However, right before the restaurant opened their doors, the restaurant manager was gunned down by a disgruntled employee who was fired from the establishment.  Well as you can imagine, this tragic event devastated the community at the time of the incident; however, the tragedy still echo’s in cyberspace as a number of the search engine result pages (SERPs) related to the name of the restaurant are chock-full of news stories about the murder. The murder occurred sometime ago, but due to the number of results related to the incident, the perception that anyone searching for the first-time is left with is that it must have just happened yesterday.

I don’t know about you, but if I had never been to the restaurant, looked them up online and saw the negative results, then I think I would have made other eating plans. I digress…  Now to the article…

Word spreads fast here on the web — An anonymous blogger writing from Paraguay about your company can impact your sales results this quarter. Like it or not, the web has become a massive, unfiltered ocean of content and networking. Rumors posted from a disgruntled employee, an angry customer, or an unscrupulous competitor can quickly rise to the top of the internet’s froth and appear in the top ten rankings whenever someone searches for your business or brand on Google, Yahoo, or one of other search engines. Respond to rumors just through print or traditional media — or ignore them altogether – and you could pay a fearsome cost in lost business and bad PR.

Connect with customers or potential customers — Not only can your online reputation management approach protect your company against smears and libel, but it can also yield positive benefits, such as being able to convey new and interesting information to your customers.

A bad online reputation can “harden” over time — Today’s scurrilous blog entry could be tomorrow’s unbeatable scourge. After all, if a bad website breaks into the top ten on Google or Yahoo for a search relating to your company and manages to retain visibility for long enough, that website will likely build out links to other websites and be sure to become a monster. If, on the other hand, you act efficiently to purge the website from the major search engines’ top ten lists (or top twenty lists), you can starve the virulent website of the nutritious “clicks” it needs to thrive.

Online and offline brands are connected — Even if you maintain but a nominal presence on the web, many of your customers use the web to search for information about you. If, when they type in your company’s name or brand name into Google, potential customers discover vitriolic condemnations posted by some enraged ex-boyfriend or deranged customer, they may think twice about doing business with you — even if they consciously recognize that the high profile rant is likely not representative.

Your personal reputation may be at stake — Just because someone publishes vitriol about your company or product on the web doesn’t mean that you personally will definitely be affected. However, particularly if you’re running an entrepreneurial endeavor or if your name is linked with your company’s name, a business challenge to your online reputation could quickly transmogrify into a personal challenge. If you’re very name becomes associated with negative results on Google or Yahoo, you could encounter a welter of problems, from trouble finding employment to issues with future in-laws to problems getting loans or grants.