Building a Strong Digital Home: Reputation Management Advice for Contractors

While I’ve had my fair share of problems with construction, I think contractors get a bad rap. Sure, there are some unscrupulous builders out there who will overcharge you for a simple job and then drag it out from two-weeks to three months, but for the most part, general contractors, and other skilled professionals like plumbers, mechanics, and electricians, work hard and offer fair prices. If they didn’t, then they wouldn’t get referrals and their businesses would soon dry up.

Unfortunately, even the best contractor can’t be perfect all the time. Some projects will inevitably have cost overruns or end up running over schedule. It’s just one of those annoying realities of the construction industry. Of course, for the person left with a temporary hole in their roof or unworking faucets, the temptation to share their righteous anger with the world is too powerful to resist, leading to the creation of countless angry blog posts, Twitter updates, and one-star Yelp postings.

A contractor with a bad online reputation is like a home with faulty wiring: You might not be able to see the problem right away, but one of these days, everything could go up in flames. To this end, ReputationDefender would like to help contractors and other skilled professionals learn some ways to protect their reputations on the web and use the internet to help grow their business. Check out our five tips below.

1) Get a Website (or Two or Three)

Since it’s almost 2010, the odds are good that you have at least some rudimentary website for your business. If you don’t, stop reading this and find yourself a web designer right now. Having a well designed and search engine-optimized homepage for your business is one of the most important tools you can have in preventing negative publicity online. When you decide on a website, make sure the URL you choose is as close to the exact name of your company as possible. For example, if your company’s name is Four Star Builders, LLC, make sure that your website is FourStarBuilders.com.

Purchasing additional domain names for similar incarnations of your name is also a good idea. Consider how a new client might search for your company online. If someone told them to check out Four Star, maybe they’ll look up Four Star Construction. If you buy multiple domains, you are increasing the odds that web surfers will find your company online and you are decreasing the odds of an angry client or malicious competitor hijacking your company’s name on the web.

2) Start a Blog

Not long ago here at the ReputationDefender Blog, we shared the pros and cons of starting your own blog. While there are certainly risks associated with sharing your thoughts online, the benefits a well-managed blog can have on your online reputation are definitely worth the trouble. If you still have your web designer on the phone from tip one, ask them if they can add a blog directly onto your homepage. If you’d rather handle the blog yourself, you can start one for free using Google’s Blogger software. WordPress is another popular option.

The key to successful small business blogging is knowing your audience. As a contractor, there are a couple of good approaches. One thing you can do is use your blog as a place to showcase your most recent projects: “Look at the beautiful crown moulding we installed on Saturday.” Another great option is to use the blog as a place to offer construction tips:
“How to install a ceiling fan without electrocuting yourself.” Just like with the website, make sure that the URL you choose for your blog is as close as possible to the name of your business.

3) Get Help on Yelp

Yelp, and other consumer review sites, can be tricky for small business owners. For some reason, Google loves consumer review sites and frequently places them at the top of search engine results. As such, if your company has a bad review, that might end up being the first thing potential new customers see. Of course, you don’t have to have negative reviews with a little bit of outreach.

Unless you’re one of those contractors who routinely makes homeowners across the country curse your name to the heavens, the odds are good that the majority of the work you’ve done has been good quality. If one of your previous clients was particularly happy about a project you completed, contact them to see if they will testify on your behalf with a positive review. While this may not be a long-term fix for beating negative Yelp reviews, it can give you time to address the original complaint and make any apologies that need to be made.

One note about consumer reviews, however. DON’T POST FAKE REVIEWS. This is a tactic only for the cheap and desperate. If you have real satisfied customers, let them do the talking. If someone spots that your reviews are fake, your online reputation will take an even bigger hit. Additionally, if you’re considering soliciting positive feedback, do so sparingly. The Yelp algorithm will downplay reviews from new users, especially if they are leaving content that sounds overly positive. Before asking for a review outright, simply find out if any former clients use Yelp. If they do, point them to your profile.

4) Keep Your Eyes Open

In the age of Google, it doesn’t take much longer than a few days for a negative news story to make the rounds on the Internet and become a permanent blackmark on your online reputation. The best way to mitigate any possible damage from a negative consumer review, blog posting, or news article is to know about right away. For this reason, we recommend checking the web daily for new results on your company’s name.

Of course, spending your mornings at the computer keyboard instead of at a construction site probably won’t do any good in helping you improve your reputation for timely work, so we recommend leaving the Google (and Bing and Yahoo) searching to us. With MyReputation, you can sit back as we search the depths of the World Wide Web (including the invisible web) for you. We will then compile our findings into easy-to-read monthly reports with our suggestions.

5) Reach Out With Social Media

In addition to the blog that we mentioned in tip one, you can expand your company’s presence online (and your digital real estate) by joining social media websites. If you already use Facebook (and with 350 million users the odds are good that you do), you know how useful it can be for networking. By creating a Facebook Fan Page for your business, you can control the content that appears on your page and take up a spot in your Google search results. If you’re worried about getting fans, ask former clients or your current Facebook friends to help out.

By now, you’ve also probably heard of Twitter, which is another good way to bolster your brand online. Like your blog, your Twitter account can be a place to share tips and tricks on home repair issues or to share updates on your work projects. As always, with both Facebook and Twitter, you should make sure to use your full business name in the username to ensure maximum protection against bogus reviews or anonymous attacks.

You spend your whole day building things, why not take some time to build up your online reputation? For more help on protecting your business online, please feel free to send us an e-mail or give us a call today at 877-720-6488.