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Don Sorensen, Online Reputation Management Expert, Addresses Direct Selling Association ConferenceSalt Lake City, Utah, Dec 28, 2012 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) -- Don Sorensen, online reputation management and protection expert and president of Big Blue Robot, presented at the Direct Selling Association and Communications Marketing Conference held in Rancho Palos Verdes, California this month. Sorensen addressed the changes Google has made ranking websites, and educated attendees on how to keep and maintain a strong web presence. "In recent months Google has dramatically changed the way it ranks websites and now methods for online reputation management that have worked for years are no longer effective." said Sorensen. "In light of these changes, companies need to adapt and create an effective social circle using Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube in order to remain relevant." Sorensen joined David Sattler, Digital Marketing Manager for Scentsy, Inc. for the presentation. Sorensen addressed attendees about why keyword domains are not the best reputation management strategy. He explained that in the early days of search engines, most engines ran on simple keyword match algorithms, so the websites with the most number of words that matched the search (including the domain name) ranked very well. In fact, in the early days of the web and up until a year or so ago, having keywords in a domain name seemed to be a factor that helped people rank better in the search engines. Both exact match domains (EMD), and partial match domains (PMD) showed up regularly and highly in most results. "In terms of reputation management, it was good strategy to buy EMDs and PMDs to get them to rank for branded searches," explained Sorensen. "And it worked pretty well for a long time. However, since the Google Penguin update over a year ago, the strength of keyword domains has been faltering." Sorensen said it is not that Penguin targeted EMDs specifically, but that a number of EMD owners participated in spammy and manipulative tactics to get their sites to rank well. And, as a result, they were hit hard by the Penguin update. He explained that Google was only trying to reflect the real quality of websites in their rankings. Sorensen pointed out that there are also a number of legitimate businesses that have EMDs, so Google--up to this point--has not targeted EMDs simply for being EMDs. The drop in rank for many spammy EMD sites over the past year has been as a result of their own spamminess. But Google has now decided to take a stronger stance against EMDs. Back in late September, the algorithm update went live and a number of EMDs fell dramatically in the search results. "For your reputation management strategy, don't go out and buy a bunch of expensive EMDs that you think will rank well for your business searches," concluded Sorensen. "Not only are they being devalued but they also have a reputation as bad sites in the first place. Instead, focus on building a solid brand, improving your customer service, build a positive social strategy, and getting noticed for being a positive company with a great product. When you can do those things successfully, you won't have to worry about your online reputation, because it will already be positive." More information can be found at http://www.BigBlueRobot.com. About Don Sorensen Don Sorensen is a recognized authority on online reputation management whose expertise and insights have most recently been featured in the New York Times, CIO.com and numerous other industry publications. His more than 25 years of corporate communications and marketing experience for companies including Novell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Sun, AT&T, and AOL, are the foundation upon which he built Big Blue Robot, a leader in the online reputation management industry. A frequent presenter on corporate reputation management, his most recent speaking engagements include appearances at the Direct Selling Association, the National Conference on Student Assessment, and the Association of Test Publishers. His book "Online Reputation Management: Corporate & Personal" was published this year and is available through Amazon, an addition to his numerous academic articles. He holds a Communications Degree from Brigham Young University and is a published academic author. About Big Blue Robot Founded in 2003, Big Blue Robot (http://www.bigbluerobot.com), works with corporations and their executives around the world to improve, protect, repair and manage their online reputations. Big Blue Robot has developed state-of-the-art online reputation management strategies for companies doing business around the world, including USA, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and France. During the past nine years, Big Blue Robot has helped numerous companies fix their online reputation problems. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/online-reputation/management-expert/prweb10275930. htm PRWeb.com |