How to Ensure a Good Online Reputation

If you run a business or present yourself as a "brand" in some way in the online world, you want to make sure you act and look trustworthy. Here are some ways to protect and improve your online reputation.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Make sure your website conveys trustworthiness. At Stanford, they did a study and found several things that promote credibility and trustworthiness. The first is make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site. Offer supporting material and links for the information you present.

2. If you're running a business, show that there's a real organization behind your site. Give addresses, phone numbers, contact information, affiliations such as the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce.

3. Give your credentials and highlight your expertise. Do this in an "About" section of the site. Explain why people can trust you. Let people know who the real people are that run the site.

4. Give your site a professional appearance. Think about colors, typography, images and other factors that say "professional" in the design.

5. Make your website useful to visitors. Give information, tips, help; anything they need to know should be easy to find on your site. Update your information frequently; don't let things look stale and out of date. And watch for errors like typos and misspelled words. These are death to trustworthiness and a professional appearance.

6. Be consistent across the Web. Make sure your personal site, your Facebook account, your behavior in social media sites all represent you in a consistent and reliable manner.

7. Respond when you are contacted. Don't ignore people.

8. Monitor what people say about you by using Google Alerts or Twitter searches on your name or your business name. If something bad is being said, see what you can do to change it for the better.

Resources

• Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility