RipOff Report is a popular consumer complaint site that hosts thousands of reports about alleged scams, ripoffs and poor service. They also benefit from a love affair with Google, and as such Rip Off Report is likely to rank well for branded searches.
This puts many business owners in a difficult predicament. What do you do when a RipOff Report is filed about your company?
On one hand, consumer review and complaint sites are giving a voice to the customer and holding businesses accountable. With over 80% of offline purchases now influenced by online research, having a clean reputation is essential. When businesses are held to a higher standard, the customer benefits, right?
But what if the reviews are faked? What happens when "customers" are really competitors, or disgruntled employees, or ex-boyfriends? You get the picture. Sadly, RipOff Report makes no effort to validate the claims made by their users. A disclaimer is posted, but you can judge for yourself whether or not a disclaimer balances the effect of headline like:
"RipOff Report: Acme Inc. Is A Scam - Don't Buy Their Widgets"
So what do you do? You can participate in a "program" RipOff Report offers where they offer to investigate for a sizable fee, ostensibly to ensure the company is a quality partner. Other people turn to third-party agencies that promise to defeat RipOff Report by suppressing their pages in the search rankings.
Showing posts with label reputation defense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reputation defense. Show all posts
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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