Hyperactive Sam

I was reading a discussion on LinkedIn about Reputation Management and decided to jump in any offer my opinion.
Then I noticed that one of the participants is putting together a Reputation Management conference in Australia (IQPC Reputation Management 2011)

To my surprise I found that at this reputation management conference they did not yet have a single speaker who would be talking about taking control of ones Google results – sounded like an opportunity!
I have thought that my company Five Blocks (http://www.fiveblocks.com) should consider getting into the Australian market and offering Reputation Management services to corporate clients there – probably via local PR and Crisis Management firms in Sydney or Melbourne.
So I contacted the company running the conference IQPC and found that at least at this stage they would be interested in having me speak only as a sponsor of the event (so I would need to pay) – which is a foreign concept to me – usually if you have something that the conference needs – they should be paying you! or at least comping you some passes to the conference.

So here’s my idea, assuming they don’t decide to sign me up…

It has been my experience that the majority of the people attending a conference like this will be Googling the event at least a few times between when they first hear about the event and when they actually attend (or more often choose not to attend).

I imagine that if I SEO and PPC a page with a catchy title and a short video-lecture – maybe something like “Teaser of Star Speaker of the IQPC Reputation Management Conference” I could probably get some people’s attention – maybe the conference would decide it was worth having me speak. Who knows…

In any case, if it works, I think it could be an excellent way to reach your target audience without having to walk in through the traditional channel!

I’ll keep you posted…

This is what Google returns when you type “your reputation is”

the one that really sums it up for me is the last one “Your reputation is what Google says it is.”

I was speaking with a journalist yesterday who confirmed what I believed was true. If a Google search brings up some issue, it is difficult if not impossible to completely ignore it when you write an article about a given topic.

Food for thought!

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 30, 2010

Five Blocks Inc. a leading US-based Online Reputation Management company reported today that it has briefed clients and business partners regarding the release of classified WikiLeaks materials some of which may pertain directly or indirectly to its clients.

Specifically, Five Blocks urged affected clients to analyze the unfolding situation and take the following into consideration:

1) The greatest issue raised in the various WikiLeaks has to do with countries being private rather than public about their intentions, their plans and their beliefs. The countries that came out looking worst were ones whose public face does not match what they are saying behind closed doors. The solution is to be more direct.
2) Embrace the fact that Google and Social Media have changed the world – diplomacy is now intertwined with reputation and the resultant public discourse.
3) Be a part of that discourse in positive constructive and substantive ways.
4) Generate as much positive and especially unexpected press as possible – It may for example be a perfect time to release prisoners who shouldn’t be in prison anyway.
5) While the world is focused on your issues – it may be the perfect time to show a human face, which does not mean you have to address head-on the specific issues.

CEO, Sam Michelson stated., “While some government and political clients are clearly in crisis mode, we are working to turn this situation into an opportunity for them.”

About Five Blocks: Founded in 2007, Five Blocks is a leading Online Reputation Management company. Incorporated in Nevada and maintaining an office in Los Angeles California and a development center in Israel, Five Blocks helps individuals, organizations, politicians, and governmental agencies take control of their online reputation, especially the search results seen in Google. Five Blocks utilizes proprietary analytics technology as well as search marketing and social media best practices to create and strengthen positive online content. This allows Five Blocks to provide best-in-class Reputation Management to leading organizations in the US and internationally.

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In our various businesses we work with various sized companies – some huge ones and others tiny.
As we have grown from 2 people to 12 over the past 5 years, I am constantly aware of the potential pitfalls of growing too big. At 2 people we could make any change to our websites or strategies immediately – at 12 people we need to talk to various people in the group to make sure our changes match their plans, don’t ruffle any feathers, etc.

Big companies take a lot longer to get things done. This is something we need to avoid in the Reputation Management business. Time is everything. But sometimes it’s just inexcusable. Exxon’s oil spill in Alaska happened in 1989 but yet when you Google “Exxon” you still see, prominently displayed, negative results!

I can’t believe Exxon doesn’t care. Either they don’t know that you can use Reputation Management to promote your online reputation and cause these results to drop lower – or they know this, but they can’t get their act together.

So, if you’re listening Exxon Mobil … contact us and we’ll do the first month free! What we charge is chump change for you anyway!

This past Sunday afternoon Barry Schwartz hosted a mini-SMX in Jerusalem, Israel. Vanessa Fox joined him from the US as well. A short, relaxed version of SMX. Nice event – loved that it was so close to our office! It was good seeing my friends and colleagues from various places in Israel who made their way through the mountains to Jerusalem on what turned out to be a beautiful springlike day!

I spoke about Reputation Management Pitfalls and I will share the main points.
Note: when I say reputation management I mean getting negative results for your keyword out of the top 10 in Google.
1) Understand what your client really wants – it’s not always what they tell you at first. Dig deeper.
2) The goal is to “own” the top ten in Google and other search engines by working with Google – create and promote sites full of relevant content and get authoritative and/or topic-relevant links.
3) Don’t confuse Rep Management with SEO – it’s not a good idea to overdo the linking process – you will end up making your job more difficult – you will need to compete with yourself to move more sites into the top ten.

I will post the presentation on Slideshare soon.

I just read a blog post about Reputation Pruning (originally published in May this year).  This is the practice of removing social media comments, picture tags etc. that can reflect negatively on your reputation. The author, Tyler Hayes, presents a point of view which I think is ridiculous.

In Tyler’s view social media is meant to be an extension of who you really are – and so altering any part of it is somehow dishonest.

My response is that people should put themselves in the best light.

• If you discover that your delicious lunch has left some food stuck between your teeth – take it out. I don’t care  if it’s natural to have it there!
• If you start to grow hair on your ears – shave it off!
• If the kitchen at work has a terrible picture of you from the company picnic – take it down!

There is no moral obligation to let other people or situations show anything negative about you.