Reputation has always been important for businesses and other professionals, but it seems to have become especially important in the Internet age. Everything people say or do online is preserved forever in some form, and we are all one tweet or Facebook update away from ruining our reputations. It might be easy for some people to say that this problem can be avoided if we stay off of social media altogether, but that doesn’t really work for millennials. Many of these younger people all but live on the Internet. In some cases, their online reputations say everything about them. When you add that to the fact that many businesses operate mainly online, reputation management becomes even more important.

How to Manage Your Reputation

Since it’s all but impossible to disconnect from the Internet in this day and age, you need to be able to manage your reputation. The easiest way to do this is to watch what you say online. Be careful about how you comment on Facebook posts lest you say something that could be taken the wrong way, and always think twice before you tweet anything. Even a joke that you think is perfectly innocent can be taken the wrong way by some people.

You also need to be careful about how you engage with others online. A lot of people are still under the impression that the Internet is totally anonymous, that we are still living in a time when all others see online when we post anything is a vague screen name. That kind of anonymity gives people the idea that there are no consequences to saying anything online, yet most of us have Facebook profiles that tell people our real names, what we look like, and what we do for a living. It’s hardly anonymous anymore, yet people will still lose their temper and say something terrible that could come back to haunt them. Trolls will try to annoy you into doing this, but you need to rise above it.

Online Reviews

Watching what you say is only a part of managing your reputation online, especially if you run a small business. You also need to keep an eye on what people are saying about you and your company. Online reviews on sites such as Yelp and Google are great ways to boost your reputation, but a bad review can also really hurt your business. Everyone has the right to say what they want, and they can certainly give you a bad review. However, that also means that you can say what you want. If you find a bad review online, feel free to speak up and defend yourself. You should do so respectfully and in a way that acknowledges that someone was unhappy with your service, but do what you can to make amends and let any readers of that review know that you are working to improve your business. At the same time, don’t be afraid to thank those who write good reviews. It shows that you are engaging with your customers and that you value their business. 

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Confrontation and Harassment and Bullying, Oh My! Let me share with you my recent experience. I was asked to speak on Reputation Management a couple of weeks ago and was shocked when a participant stood up, challenged my presentation, called me a liar and stormed out.

That in and of itself was bad enough, but the next day another speaker was challenged and a participant argued with her as well. Not sure if it was the same participant or not.

The age of the participant who I angered, millennial, early 20s. My presentation was on Reputation Management and after she left I made the comment that she needed anger management. Well the presenter from the second day was talking on Conflict Resolution! So the participant(s), again not sure if she was the same one or not, just needs some old fashion schooling on business etiquette and maybe some anger management.

For my presentation, I was speaking to young professionals about their online profiles and digital searches. The web is often our first and most important impression, and finding ways to monitor, improve, and control our reputations online is something that benefits everyone.

I pointed out that in our world today, the first impression of people now comes from what we can find online. People are Googling all the time and making critical decisions based on what they find.

Seventy-five percent of HR departments are required to research a candidate online before making a hire. Now this is where my seminar participant started to get agitated. In her opinion, HR departments cannot do this because it’s illegal. I beg to differ.

I quoted these statistics which further perpetuated the situation. Sixty percent of employers’ screen candidates via social media. This number is rapidly increasing — from 52 percent just last year and 22 percent in 2008. Employers are scanning social for red flags: 46 percent were turned off by provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos, or information; 43 percent by evidence of a candidate drinking or using drugs; 31 percent by bad-mouthing of previous company or fellow employee; and 29 percent by poor communication skills.

I gave examples of my own clients not hiring, rescinding job offers and shredding applications because of what they’ve found online.

I then asked for a couple of volunteers so we could do searches on them. The first gentlemen, had a few Go Fund Me pages for medical issues. On his Facebook page, he had several posts with medical issues. I suggested that he clean those up and maybe remove the posts and Go Fund Me pages where the campaigns have been completed. I told him that it probably wouldn’t stop me from hiring him, but it may stop others if they could see publicly that he had health issues.

This is where the participant flipped out, literally. I don’t know if I have ever been so publicly humiliated or had anyone ever scream and yell at me in a presentation before. She told me that it was illegal and in an interview you can’t even ask anyone about health issues.

I completely understand that, but we weren’t discussing the interview process nor were we in an interview. We were discussing an internet search to see if a business was even going to accept the application. We weren’t even close to an interview. I was giving suggestions on how to cleanup a profile or search for a potential employer. My suggestion about his Facebook page was to make his profile private so that all of that information wasn’t public.

I was completely flustered for a couple of seconds and had to quickly pull myself together, not respond and keep on going.

For the angered participant, you can ask questions in a presentation, but you should have pulled me aside and discussed this in private. I felt a little better when the speaker from the second day shared with me that she had the same issue.

These outbursts, in my opinion, come from our age of bullying. Where young people today, grow up bullying their peers and at this point in time, very little is done about it. Our bullying laws are not being enforced and so the spill over is affecting all of us.

I don’t have an answer as to how to deal with the issue. As for me, I may have to educate participants the next time that I speak. And ask that if they have something negative to say or disagree with my information to please stay afterwards and not to disrupt my presentation with their outbursts. I truly believe that we just need to educate this younger generation on business etiquette and what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior.

If you are needing help with your Online Reputation Management, please give us a call today! And let’s take the oh my out of confrontation and harassment and bullying!

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Your physical body dies, but Facebook is forever. What you post on your social media platforms is available here long after you’ve moved on to the Great Internet in the Sky.

Most of what you contribute to your accounts is probably harmless. But in some cases it can cause estate problems for family. Here is a look at the impact of your posts and how you and your family can handle them.

From Identity Theft to Lawsuits

Identity theft and financial lost are the biggest dangers of leaving social media accounts open after a person dies or becomes incapable of handling their own affairs. Criminals can hack your shopping accounts, bank accounts and personal data.

They can harvest financial information and personal data from your profiles and posts. There is a real danger that assets will end up as unclaimed funds, creating headaches for executors.

If a lawsuit is in progress when you die, social media posts can give your opponents evidence to bolster their case. If a relative decides to contest your will, the social posts can provide them with insights to help them further their claim.

It’s not just your internet accounts that leave a big data footprint. Your computer, laptop, tablet and smartphone also contain personal information. With the Internet of Things, all your mobile devices can be linked and share data.

Take Steps Now

Do you want others to have access to your emails, photos, data and documents after you’re gone? Probably not. The time to handle future problems is now.

List the accounts, usernames and passwords for your online presence in your estate documents and power of attorney. These can include:

• Social media accounts
• Shopping accounts
• Bank and financial institution accounts
• Tax and government accounts
• Video, photo and music accounts
• Email accounts

In your will and estate papers, specifically give your executors permission to access your accounts. This will avoid problems with privacy laws.

Find out how to remove data from your electronics. Leave all the necessary instructions in your estate papers.

And if you are a family member, don’t be sentimental and feel you are memorializing your loved one by keeping their accounts active. Close accounts to avoid identity theft.

Please contact Blast Creative for all of your Reputation Management needs!

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For business owners, professionals, and freelancers alike, now more than ever it is crucial that online identities be carefully curated and monitored. Establishing and managing your online presence is essential to gaining the upper hand in all personal and professional matters. You can take control of your personal brand to maximize the potential of your online identity by following these six steps.

1. Conduct a Search on Your Name
   First, do a thorough internet search for your name, your brand, and variations including nicknames, maiden names, and common misspellings. Be sure to carry out searches on a variety of search engines and social networks, and keep searching past the first or second pages of results.
2. Purchase a Web Domain
   Buy a web domain using your name and a customized URL. Domains are available through many providers; one of the more popular and most used providers is GoDaddy. If your chosen name is not available, opt for a familiar variation.
3. Optimize your Online Presence
   Set up a blog and start publishing original content in your field of expertise. Be sure to include your name or your business name in each post and byline. Make use of article distribution services to establish links and references to your content and main website. By saturating the web with your active content, any negative search results will be pushed further down the search results until they are buried.
4. Join Social Networks
   By creating accounts with major social media sites, you can maximize your internet presence with little expense. Whether you outsource the task or create the content yourself, frequent public posts to social media channels are a vital step in establishing and managing an online presence.
5. React Quickly
   Whether your online interactions are positive or negative, be sure to be proactive in responding to posts and messages. By maintaining a professional demeanor and responding quickly, people will be pleased that you have made them a priority and will respond accordingly. Use hashtags and monitor responses, keep a level head, and know when it is time to take conversations to a direct message or email.
6. Maintain Control
   Make sure to keep all content that references you or your personal brand professional and positive. Use Google alerts to track your name or business name so you can be alerted immediately when your search terms yield a relevant result. You can even set up alerts to monitor your email address. If you find content that you consider harmful or inappropriate, contact the author or website owner immediately to request that they remove the content.

Contact Blast Creative for all of your Reputation Management needs today!

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Few things can sink a small business in the 21st Century faster than a poor online reputation. Whether it is in the form of bad reviews on sites like Yelp! or a lack of search engine hits, your business could be suffering in a big way even if most of your clients are satisfied with your services. This is why online reputation management is so important in today’s business world.

No matter what kind of business you may have, your online reputation should be monitored and managed closely. Here are a few tips that will help you with that.

Claim Your Brand
The first step to online reputation management is to claim your brand name. Whether that is the name of your business or even just your own personal name, you should do all that you can to claim it as your own before someone else can use it. They won’t necessarily try to use it against you – it’s usually a coincidence when someone has a similar name to your own on the Internet – but you should keep it as a representative of who you are so that people don’t get the wrong ideas about you.

Create Original Content
Any content that is related to you and your brand should be original and organic. Nobody wants to read something about a small business that sounds too much like corporate-speak. It may be difficult for those who aren’t naturally good writers, but it is important to create authentic and original content. If nothing else, it will help potential clients get to know you and who you really are.

Combat Negative Reviews
Negative reviews are a part of having a business online. Even if most of your customers are satisfied with what you have to offer, there will always be at least a few people who are not. Unfortunately, customers have plenty of platforms to voice their opinions online, and they may seriously hurt your business if they decide to say something negative.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, so you absolutely should not try to bury negative reviews unless it is clear that they are unfair or blatantly false. Instead, address the issues brought up by the negative reviews and explain how you are working to fix them. Customers will see that you are acknowledging your business’s faults and appreciate your commitment to honesty and change.

Engage Your Customers
Being online gives you plenty of opportunities to interact with your customers, often in real time. Respond to any messages, tweets and questions you receive as soon as possible. They will appreciate the attention, even if it is just technically over a computer network.

Stay Active
The most important thing to remember when managing an online reputation is to stay active. You can’t have a reputation if you aren’t present, so keep updating your company’s website and social media accounts, and pay attention to what people are saying about you and your brand. It may seem like a lot of hard work, but it will be worth it.

Contact Blast Creative for all of your Reputation Management needs!

The post Top Online Reputation Management Tips appeared first on Website Design and Marketing.

Few things can sink a small business in the 21st Century faster than a poor online reputation. Whether it is in the form of bad reviews on sites like Yelp! or a lack of search engine hits, your business could be suffering in a big way even if most of your clients are satisfied with your services. This is why online reputation management is so important in today’s business world.

No matter what kind of business you may have, your online reputation should be monitored and managed closely. Here are a few tips that will help you with that.

Claim Your Brand

The first step to online reputation management is to claim your brand name. Whether that is the name of your business or even just your own personal name, you should do all that you can to claim it as your own before someone else can use it. They won’t necessarily try to use it against you – it’s usually a coincidence when someone has a similar name to your own on the Internet – but you should keep it as a representative of who you are so that people don’t get the wrong ideas about you.

Create Original Content

Any content that is related to you and your brand should be original and organic. Nobody wants to read something about a small business that sounds too much like corporate-speak. It may be difficult for those who aren’t naturally good writers, but it is important to create authentic and original content. If nothing else, it will help potential clients get to know you and who you really are.

Combat Negative Reviews

Negative reviews are a part of having a business online. Even if most of your customers are satisfied with what you have to offer, there will always be at least a few people who are not. Unfortunately, customers have plenty of platforms to voice their opinions online, and they may seriously hurt your business if they decide to say something negative.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, so you absolutely should not try to bury negative reviews unless it is clear that they are unfair or blatantly false. Instead, address the issues brought up by the negative reviews and explain how you are working to fix them. Customers will see that you are acknowledging your business’s faults and appreciate your commitment to honesty and change.

Engage Your Customers

Being online gives you plenty of opportunities to interact with your customers, often in real time. Respond to any messages, tweets and questions you receive as soon as possible. They will appreciate the attention, even if it is just technically over a computer network.

Stay Active

The most important thing to remember when managing an online reputation is to stay active. You can’t have a reputation if you aren’t present, so keep updating your company’s website and social media accounts, and pay attention to what people are saying about you and your brand. It may seem like a lot of hard work, but it will be worth it.

Contact Blast Creative today for all of your reputation management needs!

The post Top Online Reputation Management Tips appeared first on Website Design and Marketing.

Blast Creative specializes in Roofing Contractor Marketing, we assist roofing companies just like yours to get to the top of the search engines. We are one of the first companies in Billings, Montana to offer search engine optimization as well as Social Media Marketing.

Roofing Contractor SEO Services should consist of more than content writing!  True SEO consists of links, keywords, blogs/content writing, social media and backlinks. You need to be doing all of those things if you want your website to come in the search engines.

If you want to know why your competitor is beating you in the organic search, it’s a simple fact that they are doing more SEO than you! You can’t buy your way to the top of the search engines. You have to earn it, with a lots of White Hat SEO!

Are there broken links on your website? Is your website mobile or responsive? At Blast Creative we do a complete site analyzes and fix what’s broken. We plan out a strategic Marketing and SEO Plan that fits your needs.

If you are a Roofing Contractor in need of Marketing and SEO Services, we are here to assist you. Our program is month to month, there are no long term contracts. Without a contract, we have to deliver month to month.

With so many companies offering Roof Contractor SEO these days, we know that it’s hard to decide what type of Roofer SEO is best for your business. Most monthly services can be quite expensive and you’re required to part with your money in advance with no guarantee you’ll see results.

We not only do SEO for Roofing Companies, but for any company wanting to come up in the search engines, increase phone calls & web leads. If you are looking for SEO Services, please contact Blast Creative today!

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I’m not sure what it is the past few years with employees and attitudes. As a business owner, at times, I feel like it’s almost not worth it to have employees anymore. Is it me or do we have a generation of Princes and Princesses who think that the world evolves around them and that our role as employer is to serve them, serve them now and smile?

In the last year, I have dealt with these types of employees who clearly have a high opinion of themselves and as a result come across as somewhat demanding and, well, full of themselves. And we, the parents of this generation of employees have created a generation of young adults who feel so entitled and wrapped up in their own needs that they can’t see how self-centered their requests are?

I think that it comes directly from the attitude that every child should get a trophy just for showing up. They didn’t have to earn anything, everything is just handed to them. We have created this generation and now we have to deal with the consequences.

Let me give you a few examples:

Employee 1: put hours that she didn’t work on her timesheet, when I called her out on it, I was the bad guy for saying anything. How dare I! Next this same employee just didn’t show up for work, no phone call, no nothing. When I finally tracked her down, I was the one in the wrong; I was treating her so disrespectfully. And the kicker, I didn’t fire her, mainly because she is the daughter of a close personal friend.

Employee 1’s social life came into the workplace. Her friends became more important, she started texting non-stop, making error after error. I timed her during 2 four-hour shifts. She texted 3.5 hours out of each shift. Silly me, I thought that I could talk to her, but once again, she became angry, and me, well I am disrespectful. How dare I tell her what she can do at work, during the time that I am paying her for. By golly, she graces me with her presence and I should be thankful for that!

I told employee 1 that she could no longer text at work and that was the end for her; she gave her two weeks notice. But she didn’t stop there, no, no, she told her parents how rude and disrespectful I was to her and drove a wedge between our friendship. I thought at the time that I had a stronger relationship with her parents, but apparently not, because they are so angry with me even as I right this, they are not speaking to me.

I believe that it’s this damn world of helicopter parents, always hovering, making sure all is right in the world for their little angels, but the one thing that I know for sure, is that in the workplace, these parents, myself included, have done no favors to our children and these kids are getting a taste of reality when someone says “no” to their outlandish demands. But as an employer, it is difficult to keep employees, there is no loyalty, there is no need or desire to work, there is no communication, they just quit and go on to the next job. One day this generation is either going to have to learn to follow the rules or they are going to find themselves unemployable.

Another employee from this same generation, Employee 2, she had similar attitudes, how dare I tell her when she could and couldn’t work. For the most part, my employees can self-schedule, they just have a certain number of hours that they have to work each week. But silly me, I actually expect them to work their full FTE. I am such a terrible boss.

Employee 2: Wasn’t following the policies and procedures for my business. I talked to her about it; she said that she didn’t agree with them, they were stupid and not necessary. Okay, but it’s my business, my policies & procedures and she had to follow them. She told me that I was too controlling.

I created a new policy and she told me that because I hadn’t created the policy before she started working for me that she shouldn’t have to follow it. And once again, I was to controlling. I had control issues. She never did follow policies & procedures, so she was eventually fired, but not before we had more issues. I don’t mind changing or adjusting policies & procedures, but there is a right way to go about it and it’s not just blatant insubordination!

Employee 2: At Christmas, asked for a bonus. Literally told me that I needed to give her a bonus. The kicker, I do give yearly bonuses, but they are merit based. It’s hard to give a bonus to someone who doesn’t work when they are suppose to and has to constantly re-do their work or I have to re-do their work. But once again, I am the difficult person; I am the person in the wrong. The little darlings have graced my business with their presence and I should just give them everything.

Employee 2: Again, at Christmas time, told me that she wanted to give 2 of her kids iPhone 5’s for Christmas and wanted me to get a new phone and give her mine for her child and then if anyone else in my family had an iPhone 5, could I do the same thing. Me, I’m thinking that is pretty ballsy, but once again, I am the bad guy. I should be more understanding and willing to help my employees out more. I am a selfish person.

Employee 2: Making $20 an hour and about to get a raise to $25 an hour, wanted a raise to $50 an hour instead, but because I was such a nice person, she would let me by with $30 an hour. It was a demand, not a request. Great negotiation skills! The selfishness and entitlement is almost overwhelming. The jealousy over my life, the family vacations that I take, my cell phone, the issue with not working when she was supposed to, not following policies & procedures was just too much. She was fired.

But now here is the flip side of the coin. As the business owner, I work 20 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week. If I have an employee who doesn’t show up or who doesn’t work, I have to do their work. If an employee makes mistakes, spelling errors, etc. I am the one who has to correct them and if I don’t catch it, then I am the one who gets chewed out by the client.

Yes, I do try to take vacations with my family, but I work my butt off to be able to take them. Yes, I have nice things, but I have worked hard my whole life and am very fortunate to be able to afford the extras that I have in life. Nobody handed them to me. I didn’t expect anyone to give them to me. I worked hard and I earned them.

As far as being selfish, I do provide incentives to my employees, bonuses, I take them on business trips, pay for educational classes, buy software for their computers that they need. I do a lot of anonymous giving; I’ve paid dental bills for people who couldn’t pay or afford a dentist, but needed emergency care. I’ve purchased a heater for a family in the dead of winter so they could bring their premature baby home. I’ve bought books for college students who couldn’t afford it. I’ve purchased gas cards for college students to get to and from class.The list goes on and on, I don’t think that I am a selfish person.

If you want to come work for me, you absolutely cannot have your cell phone at work. I only want to work with people who are grounded, authentic or real and who don’t believe that they are better than the rest of the world and deserve everything handed to them on a silver platter. I want employees who are comfortable in their own skin.

I know that I tend to get a bit rattled by the shenanigans of these former employees and need to work on that. But what I do know for sure is that I don’t appreciate their behavior or how they treat others. Remember a couple of paragraphs back that I said I work a lot of 20 hour days, I just don’t have time to tolerate the little princes and princesses and there is no way that I am going to accommodate their demands. To me, it feels like bullying and I’m not going to be bullied. I don’t want employees who think of this as no more than just a job!

There are far greater issues in this world and dealing with these princes and princesses who need to be dethroned isn’t worth my time or effort. I just won’t hire them in the future.

This is my business and I am the Queen of my kingdom and here’s what I strive to do:

1. Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable to discuss his or her issues. Not everyone is a prince or princess and I think hearing from the rest of the team on how to behave respectfully will hopefully be taken to heart.
2. Start a program for myself and other small business owners with role models and mentors so they can learn and hear from other people on the impact of their attitude and how that attitude is holding them back. Provide them with opportunities to learn how to succeed and be an active member of the team.
3. I will say no more frequently. I will not reward brattish behavior and I will explain why. None of my employees will get a trophy just because they showed up!

My goal is to try and make the world a better place or at least my corner of the world a better place. Make a better work environment for my employees. To enjoy life and my family! Lets all put down our crowns and realize everyone has flaws, but we are capable of working together and lifting each other up and making our corner of the world a better place!

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If you have a Chiropractic website, beware, your site may not be getting indexed. As I sit here writing this article, I am at a loss for words. I stumbled upon a massive case of SEO sabotage and major plagiarism. I have never seen anything like this. Hundreds of Chiropractic websites developed by two companies, all with the exact same content and most with the same images.

Both companies promise that they will get these websites to page one of the search engines, but kind of hard to do when you’ve created hundreds of mirror sites. When duplicate content is found on numerous websites, the website loses ranking, traffic and the search engines find these website to be less relevant. Your website can even be removed from Google for deceptive practices.

The bottom line, if your website is made up of all republished content, then Google will not rank it. For these poor unsuspecting Chiropractors, these two companies are cannibalizing their traffic, instead of dominating their market, they are having issues ranking. In some cases the pages won’t rank at all and new content can take a long period of time to get crawled and re-indexed.

Duplicate content is not only website suicide for Chiropractic websites, but all websites. Don’t do it! If you need fresh, unique content for your website, please contact us today!

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RF^x Executive Consultant Marcy Lowe from Billings, Montana has her love of shoes to thank for her successful Rodan + Fields business. Marcy signed up to be an Independent Consultant in November 2009 because she wanted to look better, and with R+F products her skin noticeably improved. After seeing her results, Marcy’s family members and friends began using the products, and their skin changed—a lot. At the time Marcy was helping her husband with his construction and land development business, but decided that an endeavor with her own Rodan + Fields business could be great “shoe money” … and shoe money and so much more it because; Marcy quickly became a Level V Executive Consultant working part-time hours.

As time went on, she started focusing more and more on Rodan + Fields, appreciating the fact that she could mold her business into her lifestyle and hold events wherever she goes. Now Marcy can travel in the new Lexus she has earned, a reward that has taken her from classy heels to first class wheels. As Marcy works on building new Level V Leaders, she believes Rodan + Fields has given her benefits that are changing not only her shoe collection. but also the future of her family.

Marcy Lowe
RF ^x Executive Consultant and 2015 RF^x Circle Achiever
Two Time Achiever

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