November 15, 2011 in Blog, Portfolio, Press by ClydeStan

Disgruntled Ex-employees Damage Your Reputation

Leading online reputation repair company ClydeStan now offers a specific service to assist businesses in dealing with negative comments and articles written by ex-employees who have a gripe with the company, or the company’s management.  “We have seen a significant increase in cases where companies have contacted us because an ex-employee, usually someone who has been fired or left under stressful circumstances, has posted disparaging comments online”. The comments can be found on a range of different websites, from industry related sites, to social forums, to blogs and so on.

ClydeStan deals with such cases with a range of methods tailored to suit the specific needs of the case. Usually the most immediate concern is to remove the negative comments. Once this is achieved, the focus shifts onto maintaining the absence of such remarks, and developing various marketing and SEO techniques to ensure that the company is shown in a positive light when searched for in the main search engines. Online Reputation Management has extensive experience and expertise in SEO for all the main search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

An established and reputable media company based in Washington recently utilized the services of ClydeStan to combat a particularly fierce online attack by a discontented ex-employee. The head of human resources commented, “This employee felt he was wrongly dismissed. Shortly after leaving the company he started posting many negative comments and mini articles literally slandering our company and the management”. A significant part of our personnel are recruited from a local pool of graduates, and being from this group himself, as well as being very knowledgeable with the Internet, he was able to make sure his comments were viewed by exactly whom he wanted – our potential employees”.

The company had noticed a decline in applications for various graduate positions, but it was actually brought to their attention by a candidate who raised concerns at the interview regarding some of the things he had read online. Further probing and some research online soon showed what was happening and that one source was responsible. The head of HR remarked, “Like most companies, we know our success depends on our staff. We target high caliber individuals to drive our company forward, and such online slander can be detrimental to our success”.

ClydeStan worked with the company and managed to remove almost all the false negative posts and articles. They then proceeded to develop strategies with the human resources and online marketing teams to ensure that a positive and honest profile of the company was portrayed and maintained online. “We wanted to make sure that potential candidates who searched our company online would view a complete, honest and positive profile of the company. From there it is that individual’s decision to continue with the application process, should they be interested in working for us. It would be a shame for both our company and the potential recruit to miss out, based on false information posted by one particularly bitter person”.

Companies such as ClydeStan are finding that such scenarios are becoming increasing common. These days almost all company research by potential employees is performed online. Thus businesses need to ensure that their online profile remains positive and informative, and readers are not distracted with negative – especially false negative – information.

About ClydeStan
ClydeStan provides effective and tailored solutions for companies and individuals who are looking to repair, enhance or manage their online profile or reputation. ClydeStan uses a variety of effective tools to ensure that your company’s brand is promoted online effectively and that search engine results will be geared towards positive reviews and information rather than false results and negative spam. Working mostly for established US based companies and recognized individuals, ClydeStan has an extensive track record of successful online reputation repair campaigns. Their expertise lies not only in repairing online reputations, but also maintaining them, and passing on to their clients the tools they need to ensure that their online reputation remains intact and is not effected by any negative, often false information online.

November 4, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

Facts About Online Reputation Management

When a company is spoken poorly of on the internet, with the reviewer having no personal accountability, an online reputation management firm can help overcome an angry customer or your competition to make sure that their bad reviews of your business does not end up costing you customers. While it is a good thing that the internet can allow you to reach a huge collection of customers without too much of a problem, there are review sites online that can serve as a shining example of what your company does best, or they can be used as a platform from which to bring your company’s good reputation down. A good online reputation management firm can protect a company’s reputation online by pushing down bad reviews, responding on behalf of owners, and getting customers to put up good reviews of their own.

Pushing down bad information on business review sites is the most important part of online reputation management. The fewer people who see the bad reviews, the better it is for the business, especially if the reviews are from your competitors or from a customer who is disgruntled. The way that reputation management companies do this is by shooting a lot of links to the bad reviews that are anchored by “negative” texts. This causes bad reviews to drop in the search engine ranking positions, allowing good reviews to take its place. The bad reviews will technically still stay on the site, but you won’t have to worry about very many people seeing them and forming their opinion about your business on a negative review.

Some online review sites allow owners to respond to potential customer complaints, online reputation management companies can do this for the owners, which will save the owner time, and gives the reputation company a direct voice to use their experience in rebuking negative reviews. Since very few reviewers are ever going to return to respond back to the owner once they have their say, it will effectively look like you have successfully defended your business without a whole lot of trouble. This is particularly useful if there is a specific problem about your business that has been fixed or is in the process of getting fixed, since nobody else is going to be commenting on it after a while.

Some online reputation management companies will go the extra mile for their clients and help to get customers to put up their own reviews about the business, usually only contacting satisfied or return clients. This ensures that the reviews are going to be positive, and you should be able to get quite a few positive reviews to help balance out any negative reviews. If there is some sort of overall score that the site gives to businesses based on the percentages of good reviews and bad reviews, you will get a big positive boost with the influx of new positive reviews. These positive reviews can also be spread around the internet and given their own backlinks so they are the ones that show up in the search engines, further negating the impact of a bad review.

October 31, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

The Need For Advanced Online Reputation Management Has Never Been More Important

Reputation management is of grave concern to many. Fairly or not anyone can put up a free website or blog and post something negative about anyone else. Many times these negative postings are anonymous so the credibility of the poster cannot be determined.

Most of the time, these negative postings don’t even make it onto the reputation management radar. They are buried deep within the search engine rankings and very few people ever see them.

However, there is another method that has empowered people to achieve high rankings for negative posts in recent years and that is on websites that have achieved trust and authority within the search engines. Some sites allow consumers to rate products and services from online vendors.

They try to offer a balance view and rating system. But, what happens when a Web business lands upon a consumer advocacy website and has been trashed in the public eye? This is where reputation management and SEO kicks in.

The overall idea of reputation management is both proactive and reactive. Proactive reputation management means establishing a well-known and liked brand with positive reviews. Reactive reputation management means reacting to untoward publicity from unhappy customers (or even competitors).

While both proactive and reactive reputation management can be covered under the guidelines of public relations, such as addressing the claims on message boards, blogs and websites, a search engine optimization expert is most often called in when one of these unfavorable opinions gains high rankings.

The most common method of managing a firm’s reputation through SEO involves trying to push down the unfavourable posting within the search engine rankings. This is also a hotly debated topic since some will consider this manipulation of the rankings.

Those who undertake SEO reputation management will try to elevate the positive posts that are currently below the unfavourable post to being above this post. Another method of SEO reputation management involves getting new favourable posts above the questionable post. Most often SEO reputation management involves both methods.

If a post is downright defamatory, then legal action can be taken and the search engines alerted. But, most of the time, these negative posts either have an element of truth in them (such as an unfavourable news story) or are someone’s biased opinion.

In either case, the business owner must decide whether is it’s wiser from a business sense to contact the website posting the objectionable content and asking them to take it down. Or, if by contacting the website, this may unleash more controversy and unfavourable comments to follow.

In this case, reputation management and SEO work together to devalue the unfavourable opinion at least in regard to the rankings. Since having a bad reputation in the search engine rankings can cost a company thousands of dollars, hiring a Internet Reputation Expert like ClydeStan http://www.clydestan.com to help do some damage control is usually a cost that is well worth it.

ClydeStan, the leading online reputation management solutions has several solutions to help people and businesses to promote, protect and defend their online reputation.

ClydeStan offers a comprehensive online reputation management platform that goes beyond simple monitoring. Their professional services are designed to eliminate or minimize the impact of damaging reviews and Internet articles and promote a positive online reputation for individuals and businesses.

The need for advanced online reputation management has never been more important. A 2010 Microsoft study revealed that 70% of recruiters and HR professionals rejected candidates based on information they found online. More recently, a study by ChannelAdvisor found that 92% of U.S. Internet users read product reviews and 89% of those respondents said the reviews influenced their purchase decision.

“We are living in an age where first impressions are found online. People used to check the Yellow Pages for a job, a date, a pizza or a plumber, but now they check Google,” are common phrases – “Someone can hide behind a hateful comment, video or post that remains online forever and can damage your personal life or business. It is online terrorism.”

ClydeStan employs a strong team of experienced public relations, legal, marketing, and technology professionals, trained to remove or bury defamatory articles, reports and other online complaints by creating and optimizing positive Internet content.

About ClydeStan

ClydeStan LLC is the market leader in online reputation management since 2004. No other reputation company has a client list of celebrities, doctors, lawyers, business owners, accountants, consultants and individuals choosing ClydeStan to promote, protect and defend their online reputation.

May 28, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

Understanding Internet Defamation and Internet Reputation

What is Online Reputation Management – Internet Defamation?

The Internet is a great method for immediate communication, to any place in the world. But this has also become a medium for ruthless attacks on the reputation of businesses and individuals, by posting offending and slanderous information about individuals, companies and reputed brands. Online attacks are done mostly through blogs, forums and review sites.

Negative reviews about a person, a company or a brand can be posted in blogs, forums, chat rooms and on review sites by anyone – at any time. In spite of how baseless and untrue the reviews may be, they can still create doubt in the reader’s mind, tarnishing the reputation of the individual, company or the brand mentioned in the review. Researches show that only a very few people dig deeper in to search results past the first three pages.

Internet Defamation – how dangerous?

When people get really emotional and write defamatory reviews and blogs on the internet, they may perhaps think, “I’m gonna show him/her”. But what will happen after that emotional hype, we really wonder! Often people stop thinking about the negative review that they wrote and move on with their daily chores, forgetting that they have set fire on someone else’s life. Why this happens? Anyone is free to express his/her opinion on Internet, without much restriction. A person with an average knowledge can easily publish statements, articles or news items across the world in an instant, even without any editing. Thereafter it will linger in cyberspace for months or even years, impossible to amend or hide, creating many problems. With the popularity of blogs, forums, community message boards and social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook, posting one’s opinion about a person/a company or a brand has a become very easy and it will reach thousands of people in a few clicks. If such reviews are left unchecked, it can create a serious impact on one’s online reputation. Do you need advice? Click here

A few words about Defamation: Defamation can be defined as an act of making untrue and erroneous statements to a third party, to damage the subject’s reputation. This includes several sub categories; including Libel and Slander. Defamation also includes unprivileged publications that contain false or defamatory statements. Protect yourself/your company/your brand from negative online image: If negative information about you/your company /your brand exists online, you can take it far from the first page of search engines like Google or Bing, Yahoo, Ask, etc. by approaching a professional online reputation management company, like ClydeStan LLC. We will help you to track, manage and repair your or your brand’s online reputation. Do you need advice? Click here

You need a good online reputation – or else!

A good online reputation is more valuable than money or any other possessions. Be sure you have a spotless online identity! You can ‘Google’ your or your brand’s name and see what people say online. Are there any negative comments or reviews about you or your company or brand? When someone types your name/ your company’s name/ your brand’s name into Google, the result should only have pages of your website followed by social media profile pages and may be a couple of positive reviews about you / your company/ your brand. The visitors should never come across a string of offensive, derogatory and unanswered negative reviews, comments, blogs or press releases. You may perhaps ignore the bad online reviews and comments saying you cannot please everyone all the time. But can you imagine a friendly relationship of yours getting sabotaged, your business getting slowly declined, your brand facing bad times just because of those reviews?

Actually most bad reputations online are caused due to neglect. Whether it is individuals or business, people don’t manage online details properly ending up creating poor online impression. Search engines can defined as digital versions of Pandora’s Box. You need to be increasingly active online to be aware what’s being said, good or bad.

You need a good Internet Reputation Company because:

To put in simple terms, it takes years to build a good reputation, personal or professional, and just minutes to destroy it. A bad online reputation may spoil your entire business and many good relationships. So don’t wait for that to happen!

ClydeStan helps individuals, companies and brands to build, maintain and safeguard good online reputation. By combining the power and far reaching impact of Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Marketing, along with our online tracking and reporting web applications, we will ensure that your Internet Reputation is as good as it should be. Do you need advice? Click here

May 19, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Mug Shot Removal, Press by ClydeStan

I saw your mug shot on the Internet – you are fired.

There’s one of two reasons you’re not laughing at the moment. Most commonly it’ll be because the joke wasn’t funny. Then you have the person who was arrested, rightfully or wrongly, not charged but the photo is on a mug shot website. You might recognize the young Microsoft Entrepreneur… On the Internet. Forever?

The Internet’s a great wee thing. If you want an MP3 player, you’ll search for it on Google. Vintage cars? Google. Oh, what’s that? You’d like to find out a bit more about the person you’re trusting in business or even a family member? Yeah, Google will help you there too. In fact, people are becoming increasingly reliant on search engines for absolutely all their earthly needs, and – for better or worse – search engines are getting better at finding information too.

More and more vigilante for profit websites are springing up like Florida Arrest.org, Jail Base.com, Mugshots.com, Phoenixmugs.com, and Whosarrested.com just to name a few

Your mug shot could cost you a fortune, your job, family and friends!

New: Fast Track () Removal for $499.00– Click here

Imagine if you were arrested and booked but your charges were later dismissed in court. That’s all good news with the exception of your mug shot that is still on the first page of Google. Now you understand the plight of so many who were vindicated in court but still found guilty in Google.

There was once a time when only serious criminals and celebrities had to worry about their mug shot going public, but now even a traffic arrest can result in your photo landing on the first page of Google.

Of course, you can buy a book – learn about SEO, SERM, ORM – Google algorithms, Yahoo, Bing and all the other search engines. Or you call in the experts.

ClydeStan is the recognized market leader removing mug shots, unwanted links, reviews, photos, etc.. We specialize in Online Reputation Management, removal of any unwanted listings, character defamation, ripoff reports through online reputation repair or simple deletion.

Click here to have your mug shot or unwanted links removed from search engines and websites forever.

May 13, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

The Laws of Reputation Management

Law #1 – Everyone has an online reputation

We all have an online reputation to maintain. If you don’t believe us, go ahead and “Google Yourself”– We promise you won’t go blind! Even if you don’t find anything written about you, then that’s still your reputation–or lack thereof. In 2011, you should make sure that what’s found in Google, Facebook, Twitter et al is something you’d be equally comfortable showing your mother, friends or your boss! And the recent SuperInjunctions have shown there are a lot of stories out there. You don’t have to be one of them.

Law #2 – Your reputation is an extension of your character

It doesn’t matter how hard you work on managing your reputation, it will only ever be as solid as your actual character. Tiger Woods had a reputation of being the greatest golfer–and a family man. His character revealed otherwise. As Abraham Lincoln once said,

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

Law #3 – Every reputation has an Achilles heel

While Toyota may have spent years telling us that its cars are the most reliable in the world, sticking gas pedals told a different story. In fact, even though Toyota tried to deny the increasing incidents of sticking accelerators, its customers were the ones steering the car manufacturer’s reputation in another direction. Instead of denying the issue, Toyota should have been the first to recognize it! When you recognize and acknowledge your weaknesses, before your customers, you have the opportunity to craft a response before the public outcry. Do you know your reputation’s weakness?

Are you concerned about your Internet Reputation? Please click here for a quotation to resolve your issues.

Law #4 – Listen twice, act once

It’s too easy to simply jump in and reply to that tweet or Facebook post–without fixing the underlying problem. Instead, you should spend time actively listening to the feedback you’re collecting about your reputation. Listen for trends. Listen for opportunities. Listen, listen, listen–ok, that was three listens, but you get the point. When you actually take onboard what your stakeholders are saying about your reputation, you do more than just fix a problem, you make sure you fix the underlying issue that created the problem in the first place! GAP’s customers weren’t so much angry that the company’s logo was changed, they were mad that the company hadn’t initially thought to listen to their feedback–a decision the apparel company quickly reversed!

Law #5 – A crowd is louder than a solitary voice

At some point every company realizes the power of the crowd. You’ve heard of “crowd sourcing” right? It called “crowd voicing.” Simply put, your reputation is going to be far greater shaped by a crowd of opinions than one single voice. Your choice in 2011 is to determine whether you want that crowd to be a choir or a lynch mob? By being proactive, by loving and nurturing your online community, you can build a harmony of satisfied customers–all willing to say great things about you. Alternatively, you can ignore your customers and wait until they become so angry, so disgusted by your actions, that they rise up against you. Just ask P&G which it would have preferred in hindsight!

Law #6 – If you build it, they will come

It’s 2011, do you know where your customers are? Have you built them a thriving Facebook community? Can they receive customer service via Twitter? Do you have a blog that keeps them updated on all the changes with your products? If you build an official, company supported social network, then your customers will know exactly where to head, should they have a question or complaint. Ensure you remove your name from Google.

Are you concerned about your Internet Reputation? Please click here for a quotation to resolve your issues.

Law #7 – If you don’t build it, they will

If you decide not to embrace your reputation stakeholders, then you run a huge risk that they’ll create their own community. Not so bad, if you happen to have a strong reputation–Apple gets by with no official social media effort. But, it’s generally not a good idea to stick you head in the sand and ignore those that want to share their experiences with you. If your customer wants to complain about your abusive customer service reps they may well head to Facebook or Yelp. If you don’t have an official presence then you are leaving these dissatisfied customers to define your reputation for you! Resolve to discover where your customers like to “hang out” and then make sure you’re hanging with them!

Law #8 – Your reputation WILL come under attack

No matter how hard you try, your reputation will someday come under attack. It happened to us–and we are the number one reputation management consultants! In fact, Oxford Metrica warns that during the next five years, 83 percent of companies will face a crisis that will negatively impact its share price by 20 to 30 percent. I’m pretty sure BP didn’t think such a crisis could happen to it–and that’s a lot of profit at stake!

Law #9 – Being stubborn is more expensive than saying “sorry”

United Airlines, what in the world were you thinking? Seriously! It would have cost you $1,200 to , but instead you refused to take responsibility. Two music videos and 10 million views later, you ended up with a tarnished reputation and apologized anyway. Don’t make the same mistake as United. When you receive a complaint from a customer, look beyond your pride. Look beyond the immediate expense of making the customer happy. Instead, ask yourself, what’s the worst case scenario here? What’s the lifetime value of this customer–value that would be lost. How could this hurt future sales, new customer acquisition, and your reputation? I’m pretty sure United Airlines wishes it could go back in time and cough-up the $1,200.

Law #10 – Three strikes and you’re out

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a third time and you may as well kiss your reputation goodbye. The law here is that most customers will forgive you the first time you screw-up. Some, will forgive you a second time it happens. Get to the third screw-up and yerrrrr out! Seriously, how many times has Comcast come under fire? A gazillion? I’ve lost track, but it’s gotten so bad that the company is now undergoing a massive re-branding–arguably due to its negative reputation. Companies rarely re-brand when they have a great reputation! When you make a mistake, make sure you learn from it, tell your customers you have learned from it, and make sure you never repeat it!

Are you concerned about your Internet Reputation? Please click here for a quotation to resolve your issues.

April 13, 2011 in Blog, Press by ClydeStan

Reputation, Reputation? Types of Online Reputation Management

Learn about different types of Online Reputation Management: Defensive: Reverse Reputation Problems, Protective: Build a Barrier Against New Issues , Online Review Management Services (ORM), (ORMS) , Negative Review Management (NRM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

ClydeStan is in the business to solve online reputation management problems ranging from protective to extremely nasty.

Contact us now with your issue and our professionals will create a FREE custom based on your online reputation management needs.

Services include defensive and protective reputation management services. Every project is different, here are some of the services ClydeStan provides within a given solution.

Defensive Online Reputation Management

Aggressive techniques to help positive, true web content rise in search results. Unlike SEO (Search Engine Optimization), our reputation management techniques dramatically change the first pages of search results instead of just one website.

Protective Reputation Management

Protecting your good name online and simultaneously change the first pages of search results in your favour. In other words, we make you look better online and protect you against online reputation attack. Many clients simply want to use online reputation management to sculpt search results in their favour. We help move site or review pages up for a certain search phrase by improving the relevance of the page and other factors, or by moving good supporting information up as well. We help clients control the first page of search results.

Search Engine Optimization

Often we do such a good job of reputation management, clients continue to use our services for search engine optimization long after the reputation management problem has been eliminated. Our massive network of online relationships can be harnessed to focus on the key phrases you want your site to rise for.

Review Management

Review sites are the life blood of many companies. We help manage positive reviews for software, books, and products by managing the posting of real customers’ positive reviews. We do not offer ‘shill’ (fake) reviews, but we do offer a long-term strategy and execution of real, true reviews designed to get products the highest rating they deserve.

Why Our Reputation Services Are Better

We use real people for internet reputation management. We find relevant positive information and influence it to move up in the search results. Sometimes we create new information that includes your key phrase in the body copy (content), and we promote that. We make recommendations to our clients about what they can do to help improve positive search results as well. How you are seen on the internet is important, our online marketing management programs craft online perception.

Confidential

The work we do for our search engine reputation management clients is confidential. Online reputation management can be a sensitive matter; we understand this. Only our core staff are aware of the specific nature of our confidential assignments. Whether we help our clients site(s) rise, or assist negative information to fade back in the results, we do so quietly.

Helping Good News Rise

Online Reputation Management (ORM) sometimes referred to as SERM is the promotion of positive listings to the first page of search results. We don’t make negative results move down, we help positive results move up. Do this enough, and negative results tend to fall back to the second and third pages (often well beyond). Since the vast majority of people only view the first pages of search results, negative search results tend to ‘fade away’.

We use various reputation management techniques to accomplish our clients goals. Our techniques may include creation of blogs, articles, press releases, web sites, or using social media for reputation management. In addition, we improve the relevance of third-party sites that carry positive information.

Contact us now with your issue and our professionals will create a FREE custom quote based on your online reputation management needs.

April 11, 2011 in Blog, Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

ClydeStan Announces Protection Strategy For Businesses

ClydeStan, a Bermuda-based Internet reputation management firm with offices in London and San Antonio has announced a new brand protection strategy for both large and small businesses. ClydeStan.com is a leading search engine marketing firm that has carved a niche by developing Internet brand reputation management packages for executives, professionals, celebrities, athletes and businesses.

ClydeStan.com focuses on helping individuals and companies protect their good online image. With years of experience in Internet marketing and brand protection, the founders have developed a tactical solution for companies and individuals looking to clean up and protect their Internet presence.

In the past decade, the Internet, specifically search engines have changed the way consumers get information. Before making almost any decision individuals and consumers are using major search engines such as Google to research who, what, and where. A simple Google search can reveal just about anything on anyone. Whether the information is true or not, once it goes online it’s there for everyone to see. Unregulated consumer advocacy websites, angry loggers and forum posters are popping up left and right. The slander war has taken over and it has given jealous competitors, angry ex-lovers, disgruntled employees and anyone else who feels the itch to jump online a public venue to slander individuals and companies.

Negative and false information published online can be extremely destructive. Companies can easily be put out of business by false, negative slander online. Individuals can lose potential relationships, careers and much more. Recent studies by CareerBuilder showed that hiring managers are using Google and Social media websites to research potential candidates and harmful content found online is losing people jobs. A new survey from Kaplan Test Prep reveals that 82 percent of admission officers use Facebook in their recruiting, so while you may think some pictures of you and your buddies on Facebook is harmless, a college recruiter may be analyzing the picture to determine if you are going to be admitted to their school or not.

A global leader in Internet brand management, ClydeStan.com has developed a proprietary process for protecting and cleaning up online reputations. Using sophisticated search engine marketing (SEM), content dissemination, social media, search engine optimization (SEO) and algorithmic research, the firm ensures your online presence is truthful and positive.

In February of 2011 the company announced a new Social Media brand protection strategy designed for businesses. “After months of intensive R&D on this particular strategy, we are ready to launch it and release it to our clients. It’s something we are very excited about and know our clients will love,” says Mark Tinger, Senior Consultant at ClydeStan.

The strategy uses a combination of major social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote a brand quickly and effectively. This proprietary technique increases overall social network reach and visibility creating powerful online assets in the process.

The firm’s new social media strategy was launched in February and is now fully operational.

For more information, please visit http://www.clydestan.com

March 24, 2011 in Testimonials by ClydeStan

Thank you guys!

You are great! I am not asking how you did it, but it’s gone! Thank you!! Marc

February 23, 2011 in Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

Internet Reputation Solutions

If you Google your company’s name, what do you see below your listing? Do you see reporting company posting a negative complaint? If so, there are numerous Internet Reputation Management companies out there that will remove, suppress, repair, and/or make it disappear. Common phrases are ‘remove link from Google’ or ‘remove name Google’.

A simple example is to Google: “best internet reputation company” – result: ClydeStan LLC. So we know what we talk about.

In the last few years there has been numerous online reputation companies popping up to repair damaging information on the Web. With majority of potential customers going online to research products and services, bad reviews or complaints that turn up in a search can mean lost business. Reputation management services promise to highlight positive pages and bury offending sites deep in search results.

Most reputation management services work by tracking what’s written about a client on the Web, then doing search engine optimization, promoting positive pages, and creating other sites that will push damaging information off the first pages of search results. Here at ClydeStan we take various approaches. Click here to find out more. Simply searching for ‘delete my name’ or ‘remove name Google search’ and hoping that there will be a magic button to clear a web reputation is pie in the sky.

It’s still hard to say how many businesses are using reputation management services, but industry players say clients fall into two categories. Some want to understand and respond to customer complaints; others often just want negative posts to go away. The later seems to be the avenue for most businesses. They just want negative information to go away, buried into the back pages of the search engines where people can’t find it. Whatever the category is, corporate reputation is key to any business and reputation management is something no corporation should ignore. Click here to find out more.

Online reputation management solution companies have evolved in the past few years in response to the social media networks that have exploded with Internet users posting negative information about people and businesses, and then there are the reporting companies such as rip off report, Scam, Compliantsboard, My3cents, and many more, that accept complaints that are not substantiated. Many of these complaints posted by these companies are from angry customers, disgruntled ex-employee, competitors, etc. To defend against these online postings and listings has fueled the need for reputation companies that can restore a business’s reputation, image and good name on the internet.

Altering search results isn’t cheap. Several reputation solution companies said the typical cost for a small business client to get a negative complaint suppressed into the back pages of Google could cost around $3,000, or more, depending on how many negative reports there are. More extensive services marketed to large corporations could run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

What should the small business owner think about, these business service? Many say you should take partial ownership in repairing your online reputation, image and good name. It’s not just going to go away hundred percent by simply paying an online reputation solutions company to bury the negative information far back into search engine pages. While these online corporate reputation firms can help business’s influence results on Google by suppressing the reports, the business owner still has to address the long term damage these complaints have done to his reputation. The sooner you can remove the complaints posted or listed about your business the easier it will be to restore your reputation, image and good name. Do not hesitate to contract the best reputation management firm when your business reputation is at risk.

October 26, 2010 in Knowledge, Press by ClydeStan

The Risks of Outsourcing Online Reputation Management to Cowboys

Online reputation management services require a very personalized touch. A good provider must have intelligence, intuition, patience, stealth, and strong communications skills …

Plus successful, non-theoretical experience with public relations, SEO and social media marketing campaigns. Below you find a guideline what to look out for. Please read carefully through the article and do not hesitate contacting ClydeStan LLC about our working practices, references, etc..

Online Reputation Management is a complex skill set which relatively few people or agencies can smoothly deliver, yet. So before you trust someone else to manage your online reputation, you should be aware of some of the risks and pitfalls that could happen:

• They will hire unskilled, overseas workers to post random content and gibberish under your name. This won’t do anything except waste your money and make you look like a grade school dropout. Unfortunately, quite a few of the firms you’ll find in searches for “reputation management” specialize in this type of service.
• They’ll build spammy links that will cause your sites to get mistrusted by the search engines. Some providers don’t understand the importance of link building – they just make lots of profiles and hope for the best. Others will try to get you some links, but they’ll get quick, spammy links that will ultimately harm your website and profiles’ reputation in the search engines. The best firms have their own portfolio of high-quality web properties to get links from, and they work with smart, English (or native language) speaking SEOs to build the right links and keep it authentic.
• They’ll create hokey, praise-filled content – making it obvious you are trying to “cover up” something. I call this the “bad plastic surgery” effect. Some firms will awkwardly deny everything on your behalf, write cornball press releases, or commit other not-so-transparent blunders that will make people more curious and fixated on any negative information.
• They can monitor your reputation, but can’t really deliver effective solutions to any problems that arise. Monitoring your reputation is important. And responding to a negative comment or forum post is usually a good idea, but it’s not as effective as actually removing the post or thread. Skilled reputation managers can use SEO and social media marketing to make negative information less visible in the search engines – so people are less likely to even see it in the first place.
• They’ll upset your defamer, or unwittingly “tip them off” them to what you’re doing. If someone contacts people on your behalf in the wrong tone, or if it becomes obvious that you are awkwardly trying to “manage your reputation” (suppress their content) – it can get very ugly. Defamers can get even more vengeful.
• They’ll make profiles or content for you that will be discovered and publicized as a fake. If someone writes content for you that is discovered or called out as a forgery, it can make your online reputation exponentially worse. Wal-Mart was eaten alive for this, so was Jet Blue. Social media audiences are incredibly discerning as to what is “authentic” or not, and they love to dish out harsh vigilante justice on anything that smells fishy. You don’t want to be the target of this!
• They will provide you with few details of what they are doing. Be aware of operations that promise big results, but have no information listed on their own websites or blogs about what they actually do. “Proprietary” or “secret” processes oftentimes mean “questionable” or “non-existent.” Yes, there are things that should be confidential — like previous clients’ campaigns or identities — but you have every right to know what someone is going to do if you hire them.  
• They will create sites or accounts for you and then hold them “hostage.” Some firms will register sites for you (like YourName.com) and create blogs and profiles, but then refuse give you access to them. They require you to keep paying their monthly retainer indefinitely or they threaten to pull the plug on any progress they have made. This is extortion. You should insist on registering all websites in your own name, you should demand a list with the logins and passwords to all accounts and profiles a firm creates, and all work they do should be “yours to keep” — forever — even after your contract with them is finished.  Note: ClydeStan has no ‘monthly’ fees and offers a 100% money back guarantee.
• They will take your money and do nothing. There are some greedy, slick-talking SEO and reputation management firms who will take anyone who calls – regardless if they have the time or expertise to deliver for you. In contrast, the best SEOs and reputation managers are in-demand and are less likely to be affordable or to have available time for your case. Therefore, it can be much easier to get signed up with a huckster than to hire a solid provider.

Beware of online reputation management services for cheap or promises to repair your online reputation quickly. It may be very tempting to believe someone has a “magic bullet” that will quickly make your troubles go away overnight, but it’s unlikely to be true. The process usually takes 1 to 2 weeks to prepare.  Time comes at cost. Compare the ClydeStan price range and read the ‘About ClydeStan’ page.

Doing online reputation management yourself will often yield the most authentic results, but it is a complex and time-intensive process that many people need help and guidance with. Just be aware of the possible risks, do your research, and pick a firm you’d feel comfortable to have representing your personality and brand in all types of online situations. Read also the about section of ClydeStan explaining the process in more detail.

September 25, 2010 in Blog, Press by ClydeStan

Online Reputation Management for the hopelessly unprepared

Poet Robert Burns is widely credited with the phrase, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” Relating this phrase in a business context, it stands to reason no matter how much a company orchestrates activities and executes its battle plans—high-impact mistakes happen. However, in an age of over-optimization, and marketing and communications cost-cutting, “soft stuff” such as brand management, press relations, crisis communications and the like are often shelved or discarded in favor of “just-in-time” strategies. Indeed, reputation management isn’t needed … until it’s needed.

In an article from “The Observer,” John Naughton wonders in amazement at how society ever managed without the Internet. Naughton ponders a world without Google, Skype, instant messaging, and online bank accounts. And while the Internet has created boom for most of us, the rise of social media hasn’t been sweet ambrosia for all companies. In fact, with social media and Internet technologies, now company decisions and actions are mostly public, including those of front-line employees. Now, actions that happened last week, last night, or 10 minutes ago can be broadcast across the globe in seconds, creating very dangerous challenges for company branding and reputation efforts.

In the Financial Times article “Perils of a Tarnished Brand,” authors Morgen Witzel and Ravi Mattu notice that even the most scripted and orchestrated product launches can go haywire. And even when “best-intented” marketing plans are well-executed, companies can be exposed to the ramifications of their daily operational and strategic decisions (e.g., Google in China and BP). “What affects reputations, in turn affects brands,” the authors point out.

Every employee is a brand ambassador, and brand management is no longer simply the purview of marketing managers. Even the best branding intentions can go awry when actions don’t back up corporate speak, say Witzel and Mattu.

Of larger concern however, is marketing cost-cutting trends in the name of efficiency that potentially leave brands and reputations exposed. There are numerous Internet and Online Reputation Management companies about who are able to help with all aspects of companies and individual’s reputation on the Internet. Specialized companies like ClydeStan have teams of experts in various fields, including Celebrity Reputation Management. It should be noted that services of those companies are not necessarily cheap, but the phrase “you get what you pay for” – is appropriate.

Robert Mabro, Honorary President of Oxford’s Institute for Energy, describes this problem in a letter to the Financial Times. He writes, “(Companies) no longer want to employ specialists in soft matters, such as political issues and the like. When an accident occurs, they find themselves hopelessly unprepared. This of course (ends up) destroying shareholder value!” Moreover, economist John Kay sums up the problem quite succinctly, “Yesterday’s cost-savings are so often today’s corporate crisis.”

One potential solution is for companies to invest more in “softer matters” like brand, reputation, crisis and risk management. Undoubtedly, some of these considerations are tough to justify in an age of narrow return on investment marketing calculations such as cost per lead. As mentioned above, various companies offer various services, but one of the most noticeable is ClydeStan. They are one of the leading Online Reputation Management Companies specializing in removal of any unwanted listings, character defamation, rip off reports through online reputation repair. Services help consumers and businesses to monitor, protect and improve their online reputation. They offer Personal Packages for individuals who have negative items listed by Search Engines as well as Business Packages for companies who have a brand reputation to defend.

However, Internet and social media technologies that transmit events, news and crisis accounts—at the speed of light—aren’t going away. To succeed in such an environment, companies must invest in the softer functions mentioned above even when “payback” doesn’t appear imminent.

It’s difficult to forecast all types of crises that could occur. A much better plan is preparedness. Related: Financial Times “It Pays to Expect the Unexpected“

September 12, 2007 in Press, Uncategorized by ClydeStan

Welcome to ClydeStan

Operating since 2004, we possess the knowledge, applications, and resources that other firms cannot match. ClydeStan is the industry-leader in Online Reputation Management, Internet Reputation Management & Brand Reputation Management. We can hide, obfuscate, edit, or remove unwanted internet content, by eliminating the related listings which appear in close proximity to your name. ClydeStan is the leading Online Reputation Management Company specialising in removal of any unwanted listings, character defamation, rip off reports through online reputation repair. Our services help consumers and businesses to monitor, protect and improve their online reputation. We offer Personal Packages for individuals who have negative items listed by Search Engines as well as Business Packages for companies who have a brand reputation to defend. Therefore, ClydeStan helps to prevend fraud and identity theft, reverse lookup of address by phone number or any other forms of identity theft.

As you know, negative content which is accessible to the public via search engines, can make or break a reputation. Especially when your career or business is jeopardized. This type of negative publicity can proliferate and become permanently associated with you. This is undoubtedly costing your business or deteriorating your social status and in some cases your livelihood. Click here for Personal Packages or here for Business Solutions.

Interested parties, disgruntled patrons, patients, employees and clients, can find and exploit your negative listings, making an already bad situation worse. Personal grievances can spiral out of control with horrendous consequences.

ClydeStan is driven to protect your name, stopping and reversing monetary and strategic losses. We provide our clients with a productive clean atmosphere in which to reside, work and prosper on the world wide web. We solve your issue in the shortest time-frame possible.

ClydeStan will attack your issue with urgency and aggression. While other firms are mailing you forms and instructions, ClydeStan has already begun to eliminate the listings destroying your name.

We offer much more than a series of tasks created on your behalf. We never ask our clients to ‘write articles’ or ‘build profiles’. We handle 100% of the content, processes and work involved in executing a successful campaign. We represent you as an attorney or agent would, personalizing a successful strategy to immediately clean-up the search results related to your name or business. Click here for Personal Packages or here for Business Solutions.

We have executed campaigns-to-success beyond what other reputation firms have ever conceived possible. The complexity of a successful case can wind through a vast network of internet and social facilities, ClydeStan has the infrastructure and expertise to succeed.

We have every conceivable facet of online reputation management, investigations, leveraging, etc. needed to empower our clientele. Regardless of what it takes to achieve success. Our results are PERMANENT and RULE COMPLIANT as accepted by Google and other major search engines, giving our results stability and longevity in perpetuity. ClydeStan service and applications are guaranteed to be valid, permanent and in compliance with major search engine rules and etiquette. Click here for Personal Packages or here for Business Solutions.