Online Reputation Management Firms Could Grow in Tough Times

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July 30, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

In mid-July, a company called Lifestyle Lift reached a settlement with the State of New York over consumer trust violations that Lifestyle had participated in. Because the company felt that negative reviews on the Internet did not properly reflect their product, they paid employers to flood the Internet with false positive reviews. The company agreed to pay $300,000 in penalties to the State of New York and stop publishing anonymous reviews on web sites.

While this may be big news to some, a company attempting to trick consumers with made up reviews is not an uncommon occurrence online. In fact, the need to obtain positive customer feedback throughout the Internet has led to the rise of a new form of online optimization called Reputation Management Optimization (RMO). RMO firms a form of online PR firm. They will work with the company to create a positive image, but their main goal is to get negative comments off the first 3 pages of Google search results. Because they measure success based on how a company is painted in search engines, they differ from traditional PR.

While RMO is an industry still in its infancy, bad economic times might help catapult it to a popular maturity. As businesses continue to feel the hurt of a sore economy, many turn to the Internet and rely on “AstroTurf” marketing — the act of placing anonymous positive reviews throughout the net in the voices of satisfied customers. This action is less than acceptable and, if caught, can lead to large fines and possible penalties in search engine results.

So what is a company to do when their reputation gets tarnished online? RMO firms are springing up everywhere to answer this question.

By choosing the proper RMO firm, an online business can grow without losing the trust of their always important customers. Merchants looking for an RMO firm should request a thorough explanation of the tactics they will take. Skilled optimizers will be able to boost your positive customer reviews without solicitation or AstroTurfing.