Having a reputation online is one of the most important things anybody trying to achieve success online should consider. If you have a great reputation online then everybody will want to listen to you when you speak, if you have a great reputation online then people will be ready to buy from you or be a part of what you have to offer.
There are some you have to protect your reputation if it is being spoiled and there are sometimes to simply keep shut, but the most important thing is knowing what people are saying about you online.
One of my Nigerian readers went ahead to a Nigerian forum where they ask people to be listing popular Nigerian bloggers, the guy went ahead to lie on me. The guy posted a link to his blog and said his blog is 6 days and mine is one year (while mine is only three months) – he was trying to use the age of my blog to belittle my blog out there, but me being who I am, I decided to keep shut and do as if I never even read the message.
Why is Your Online Reputation so Important?
Many people don’t believe in having a reputation online and they simply believe it is rubbish, you might be satisfied with yourself believing this type of thing but as a blogger and online entrepreneur, it is very important to have a reputation because of the following reasons.
1. It helps you expand
2. It helps you make sales
3. It attracts positive people to you.
4. It helps people listen when you talk.
5. It helps your brand easily spread.
The truth is, in the online world, what people say about you is more important than what you say. If you say you are good and your product is the best, if others say it is not so then believe me or not, others will agree with them – even if you are right.
We surely will not just want to do anything without a reason, that is why it is very important for us to know the importance of monitoring and managing our online reputation.
Importance of Monitoring Your Online Reputation
What Next?
After you know what is being done to your reputation or brand online then you can take a lot of measures on improving it, for example, if your paid product is being misused online you can tell the fellow to take it offline or you will take the necessary legal actions against the fellow.
If you also see that people are saying what is not right about you, you can decide to reply them and defend yourself or better still tell someone to do it for you because if you are not careful you might lose your temper and begin to misbehave there.
You might also want to report the offenders to online authorities such as their web host, the forum moderator (if it is on a forum), or the blog owner (if it is in a blog comments section).
Tools For Managing Your Online Reputation
It will all be to no point if you know what to do if your online reputation is being tampered with without having the right tools to track your online reputation. Below are some tools to manage your online reputation.
1. Google Alerts: This is one of the best tools out there that can be used to track your online reputation. Google alerts can be used to track mentions about your name and your brand online, all you need to do is to have a Google email account (you can use any other email account if you prefer), enter the name you want to track and then choose when you want to be notified, you can decide to be notified instantly, every day, every week, or every month.
2. Social Mention: Social mention is an online tools in the form of a search engine which you can in turn enter your name or the name of your brand and then see what people are saying about you.
3. Trackur: Trackur is also another great brand monitoring tool that helps you search blogs, websites and many other places for your brand.
4. Reputation Management For WordPress: This is a great free plugin by Glen Allsop from viperchill, this plugin helps search various places including Google and Technorati for your name or your brand name. It is a plugin that you will install in wordpress, you will also tell it the keywords you want it to monitor and it will be showing you updated results in your wordpress dashboard.
Having and monitoring an online reputation is very critical to your online success, the above are great tips, and advice on how to improve your online reputation.
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Hey Onibalusi,
Thanks for the tips and tools. I have used Google Alerts, bur for a different purpose (to track keywords). I never though of tracking a brand or name. So thanks for that.
Regarding reputation, you are right. It is the key to success. It is very important in the online world. It takes hard work and time to build reputation, but it can be easily destroyed fast.
“The truth is, in the online world, what people say about you is more important than what you say.”
What a golden sentence Onibalusi. This is so true. I have seen this and the reason is people trust other people more than the person saying good things about himself.
Kindest,
Nabeel
Hi Nabeel,
Yes, You are absolutely right.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
There are a lot of great tips to manage and promote my reputation and branding. I am a newbie and definitely, the listed tools are handy. I used Google Alert and don’t know you could track ur name and branding. Reputation Management Plugin is something I’d like to try out right the way. Thanks!
Hi Kent,
Exactly! I am very happy I could help.
Thanks a lot,
-Onibalusi
Hi Onibalusi, What a wonderful blog you have here. Being my first time here I was unsure of what to expect, and I am really pleased with what you have. In regards to your post about Online Reputation, I have to agree with you that when this or if this should ever happen to anyone your first defense is to ignore that person. I had a incident when I first bought my blog, from one of the “prior owner’s readers”. I guess he was really into her blog and was upset about the sale. Nonetheless he started to say things about me on his blog, and even show pictures of the blog and said things like “let’s get this blog shut down” or things to that affect. I had found out because it was a link, and my sister went over to the blog to check it out. She said he was saying hurtful and childish things, and that I should just not even go over to see it. I never mentioned anything about it and I believe that he never got any feedback from anyone else so it all finally stopped. At the time you can get the feeling that the whole WWW is after you or seeing, hearing, and reading everything that is being said about you. One should not worry, and do what you mentioned here keep track of what is being said about you or your blog and either ignore them, or if it get’s really bad then one should report it. Great information that you have given here. Thanks a lot, your blogger friend jj
Hi JJ,
Exactly! I just don’t know why people sometimes behave like that
I am glad that guy gained no traction and it is also better you did nothing 
Thanks so much for the nice comment, I really appreciate it,
-Onibalusi
Well i agree online reputation is very necessary if you want to have a successful online business.. One simple tip would be to be fair in your dealings to have positive feedback from your customers!
Hi James,
Yeah! Exactly! Having a reputation online is very important if someone wants to have a successful online business.
Thanks so much for your nice comment,
-Onibalusi
Yea ur right bro! Reputation matters alot so kip it real! what a pity nigerians are full of shit! It sucks!
Hi Bro,
Exactly, Reputation really matters a lot.
I was also unhappy that guy did such a thing – he did it on narialand
Thanks so much for your call last night, I really appreciate it,
-Onibalusi
Motoring your online reputation is quite important in today Internet age because anybody can use your name and brand to write or do anything if your name or brand is not monitored by you. You have mentioned some great tools for monitoring online reputation. I am checking them each one by one. Thanks
Hi Shiva,
Yeah! You are absolutely right.
If you don’t take the right measures on monitoring your brand then it can be watered.
Thanks so much for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
You’re so right, reputation is evenmore important in an online business because people worry about it more. Once you get a bad reputation it’s difficult to change ti so you have to be very careful.
S
Hi,
Exactly!
Thanks so much for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
It is so nice of you to share your ideas about the topic. They’re very helpful. I think it is more difficult to take care of your reputation online than in the real world. Stories can spread so fast that is why it is very important to monitor your reputation.
Hi Amanda,
Exactly! Anything can happen in the online world, and unlike the offline world, if care is not taken, it can do more harm than good.
Thanks so much for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
Thanks for these tips. I’ve been making good use of Google news alerts for the last few months.
I also occasionally Google my name and see what comes up.
Hi John,
That is really great
It means you are already doing the right thing.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
Hi Onibalusi,
I appreciate for giving your thoughts about building your online authority. One way to increase your influence is by writing expert reviews, giving out professional guidelines and sharing valuable information to the world. People will eventually notice that you are a good source of information and they will subscribe your blog, follow your twitter account.
Exactly Paul,
You are absolutely right.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
I definitely agree that we need to take care of our reputation online. It is a must in the SEO world. Thanks for your article. I will have to read your other articles. Thanks
Exactly Brain,
Taking care of one’s online reputation is really important to one’s success.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi
I thought i would left only 1 comment but another very informative post. I dont know that reputation is really important in blogging. Great blog. keep up the good work.
Hi,
Yeah! Reputation is really important to the success of any blog online.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
-Onibalusi