"So who wrote the cooking advice at sue-scheff.net? Not Sue Scheff. That site, and many of the others in the first several pages of Sue Scheff's Google results, were designed by a company called Reputation Defender, which sells what its founder, Michael Fertik, calls "Google insulation." For a fee, Reputation Defender pads the Web with friendly-sounding content like flattering blog entries, personal sites and other positive pages, and then pushes those sites to the top of the Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) results for clients like Scheff, thereby hiding the online insults of her enemies.
And there's plenty of vitriol to hide. In 2004, she filed a defamation lawsuit against one of her critics, Carey Bock, in a Florida state court. Scheff won an $11.3 million verdict last year, but some negative commentary remained on the Web. Scheff says those comments were ruining her business, driving away more than half of her customers. "She had just slandered me up one side and down the other side of the Internet," Scheff says.
So Scheff turned to Reputation Defender. Founded last October, the company says it monitors what's written about clients online for a monthly $10 fee and will have specific content "destroyed" for an extra $30. The removal of content usually involves polite take-down requests that occasionally escalate into cease-and-desist letters and legal threats when necessary, says the company's chief executive, Michael Fertik.
But Reputation Defender recently began offering users a subtler approach: hiding unwanted Web comments with a barrage of positive, Google-friendly content, either created by the company or dredged up from elsewhere on the Web and optimized to appear at the top of search-engine results.
"Say you have 20,000 delighted clients and five clients that hate you," says Fertik. "We'll tell your story on the Internet and find press about you and start promoting that to the top of the Google chain. It's very Internet-specific PR, a very different game." For that labor-intensive service, officially called MyEdge, the company charges a hefty price: Fees start at around $10,000. Fertik says he has more than 25 clients for the service.
MyEdge's success is based not only in creating reputation-boosting pages but also in convincing Google to float those sites to the first few pages of results, the only results that most Web users ever see. But gaming Google can be tricky. The search giant, which declined to comment on Reputation Defender's service, spends significant resources trying to prevent Web site owners from pushing up their ranking artificially. And it will punish sites it thinks are cheating by pushing them into the back pages of search results. (see "Condemned To Google Hell").
Fertik won't reveal the details of MyEdge's tactics, but he says he's confident they don't break Google's rules or those of any other search engine. He also says his company draws the line at publishing lies about individuals or businesses--the cooking site created for Sue Scheff, he says, was an unfortunate exception, one that he removed after talking to this reporter. But Fertik sees nothing wrong with manipulating Google to focus on the positive aspects of someone's persona.
"Google is not God," he says. "It's a machine, a superb machine that benefits millions, but it's still just a machine. And what it turns up can have remarkably deleterious impact on hardworking people and businesses."
Some might still argue that MyEdge misleads Web users or that it muzzles them by hiding negative opinions. But Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Internet free-speech advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sees MyEdge as a healthy alternative to the usual angry-lawyer school of reputation management.
"As long as they're not committing some kind of fraud, I think this is the way to deal with bad speech," says Bankston. "This shows that you don't need to counter speech by attempting to censor it, but rather with better and more accurate information. As the truism goes, the best answer to bad speech is always more speech.""
Source of Reputation Management Post
http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/google-search-reputation-cx-tech_ag_0525google.html
Posted Here By Crystal L. Cox
Search Engine Reputation Manager
Crystal@CrystalCox.com
Crystal L. Cox
Having a VERY Good Reputation Defender is Just Common Sense
For a fee, Reputation Defender pads the Web with friendly-sounding content like flattering blog entries, personal sites and other positive pages, and then pushes those sites to the top of the Google
"Michael Fertik, calls "Google insulation." For a fee, Reputation Defender pads the Web with friendly-sounding content like flattering blog entries, personal sites and other positive pages, and then pushes those sites to the top of the Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) results for clients like Scheff, thereby hiding the online insults of her enemies."
http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/google-search-reputation-cx-tech_ag_0525google.html
Posted Here By Crystal L. Cox
Search Engine Reputation Manager
Crystal@CrystalCox.com
Hiring a VERY Good Reputation Defender is the Best Investment you can Make for your Business.
"The Internet offers a voice to everyone. This is usually a good thing, but one downside is that anybody can say anything online, and it’s instantly published for anyone on earth to read. If this is something negative, slanderous or private about you, the consequences can be serious. This is why so many people hire a professional reputation defender service to keep their name spotless.
A reputation defender is a company that specializes in image control. Their services are available for private individuals or companies. This is the modern-day version of PR, but it also has a preventative purpose; it keeps anyone from dragging your good name through the mud.
Here are 7 things a reputation defender can do for you:
1. Find out what’s being said about you. These companies are experts at searching out information, including negative information that can ruin reputations. They can also find postings that are hidden on the "Deep Web."
2. Remove listings that are potentially threatening or slanderous by contacting webmasters and convincing them to take the listing down. This is something that requires expertise and it is also time-consuming to do yourself.
3. Employ other strategies to “bury” or flag comments as inappropriate. Because they have a thorough understanding of how Google, other search engines, forums, blogs and other sites work, they know how to make things disappear.
4. Make their excellent PR skills work for you. A good reputation defender is a company that’s made up of public relations experts. They can not only bury the negative, but help you highlight the positive so that web searches only show your good side.
5. Monitor the web 24/7 to spot attacks or defamations before they can cause damage to you. Although there are software programs you can buy, none of these are any match for the monitoring skills of a good reputation defender.
6. Take the work of cleaning up your online reputation out of your hands. Online reputation management is an essential for everyone who has any kind of public existence. Doing it yourself takes lots of time and you have to learn a number of skills. When you hire a reputation defender, their service frees you up so that you can focus on more important things.
7. Preserve your good name. Although it takes many years to establish a good reputation, it can take just minutes for it to be completely destroyed. Hiring a reputation defender is an investment in your future.
Which reputation defender is the right one for you? Profile Defenders is generally considered the best reputation management company in the business because we offer comprehensive plans that tackle every aspect of reputation management. Please type in the company you are looking for followed by reviews, scams, and complaints and after you have done so please come back and contact us for a free consultation on how we can start defending your online reputation today."
Source of Search Engine Reputation Management Services Post
http://profiledefenders.com/reputation-defender.php
Posted Here By Crystal L. Cox
Search Engine Reputation Manager
Crystal@CrystalCox.com
Is it Time to Hire a Reputation Defender? An Online Brand Manager? A Search Engine Reputation Manager?
"Why Hire a Reputation Defender Company for Effective Reputation Management?
Until and unless the online reputation of a business comes under attack with negative reviews or bad comments, most business owners do not consider utilizing reputation management services.
A reputation management issue becomes suddenly serious when business owners realize that a negative review or a slanderous comment on the internet about their business can be read by thousands of web surfers.
Every business owner should be thinking about reputation management as for businesses, it becomes even more essential since any kind of information on the internet is accessible to everyone.
While the concept of reputation management is rather old, the term has actually become familiar in the business world in modern times. The creation and maintenance of a business reputation is an integral part of reputation management. It is necessary in order to have a sound online reputation management, that whenever business problems arise they are immediately dealt with.
It is the responsibility of a reputation defender company to minimize the damage that can be caused to a business reputation through negative reviews and slanderous comments. Reputation management problems have become a much bigger deal in this age of the internet. In modern times, anything can be posted about a business on the internet by anyone.
Thus a reputation defender company is responsible for effectively managing a business reputation and for this purpose everything that is being said online about a company is monitored, and any good reputation company will want to monitor what the public is saying about a business.
Business reputation management involves quite a lot of tasks. Often the tasks included in online reputation management are those can that can be done within a company. Businesses can actually offer ideal customer service, maintain quality control standards and regularly engage their clients and customers in conversation as a means of managing their business reputation.
Another essential aspect of reputation management is public relations. To ensure that a business is being viewed in a positive light, a lot of techniques can be employed by business owners. Marketing and reputation management happen to be closely related.
Monitoring the online listings of business and removing the negative ones is another important aspect of online reputation management. Only with the right reputation management strategies can a reputation defender company deal with slanderous results related to a business since such information threatens the online reputation of the business. This is the reason that ongoing monitoring is such an essential part of reputation management services offered by reputation defender companies.
Today, business owners need to remain aware of everything that is being mentioned about their business on the internet and this is where a reputation defender company proves helpful. It must also be considered by business owners that their business reputation starts to get damaged right from the moment negative content about it becomes accessible on the internet. Thus the right reputation defender company should be hired way before a business reputation comes under attack. This way not only does the business reputation remain protected for bad times, but the business is also promoted."
Source of Search Engine Reputation Management Post
http://www.thereviewbuster.com/why-hire-a-reputation-defender-company-for-effective-reputation-management/
Posted Here By Crystal L. Cox
Search Engine Reputation Manager
Crystal@CrystalCox.com
Search Engine Reputation Manager. Hire me to Protect and Defend your Online Reputation. Internet Reputation Defender Crystal L. Cox. Reputation Defense Services.
Research why You need a Reputation Manager Online. There are lots of websites, articles and information out there about Online Brand Management, Search Engine Reputation Managers, Personal Reputation Managers , Brand Reputation Manager and tons of reasons why you need to start your PR Campaign today in order to get your Clients, Customers and potential bosses to see what you want them to see online.
I have become VERY good at Search Engine Reputation Management, Quite by Accident Actually, However at this Point, it is pretty much Impossible to beat me in the search engines. So email me today to get started on your Online Brand Management program.
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I am the Best Reputation Manager Out there. If you already have a Search Engine Reputation Manager let me "Challenge Them" and prove that I am THE Search Engine Reputation Expert
If You Need a Personal Reputation Manager to Manage your Online Reputation, Email me Today and Let's Make a Deal. I am the Best Personal Reputation Manager you Will Find.
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Posted Here By
Crystal L. Cox Search Engine Reputation Manager
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