes?  

Reputation Insurance: If you are in an industry where you are very likely to get complaints this type of monthly service can save you thousands of dollars. Do not wait until you are attacked.

International Reputation: All of the major search engines have country specific versions of their results. If you do business internationally you may have to address all of these search engines.

Search Engine Optimization: Reputation Management is a niche in the larger industry of Search Engine Optimization.

Professional written content and production and distribution: Content is king. This is especially true when it comes to search engine rankings. Content should be distributed to hundreds of websites, press releases, blogs, social media, articles and directories. This type of content is very effective for both Reputation Management and SEO.

How do you remove Rip Off Report?

Rip Off Report.com is a very strong website in the eyes of search engines like Google and is therefore very difficult to deal with. Once your name is on this website it will show up very high in your search engine rankings. Once this damaging website enters your search results it will stay ranked very high for your name until it is dealt with.

So, how do you deal with Rip Off Report when they have posted negative information about your business? Below is a list of options clients have told us they have considered in removing rip off report before they called us for help.

You could sue Rip Off Report - This is the first option most of our larger clients consider. The issue is that this is a losing proposition. Rip Off Report is protected by a law passed in 1996 called the Communications Decency Act or “CDA”. This protects them from any lawsuit based on the content they host about you. The short answer is you may be able to sue and win against the person who posted your Rip Off Report but you cannot successfully sue the website itself. Rip off Report has lost in court before but this was due to their business practices around what they call their Corporate Advocacy Program.  

You could sue the person who posted your Rip Off Reports – This is a lawsuit you may win if you can prove what the person posted about you is false. The issue with this approach is how do you find the person and prove they posted the content? Most people do not use their real names but instead use aliases. You can often get a court order to force rip off report to turn over the person’s IP address but this will usually lead nowhere. You would have to get another court order to force the person’s Internet Service Provider to turn over their name and address. They may refuse to do this though. Even if you do get the end user’s real address you may find that they used one of several techniques to hide their real IP Address or they simply posted the rip off reports from the library or a coffee house. Now there is no trail. More often than not there is no trail to follow. You can spend months and tens of thousands of dollars to find out the person used an alias and hid their true location. Even if you do find them and win a lawsuit this is not going to remove your rip off report. Once content is posted to rip off report it becomes their property. The person who posted the rip off report does not have the ability to ever remove the rip off information.

You could change your name – It may sound odd at first but we do hear from a lot of clients who considered this option before we helped them. This really demonstrates how damaging ripoffreport can be. This website ruins people’s lives and businesses to the point that they feel the only choice left is to change their name and start all over again. The big issue with this approach is that the person who posted your rip off reports almost always finds out that you changed your name and they will cause more damage. They will post new rip reports with your new name and update their old posts linking your old and new names together. Now you look guilty because it looks to an outside observer as though you are trying to hide something. The best approach is to call us right away. We will help you fight rip off reports without having to change your name.
You could post Rebuttals to defend your name – This is the most common way our clients try to fight rip off report before they call us. They try to defend themselves on the very website that is causing them harm. This is a very bad idea for two reasons. The first reason is based on human nature and the way RipOffReport.com is set up. Each time you file a rebuttal the person who originally posted the negative information is instantly notified that you have updated the rip off report. Now they will come back to the website, read what you have posted to remove rip off report and fire back at you. You will read what they posted and write another rip off rebuttal. They will be instantly notified that you have added another update and they will come right back to the rip report. This cycle will keep repeating until you realize they are not going to stop. Most people who search your name and see a rip off report in your search results do not click on the link and bother to read the report. They see this negative link in your search results and the damage is done. If they do read the report and see all of the rebuttals and updates they will not know who to believe. They are not going to do business with you, with a rip off report.

The second problem with posting a rebuttal to your rip off report is the way it appears to search engines like Google. RipOffReport.com is a very strong website with the search engines before you post your update. After you post they now see this content as not only strong but now updated. Search engines love frequently updated content. If you post rebuttals you will strengthen your rip off reports in the eyes of the search engines. If you post multiple rip off rebuttals the issue compounds. We understand it is very difficult to read lies about you posted online and do nothing about it. You have to know that updating this type of negative information will hurt you in the long run.

You could do nothing – This is an understandable and common approach to dealing with rip off reports. Most people feel if they just wait it out they will remove rip off report and/or rip off reports will fade back deeper in their search results. This almost never happens with a strong website like RipOffReport.com. In fact the opposite usually happens. This negative rip off report link keeps rising in your search engine results. This issue has to be dealt with. It is not going to go away by itself.

A common characteristic of a new rip off report is that they will stay ranked very high in your search engine rankings for the first week and then disappear for one or two weeks. At the end of this temporary disappearance the rip off link will return often at a higher position. If you have a new off report it is vital that you call us and we will remove rip off report. We employ some very powerful techniques to keep your rip off reports from ever reaching back to the primary pages of your search engine rankings. Even if your rip off report has been up for a long time, it’s important you contact us as possible. Time is critical when fighting against RipOffReport.com.

Rip Off Report :: Don't Be Scammed By The Rip Off Report

I came across a negative posting on a company from rip off report.com. Rip off report is a sounding board for customers to post negative complaints about business on the internet. A upset customer may post a negative blog slandering a business. I understand that it is very difficult to remove Rip Off Report from the search engines one it’s ranked on the first page. There are other companies also out there that post complaints on online such as complaintsboard, my3cents, scam, consumerwebwatch, pissedconsumer, etc.

The growth of internet has created an easy avenue for people to post negative information about a person or business. They do this by posting their negative comments on the social media sites and/or company blogs. To combat this ever growing problem gave birth to reputation management services. These reputation management companies remove negative complaints posted on the search engines. Having negative information posted about a business is very damaging. Business’s who have internet slander posted about their company can now have it remove by contracting a reputation management company.