The “This site may harm your computer” message from Google. On Saturday morning at about 7:00AM California time we Googled ourselves, and may other sites, and always got the message “This site may harm your computer”. When clicked on, the link went to a Google page about the message. A few minutes later the problem seemed to go away. I wonder if it will come back, because apparently Google thinks ALL sites may harm your computer. 
Here is what the page looked like for a search for our company – the “This site may harm your computer “message from Google.
People have been asking me about how internet reputation management is done. It’s… well… complex. But as I promised, I would use my blog to outline how it’s done in a nutshell.
First, we don’t lower negative results, though what we do tends to have that effect. We create relevant content with the key phrases we want to promote. We also make existing content that uses the key phrases more relevant to search engines. So, you might say we crowd the bad stuff off the first few search results pages.
Google makes mistakes sometimes. This is because it’s really a gigantic machine that can’t individually consider whether the first page of search results is ‘fair’ to a person or company. They are concerned with relevance. At Kent Campbell, we have clients that come to us in tears because a competitor with a little knowledge of SEO has utterly destroyed their online reputation. We like to think we help Google provide a more fair and balanced results page. Unlike Google, we actually consider the impact of the search results on a company or person. We ask whether it is fair or accurate.
Online reputation management is extremely time-consuming. We utilize bloggers, social bookmarking professionals, link-builders, coders, copy writers for SEO press releases and SEO articles, project managers, and more. But we understand that sometimes people have more time than budget. Here are some tips and guidelines when engaging in do it yourself online reputation management.
Ahh, you say. But this is one of those ‘profit’ deals – isn’t it? Well, yes it is. But people are surprised to find we only take about half of our online reputation management prospects. We turn companies and people down very often. Which ones? Well, pedophiles, murderers, and people who will bring us bad ‘karma’ are at the top of our list (though I understand they generally find satisfaction with one of our competitors – no names).
So, here are a few online reputation pointers…
Online Reputation Tip #1: Research the Attack
Online reputation management starts with figuring out who is doing the attacking. Is it a competitor, a jilted lover, an insane person, or all three at once? Often times you’ll find that the offending online posting is that of a journalist writing without full knowledge of the facts (this happens A LOT). But no matter from where the online reputation management issue sprung it’s almost always a hassle to reduce, and once posted the negative publicity is difficult to move.
Online reputation attacks can be broken into two broad categories, one-time postings, and malicious postings (crazy people often fit into the latter category). Malicious attacks are often the most difficult to deal with because the offender is actively trying to destroy someones reputation and will do so again and again. In the latter case, the first step is to get the offender to stop. This may be accomplished with the help of Tip 2 below. If it’s a passive attack, for example your name was included in an online news article in a less than positive light, or blogged about once or twice, an online reputation management firm (gee, maybe Kent Campbell) may be the answer.
Online Reputation Tip #2: Attorney or No Attorney?
E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E, but sometimes worth it. While we’re not giving legal advice (we’re not attorneys, it has often been found that if the perpetrator is defaming your reputation, and you can prove it, you may have a case against them. The benefits and cost must be weighed and often online reputation management is the most cost-effective option available. If you feel you have a case, speak with an attorney that specializes in defamation cases. Finding the bad guy is usually the biggest problem.
Online Reputation Tip #3: Generate Positive Listings
Want to win the online reputation game? Own page one of the search listings for your term. Search engines rank highly the most relevant content. How they define ‘relevant’ is always changing. Google finds fresh content very tasty. You should create positive internet reputation articles, blogs, press releases, web sites and more in an effort to become more relevant to the search engines than the negative search result; then keep the fresh content updated. Make sure your articles are relevant, and contain your key phrases in them. You can use www.articlemarketer.com to distribute your articles. An article a week should keep you busy.
Maybe there are already good things out there about you. That’s great, it’s useful. Google your key phrase and find out. Part of online reputation management (or in this case, reputation repair) includes updating positive links that include your name, not just reacting against the negatives. One key to helping a positive search result rise, if you have the ability to edit the positive content such as a Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn.com , include the problem search term in the body of the content a number of times (but not too many – it’s called spamming). A good idea when creating content is to put a big sign in 72 pt. type on your monitor that reads ‘RELEVANT’.
You can create new content as well. From speaking at Rotary Clubs and getting the talk mentioned in the local online newspaper, to building Facebook and other social networking pages, there are myriad ways of introducing new, positive content and thereby helping to manage your online reputation. Positive press releases are very helpful as well and can be distributed via PR Newswire and other sources for a relatively small fee.
Online Reputation Tip #4: Monitor Your Reputation
Monitoring your online reputation is an ongoing task, but there are tools that can help automate it. For example, Google offers a free service called Google Alerts. Google alerts can assist you in your internet reputation management endeavors by alerting you via email when their ‘robots’ find your name or company name mentioned somewhere on the internet. The best way to take immediate action is to know as soon as possible when your internet reputation has been compromised and take action. Why? Because oftentimes a search engine considers older web pages to be more relevant; and more relevant web pages float to the top of search results.
Online reputation management can seem like a difficult task, and lets be frank – it often is. The average online reputation project takes months to get results. Serious attacks need professional assistance from firms like… well, us. Even when you’re careful and keep track of your reputation, attacks – whether active or passive still happen. But if you catch it quickly enough, and follow the steps above, you may be able to lessen the effect it has on your online reputation.
The first thing you notice is the humidity as you’re exiting the plane at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. Air conditioned spaces are punctuated by warm-moist locker room-like areas; they’re like those “cold spaces” people talk about where spirits gather in an old house – but the opposite.
I was met at the plane by Mr. Sina Buranish Adenyeno, a Nigerian textile manufacturer. He was dressed in a maroon “abeay, basically, really fancy pajamas (they look quite comfy). With Sina was a woman from the Nigerian foreign department. The fact I was met by a member of the government was very impressive to me at the time. With a deft wave of her ID card we swept past the legions of sweating humanity waiting in a crowd at the entrance to customs. Dirty, dimly lit, and with a droplet of fresh blood on the floor at my feet – that is how I remember my exit from the debarkation area of the airport – my first steps on Nigerian soil. Nigeria is different than America in more ways than I can count.
Referencing the blood, I have no idea how it made its way to the cement floor of the customs area. It was undisturbed; not one of the hundreds of people tightly packed together had trodden on it. It was bright red among the shuffling feet.
After a time in the tow of Sina and the foreign service lady, navigating the labyrinthine halls of the airport, we began our search for the Chief of Security. We had made it through airport security to the common area, but for some reason we needed to go back. I felt like a salmon having just traversed Niagara Falls and being told that I must go back up. We found the man in an unmarked office located in a nondescript corridor off a pedestrian passageway; he was watching TV. My infinately patient and polite hosts convinced him that I was worthy of a ’special pass’, a magic card I could wave at security on my trek back up Niagara Falls. I could go against the flow of security without question. This was necessary, because of their need to deposit me in the VIP lounge of the airport near the boarding gates. I was to wait there for the rest of my Rotary NID team to arrive.
The lounge contained my television from home. I was quite surprised to see it in Nigeria and wondered how it arrived before I did. Next to my television, was another television exactly like it, but defunct. But it definitely wasn’t my living room, I could tell because the furniture was different and Muslim women wearing very uncomfortable looking clothing were sitting next to me – something that rarely happens at home. There were two couches, four tables, a tile floor, faux African art on the walls, and a Nigerian soap opera on my TV.
I was nervous waiting in the lounge because, other than my backpack, I’d left my luggage in the main causeway of the airport – an un-air conditioned cauldron of people pressing against each other looking for an exit, either from the airport, or Nigeria. My bags were being watched by a fellow Rotarian from Nigeria named Marco – I trust Rotarians and I trusted Marco. But the sheer number of people in such a chaotic environment caused me to worry. If I were to lose my bags I’d be without my camera, clothes, power bars and, gulp – purell. The sale of the contents of a single one of my bags would have fed three Nigerian families for a year.
I was eventually united with American Rotarians at the airport. Our yellow jackets, smiling demeanor, and for the most part pale faces made us stand out. When we exited the airport we were met by cheers from the local populace. News reporters took our photographs using ancient cameras, one pulled out a cassette tape recorder circa 1974 and asked me to speak clearly into the microphone hole. People pressed all around and security parted the crowds as we made our way through the thick night air to waiting cars and vans; my eyes began to burn.
Driving in Nigeria is an interesting adventure, even as a passenger. Dr. BJ drove me from the airport to my hotel. I questioned him about my bags, thankfully he’d rescued them from the lobby without my notice; they were safely in the trunk. I was able to sit in the front seat and was treated to a sensory experience like no other. Horns. Horns all around. Smoke belching from exhaust pipes. Gas lines forming a day before. Men, women, children, goats, scooters, motorcycles all share the broken road – seemingly all honking or being honked at. A never ending loop of smoke and poverty and sweating existence illuminated by the hot smoky sun by day and roadside bonfires at night. Buildings of cinder block rose out of the rubble. Water being sold in plastic bags. Fresh fruit and vegetables being hawked in a never-ending free-market orgy including clothing, animals, gasoline, phone cards and religion. A man bent over a wheelbarrow filled with oranges, he was cutting them with a machete and selling the slices inches from traffic. Prostitutes, a fruit on a stick stand, oily smoke from kerosene lamps, sweating dark brown people toiling or lounging. Lagos is crazy, the people tough.
Traffic en route to our hotel was doubly bad as oil and gas shortages stemming from a recently punctured gas pipeline and ensuing explosion had crippled the gas supply in this oil rich nation. Drivers simply park their cars in line in the road a day in advance in hopes of getting a few liters of gasoline the next day. Traffic needed to drive on the crowded shoulder often to get by the waiting vehicles. Sadly, the gasoline stations would only open for an hour or two, then close quickly for fear of robbers.
