Monitoring reputation online: Joe Duncan of Business for Breakfast

I was speaking to Joe Duncan of Business for Breakfast yesterday about monitoring the web.

It reminded me of an article for an Internet client of mine getting some interest. My client googled the interested party during his research for his new lead and found that under his listing the whole page was full of stories about the subject's financially poor year.

I would also like you to note the subject was a notable player in their field.

Imagine your company name (to use a cliche) proudly displayed at the top of a search (as it should be) and underneath nothing but bad news stories. Would anyone bother to call you (except for Yellow Pages perhaps)?

The company, as is my understanding, had overcome or had been through the worst and were operating normally. They were, however, blissfully unaware (to use another cliche) of their online image and that a powerful tool was acting as their enemy.

Back to Joe (pictured in typical smiling frame of mind).

Joe told me he had been found online by searches specifically looking for him (rather than a generic search for his industry sector) on other peoples' websites. He was unaware that he was mentioned on anyone's website. Luckily, they were kind words.

I am sure a lot of companies have had the above experiences and many do not know the good or harm their online presence has for their business.

The point of this entry is twofold:

I believe it is the job of the PR to work in the online environment. With a new industry the game lines take a while to be drawn and even though a good Internet agency might monitor reputation online, the PR cannot absolve themselves of this responsibility.

Second, Joe and I want to see how easy it is to get my blog found with a search for Joe Duncan - fairly easy I should think.

For the Internet minded this is basic stuff. Yet, I am sure it surprises and will continue to do so how many companies are happily unaware of the business they are winning, but more probably losing, without even the slightest idea owing to online entries and comments from third parties.