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What is Reputation Management?

Reputation management is a process to remove negative information about you or your business from the first page of a search engine. Since Google.com has the majority of searchers, I focus on moving your site off the first page of Google.

Your online reputation management (ORM) is very similar to your reputation in real life.  What people think and say about you or your business can be harmful.  Can you imagine someone saying something slanderous about your and then putting it up on a billboard? You would likely want the billboard company to remove it, but they won’t and there is nothing you can do.

Then you have an idea.  You call the billboard company and offer to pay more than your slanderer paid.  The billboard company accepts this proposition and takes down the negative statement.

This is a rough idea of what reputation management is.  I will move everything negative off the front page so you’re only left with good information.

What about review sites?

According to many clients I have talked to, sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor seem to magically publish good reviews when you’re a paying customer and remove good reviews if you are not a paying customer.

Instead of playing that game, I prefer to just push these sites off the first page.  Then you don’t have to worry about them or any other sites like them.

What about Mugshots websites?

Mugshots.com, Arrests.org and other sites that publish mugshots should be ashamed! If you make a mistake should everyone in the world know about that for the rest of your life? Is it the first thing people should see if they Google your name?

Mugshot sites that charge you a fee to remove your name is almost equivalent to extortion and they’re even being sued in some states!

Should you pay to get your mugshot removed? Absolutely not! If you pay to get it removed from one site, what about the other sites? Before you know it you’ll be paying every site out there and that still won’t ensure that there won’t be more that pop up in the future.

By controlling the first page (that’s what I do!) you can essentially block any additional negativity from creeping back in.

Why only the first page?

Studies show that 98.5% of people click on a link on the first page.  Moving a negative article off the second page is double the work, but only a 1.5% return.  It’s just not worth it in most cases. Here are a few links showing data from first to second page listings. 1, 2.

By |March 22nd, 2013|Reputation Management|0 Comments

Where Should I Put My Cash or Liquid Savings?

In the past I’ve written about what you would do if you had $100k to invest online.  The answers in comments as well as the emails I received were really interesting.

Today I want to discuss (please leave a comment about your opinion) what to do with liquid savings. If you’re not funding your Roth IRA, 401k, and other retirement plans, those are always great for tax deference. But what do you do with your emergency fund?

People are much more careful with their money these days than ever before. The recession that started in the United States and expanded across the world has made conservatives of even the most speculative of investors.

However, there are still some tried and true methods for saving expendable income so that it can work for you in the long run. Below are just a few of the many ways in which you can continue to create more wealth for yourself even in the midst of a recessionary economy.

Savings Accounts

As fixed interest accounts go, savings accounts are the norm. However, there are many different types of savings accounts that you can invest in. There are variable interest savings accounts, high interest savings accounts and many others. The more expendable income that you have, the more options are open to you.

The trick with savings accounts is to find the ones that have interest rates that will outpace inflation. As long as you can overcome the detrimental effects of naturally rising prices, you can make money with a savings account.

Certificates of Deposit

Certificates of deposit, or CDs for short, are perhaps the most well known of the long term accounts. They are certainly safe, as most of them are protected by federal law.

CDs are a great way to save if you have less than perfect discipline. There are many penalties that an investor must incur if money is taken from a CD prematurely; most of these fees are not worth the early withdrawal.

As with savings accounts, CDs are also of a heterogeneous nature. There are many different types of CDs, including variable rate CDs and CDs in which you can deposit more than one time. CDs also pay higher interest rates the more money that you initially deposit into them. Look over your personal finances as they relate to the macroeconomic conditions of the world and choose the best option for yourself.

TreasuryDirect.gov

Government treasuries are by definition the safest investment that can be made at any point in time. These are investments that are wholly backed by the full faith of the United States government, and the interest rates on the treasuries are what set the rate for all other investments.

Invest in government treasuries if you cannot find any other investment that suits you. They are a great place to hold your money until you can think of a better place to put it.

Qualified Wealth Advisors

Finding the right wealth advisor can net you more profit than any of the above investments. The right wealth advisors will be able to diversify your portfolio with further research and a more practiced eye. As with all advisors, you still need to make your own choices.

This was a guest contribution by business professional and journalist Rebecca Leeb. Rebecca has a wide range of professional niches including, business, marketing, legal matters and real estate. For more of Rebecca’s work and professional opinions visit New Wealth Advisors Club.

By |October 19th, 2012|General|1 Comment

How to Maintain a #1 Ranking

This is my first post in a while. The reason I generally go through dry spells here on the blog is that I have clients that I’m tending to, it’s a great problem to have! I found a few minutes on a late Saturday night and wanted to share something that I’ve been sharing with my clients lately, an effective strategy for maintaining your #1 ranking.

The client in this picture came to me a couple of months ago and asked, “How do I stay at number 1?” He was obviously enjoying the fruits of his labor and wanted to make sure that he stayed at the top as long as possible.

Number 1 Ranking

My advice to him was simple. Do what you’ve been doing. For him, the successful link building strategy was my private blog network.

My general strategy is to do half of what you have been doing. If you got to #1 by building 300 links per month, now drop that down to 150 links per month. You’ll keep your ranking and have a larger profit by saving some of your link building budget. This particular client wanted nothing to do with that and actually reinvested more of his profits into long tail keywords and launched a new business.

Since you’re at #1, you have already defeated your competition, but that won’t always stop them. In fact, moving ahead of your competitors can often force them to start a new link building project so they can try to get back to where they were. If you’ve ever been at #1 for your primary keyword, you know how that feels. One day you’re making money, the next day your income is down to just 25% of what it was yesterday.

Keep in mind that this is a general strategy. If your website is your primary business you might never want to stop building links. Recognize that your competition will likely never stop building links, but to maximize your profits spend half of your previous link building budget and save the rest.

By |August 25th, 2012|Link Building|0 Comments

Stop the Junk Links

Stop the Junk Links, Love Google

Today Google released an update to it’s algorithm that targeted junk links such as forum profiles and comment spam. Many people that sell services aimed at forum profiles and high pr comments are really fighting this, but the proof is there.  Check any major webmaster forum and you’ll see plenty of threads discussing the latest “Google Dance”.

By |May 17th, 2011|Link Building|3 Comments