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What to Consider when Hiring a Reputation Management Company?
Have you ever consider hiring someone to do online reputation management for you? If you do, then you probably have a list of who are going to hire. But before you do that, you need to equip yourself with regard to the different factors that will serve as criteria in your hunt for the best ORM service provider.
How to identify reputable online reputation management firms
The following are the factors that you do need to consider when you do hire an ORM service provider:
Experience in reputation management, SEO, etc.
First on the list is the experience. You need to make sure that the provider has a strong foundation when it comes to online reputation management. This is best manifested with his experience with this kind of work. Therefore, do put on your list and gather as much information with regard to a provider’s experience in ORM. This will help you deciding as to who to hire.
There are those providers who pose to be good yet in reality they are not. Don’t you know that those people who have been in the ORM business for years have lots to offer compared to those who have just recently started. Yes, this is very well so. Even though this is not 100% guaranteed but at least you can be assured of that you will be getting the kind of service you will be expecting from a veteran in online reputation management.
ORM Portfolio
A provider might brag that he did this and that but what good his statements are if there are no proofs to back them up with. Therefore, as a potential customer it is best that you do check out his portfolio and see for yourself how good he is even in a nutshell. This will give you an idea as to whether or not he is really good as he claims himself to be or not.
Price of reputation management services
Last but not the least would be the price. You need to check out your budget and compare it with the price being quoted to you by the provider. You do not want to spend too much and over your budget especially when the business is not doing well for the past quarter. You need to be conservative with your spending and think things thoroughly. You do not want to fall into a trap and spend more for your business; later on you will regret it.
What do the worst reputation management companies have in common?
Here are some ways to spot shady companies offering online reputation management services. You're highly advised to steer clear of online reputation management firms with the following attributes, or lack there of, rather.
Bad reviews or no reviews
One telltale sign shady online reputation management companies is the presence of negative reviews or a lack of customer feedback on review sites all together. A good online reputation management company will have at least a few reviews on major business listing sites like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. It should be red flag if the online reputation management company you're thinking of hiring has zero reviews. It should also be a red flag if the company has overwhelmingly negative reviews. This can be taken as an indicator that the firm's services are ineffective, overpriced or that it doesn't follow through with promises to customers.
No verified business listings
Online reputation management companies with no verified business listings should not be trusted. All to often, foreign internet marketing firms will put up websites posing as an established US online reputation management company. To avoid doing business, and most likely getting ripped off by, fly-by-night online reputation management firms, you should be sure to check that the companies you're considering hiring have verified business listings on Google, Bing and other authoritative business directory websites.
Difficult to contact
Quality customer service is essential for every good online reputation management company. All the best online reputation management firms have quality, U.S. based customer service representatives answering phones and taking questions during normal business hours.
Slow to respond
In online reputation management, quickly responding to customer concerns and general inquiries from prospects is critical to long-term success and customer satisfaction. Be weary of online reputation management companies that are slow to respond to emails and/or phone calls. At Defamation Defenders, as a rule of thumb, we always make sure to get back to any inquiry within 24 hours.
