By Shannon Webb


Starting your own company requires an investment of time, skills, money, and the patience to make it grow before reaping the payoffs. But let there be no illusions; it's also fraught with some dangers that, if not managed properly, can take bring your business to its knees.

An entrepreneur should be aware of the pros and cons that go with promoting ones business online. While there are many advantages of being visible and active online, there is also the danger of slander and libel through the presence of negative content against ones business. True, you may enjoy global recognition, a wider audience reach, and a bigger customer base by promoting your business online. But along with it comes the risk of being a target for malicious intentions. The result? A negative reputation online and worse, lost revenue and sales for your business.

Defamation of character online can range from light to serious. A few bad posts in blogs, forums and social networking sites can be seen as mere opinionated ramblings and you can safely ignore them especially when there are more good things said about you in these same sites.

You could take a more aggressive stance to manage online reputation. You can haul the offending posters, bloggers, or reviewers to court in a civil case where you can expect significant compensatory damages. But that's a big gamble as you have no guarantees of winning the case. It could take years to resolve civil cases at a huge price in legal fees. Meanwhile, you can expect your online image to get nibbled away by continued defamation of character that often gets fanned with the legal cases you bring.

A more sensible and effective solution to aggressively manage online reputation is to use the same tools that allow you to enhance your online visibility - SEO. Offensive content in review sites have been known to slide five, ten or more pages down search engine ranks where they can't do any damage to you. Search engine reputation management is now one of the tools harnessed by online businesses with the aid of 3rd party SEO professionals who handle defamation of character repair services.

A good way to push down offensive connected to you is to get a prevalence of positive write-ups to drown out the negative publicity. You can tap into blogs or product portals with richer positive content about you while harnessing related sites and consumer reviews to drown out offending sites. Sooner or later, netizens won't see any of them in the first few pages of a search result.

The key to proactively neutralizing malicious online content about you is to remain vigilant and have a presence in popular blogs, forums and social sites. There are also online sites you can join to monitor your product whenever they get mentioned in these sites so you always stay on top. You can then marshal freelance writers or bloggers to post and submit favorable articles to correct misleading or unfounded attacks on your good name.

These conscious efforts can, in one way or another, ensure brand protection and counteract any negative publicity or vicious plans towards defamation of character. The key is to always be prepared, not only for the best but also for the worst. No amount of malicious content can bring down your empire if you have the tools to repel it. And most importantly, by staying positive, you are sure to be always on top of your game!




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