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Google’s Rich Snippet Testing Tool

What do you do if you want to test whether or not Google is recognizing your web pages as an authority and connecting those pages to your brand name? Answer: Test them. And Google has the perfect tool for doing that.

Google’s Rich Snippet Testing Tool is designed to help webmasters test their rel=”me” and rel=”author” reputation management tags. If you write a lot of content for your own web properties and as a guest blogger or guest writer on other web properties, then this is a great tool to use to see if Google is recognizing your content and associating it with your authorial brand name.

Enter the URL of the page that you want to test. NOTE: You must enter the URL of the exact page, not the domain name. Click “Preview” and Google will tell you if you have linked profiles on each of the popular social networks including (at least)

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Quora
• StumbleUpon

The tool will also show you the Google snippet preview, what a search result will look like if someone searches for you by name and that specific page is returned. If you don’t have a rel=”me” author tag linked to your Google profile, then the tool will tell you that as well.

Finally, the Rich Snippet Testing Tool will show you the actual rich snippet data on the page so that you can analyze it for correctness and accuracy.

Google’s Rich Snippet Testing Tool is one of the best online tools available for authors and webmasters to use for reputation management. If you are serious about search engine optimisation and reputation managment, then you should use the tool.

Amazon Top Company In Customer Service

An interesting poll shows that Amazon is leading companies across the spectrum in customer service. Not just online companies. ALL companies.

This really isn’t surprising. Amazon has already put some of its brick and mortar competition out of business. But for an online company to win the best customer service award says something about online reputation and customer service more specifically.

A discussion of customer service online is not complete without talking about technology. It is very important to choose the best technology for meeting customer needs. That’s why Amazon is No. 1.

Amazon’s business revolves around fulfillment. If the company cannot meet customer expectations with regard to product delivery, then it’s out of business. Because Amazon has excelled at this from the beginning of its life, it has beat all other companies – online and off – on customer service. And you can too.

You might not win this specific competition, but your local Scotland business can be tops in online customer service with the right content management system, e-commerce solution, or customer relationship management software. Pick the right technology and you’ll be heads and shoulders above the competition.

Customer service really is a matter of owning and using the right technology. Meet your customers’ expectations and you can win a few awards too.

5 SEO Tools For Managing Your Reputation

Managing your reputation online isn’t hard. The key is to be proactive and not reactive. You should be managing your reputation before you need to erase the negative stuff. And you should realize that you can’t really ever erase the negative stuff. You can only make it disappear from search results.

But if you manage your reputation on an ongoing basis, then it becomes a lot easier to manage when you really need to manage it.

Here are 5 SEO tools you can use every day to help you manage your online reputation.

1. Blogger - Blogger is Google-’s blogging platform. Since Google is the No. 1 search engine online, let’s start with this one. Recently integrated with Google+, any content you put into Blogger will receive instant cred.
2. Google+ – Speaking of Google+, this social networking tool has intense ramifications for search and reputation management. The more you use it, the more likely your Google profile will rise to the top.
3. WordPress – WordPress is the premier blogging platform. Buy a domain, set up a blog, and blog to it every day.
4. Articles – Article marketing still works, albeit a bit differently than it did in 1995. Write articles and publish them online with links back to your websites.
5. Twitter - Really, any social media tool can be used for SEO and reputation management, but there’s just something about Twitter that makes it really powerful – and you don’t have to spend a lot of time there.

Are you ready to manage your online reputation through SEO and social media? Try these tools.

Would You Use Google+ On Your Blog?

Google+, in its short life, has taken on a level of popularity unknown before. Google+ is Google’s social network. Of course, many times before Google has tried to get into the social networking game and failed, but this time they seem to have succeeded in ways that they probably couldn’t even foresee.

But what if you were able to publish blog comments on your blog that connected to your commentators’ Google+ accounts. Would you?

Let me tell you why you should probably consider it – if it happens.

First, it would be an awesome reputation management tool for your commentators. By allowing commentators to link their comments to their Google+ IDs, you will do more to encourage comments than anything else you could do. And when you comment on other blogs, then you’ll increase your own reputation as well.

Google+ comments would also gain some extra traction in the search engine. Not that there’s any evidence of Google+ comments having great SEO value than anything else, but I think it’s quite possible that Google+ comments on your blog could very well give it an SEO boost in Google’s search engine. They are, after all, competing against Bing, who is in cahoots with Facebook to make their search engine more social.

Is it true? Right now, this is in the rumor category, but if it is true, then look for a Google+ blog comment system soon.

Reputation Management And Google+

If you haven’t tried Google+ yet, let me give you one more reason why you should. It’s a great reputation management tool. If you want to know why I say that, think about this:

The more often you post to your Google+ public stream the higher your Google profile rises in the search engines – especially Google.

And the good news is, it doesn’t take much. You can post just a few times a week and see your profile rise to the top for your name. This is particularly important if you have a common name. But it’s also very important is your livelihood is dependent upon your reputation.

Google is integrating Google+ with all of its other services. That means, if you use Picasa, YouTube, Google Reader, or other Google services, then the more you use them the higher your profile could rise when people are searching your name. Got a very active YouTube account? Post your videos to Google? That counts.

I think within a couple of years, Google+ could very well be the reputation management tool that everyone is using. I would encourage you to get on that bandwagon right now – before everyone else does.

How To Get A HubPages Subdomain

Remember the Google Panda update? It got HubPages, and a few other high profile websites that article marketers were using for link building. Since the Google content farm killer was rolled out early this year, HubPages has tried to figure out a way to reward high quality article writers while letting Google have their way with the low quality article writers. Their solution was subdomains.

I actually think this is a good idea – for several reasons. No. 1, you’ll have total control over all the content on your own subdomains, except for the ads served up by HupPages and its advertising partners.

Secondly, your subdomain can be your name, which means it will have tremendous reputation management benefits if used correctly. That is, if you don’t abuse it.

Thirdly, HubPages is still a good source of links and traffic.

Plus, you can monetize your articles at HubPages, which you can’t do at most traditional article directories.

So when you count the benefits, it makes sense to have your own HubPages subdomain. If you don’t already have a HubPages account, I’d recommend signing up for one now. Then go through the steps to claim your subdomain.

With quality content becoming more and more important every day, HubPages offers another way for you to ensure your name and your content are rewarded for their excellence.

Amazon’s Reputation Management Strategy

Amazon is a company that has had a pretty solid business strategy right from the get-go. Because of that, the company has managed to snag an unsuspecting award: The most reputable company award.

The award is sponsored by Forbes Media and Reputation Institute. The criteria for judging were:

trust in companies and leaders rather than product brands, multiple stakeholders and their interactions, and building a connection between a company’s reputation strategy and its business strategy.

So if trust in companies and leaders trumps products and brands, what’s that say about reputation management? I think it says a lot.

First, it doesn’t matter how good your product or service is if your company’s leadership is always falling down in the public eye. Your leadership’s reputation is your company’s reputation. They are inseparable.

While small businesses don’t have stakeholders, you can have fans. They may or may not be steady customers, but if you have a social media presence, then your fans and followers will be watching your every move. How do you interact with them?

Thirdly, your business strategy and your reputation management strategy should be inextricably linked. If they are not, eventually one or the other will suffer. Maybe both.

Congratulations to Amazon for its strong leadership.

Does GoDaddy Need Reputation Management?

Is shooting elephants a bad thing? PETA thinks so. Animal rights activists of various stripes think so. Even average Joes who don’t hop on the animal rights bandwagon are betting against it. But GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons is setting his entire reputation on it.

Sounds odd, doesn’t it?

Parsons decided to help a few African villagers survive, so he staged an elephant hunt and captured it on video. Then he posted the video online. Today, he’s roaming the free world defending himself through media interviews. It’s reputation management in overdrive.

The problem is, this kind of reputation management necessity could have been prevented. But when your company is being led by someone who actively seeks controversy, prevention likely won’t be a consideration. You’d better pull up a pound of cure.

The best kind of reputation management is to not need any in the first place. I’m not going to say shun controversy entirely, but if you are the type of person who seeks it, be sure to count the cost beforehand. Choose your controversies carefully. That may be where Parsons went wrong. He didn’t exactly choose wisely.

Online reputation management is a tough job. It’s costly and it’s time consuming. Your better off not needing it. But if you do need it – and GoDaddy always seems to need it – need it because someone else is shooting bullet holes in you. Don’t need it because you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Puns intended.

Online Reviews And Reputation Management

There are plenty of websites online these days that offer consumers a way to review your business. Some of them are local directories and others are global websites like Google. Either way, a negative review online has the potential to hurt your reputation. However, you can turn a negative review into an online reputation management win in just a few simple steps.

1. Step 1: Keep a cool head. Don’t retaliate by posting a ranting response or threaten the reviewer. Everyone who reads the review will read your comments and that won’t look good for you either way.
2. Step 2: Say ‘thank you.’ It might seem odd, but a soft thank you for the review can go a long way. Let the reviewer know you care about their concerns.
3. Step 3: Apologize. Yes, you should apologize for the bad experience. This tells the reviewer that you have listened to their concerns and you are ready to make it right.
4. Step 4: Make an offer to fix it. Tell the reviewer you are willing to make the problem better by offering a free service or a discount as a way to make amends. If possible, send a private message. If that is not possible, leave your phone number on the review site and make your offer public. If the reviewer doesn’t give you the opportunity to fix the problem, then at least anyone reading your response will know that you’ve made a good-faith effort.
5. Step 5: Follow through. If you make any promises, keep them. If you tell a reviewer, or any customer for that matter, that you’ll do something, then do it. The best reputation management is good customer service.

If You Publish On Twitter Then It’s Public

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) here in the UK has decided that once you publish content on Twitter, it is considered to be published in the public domain. The only exception is if you have your profile defined as private. This is an important ruling and while it comes as no surprise, it does formalize what as been just an understood standard.

What brought this ruling to a head was a complaint made by a public servant following the publication in newspapers of content that she had tweeted through Twitter. The content was a negative view of her workplace and as such was thought newsworthy by the print media. Her complaint was based on the fact that she thought her comments would only reach the 700 friends she had.

The PC has ruled that, although she only had 700 friends, each of those friends were free to retweet that content, and that the content was accessible by others. Whether the content related to her private life or working life was not an issue. Once you publish content it is public and available to others.

What is important to understand following this ruling is that the press now has free reign to publish and comment on any content that is found through Twitter as long as the originator doesn’t have their profile marked private. This means any negative comments you make about competitors, current or former staff, or current or former employers, could come back to haunt you at a later date.

Social media is an evolving giant, a giant that has not yet found a comfortable place in our old-fashioned legal system. One would think that this ruling would also apply to public comments made on any other social media site such as Facebook, MySpace, or blog comments. Social media has taken Chinese Whispers to a whole new level – the whole world can see who started the whisper – and publicly comment on it. Take heed – this is an important area when it comes to reputation management.