Online Reputation Firm Recover Reputation Reports How Hurricane Sandy Could Impact Your Online Business

New York, NY, October 31, 2012 --(PR.com)-- News events, such as hurricane Sandy, unintentionally impact businesses online and their online reputation, according to online reputation firm Recover Reputation owner Steven W. Giovinco.

As hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern Seaboard the United States forcing cities to effectively shut down due to gale force winds and inches of rain per hour, the impact is clear: physical destruction, flooding, power outages, beach erosion, and the stopping of business for many tens of millions.

“But how could storm Sandy impact online reputation management and repair?,” asks Steven W. Giovinco. “What if the name of your business includes the word ‘Sandy’? Today’s news impacts everything, including online.”

Recover Reputation finds that important news stories can drive traffic to—or away—from your site almost immediately.

In this case, Steven examined the “before” and “after” effects of an event such as hurricane Sandy. “A few weeks before the storm many businesses were displayed prominently and must be generating good site traffic. Due to the storm, however, they got pushed off—Way off—the first page,” says Giovinco. The unintended impact of a news event can greatly effect your online reputation negatively and your business. This impact could take days to repair or often much, much longer.

However, notes Steven Giovinco, news events could have an unintended beneficial impact as well. A few weeks before the storm, there were a few negative news items about an ex-CEO and chairman of a large American bank which these were pushed off the Google search results.

‘If an event such as hurricane Sandy or some other news incident occurs, there are ways to repair your online reputation. If the news is so powerful, there might not be anything that can be done to repair it in a timely fashion,” says Giovinco. Recover Reputation suggests the following steps to help:

Assess the News and Business.
Review the current situation and determine if there is anything that can be done to repair the online reputation and come up with an effective strategy.
Create Google Local Site.
Be sure that Google Local is one of the first sites to review and add content to. If the business does not have a Google Local (formally Google Places) site, get this set up immediately.
Review Current Local Search Sites.
Be sure that other local search sites such as Yahoo and Manta are configured properly and include the correct and basic information. Also, take time to add additional content, images, and other business related updates.
Seek Other Local Search Sites.
Create and add to your online presence and your reputation by adding additional local search sites and find ones specific to the company’s industry.
Get More Social Online.
Become even more active on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others.
Write Content.
Write additional blog posts and even press releases to spread the word about your company.

Hurricane Sandy and other news events can impact your online reputation in ways that were never thought of. Being proactive could repair or minimize any negative impact to your online reputation.