If your reputation or the reputation of your business gets trashed online, it can have a lasting impact. But there are things that you can do today to limit the impact of negative online statements about you and some of them are easier than you might expect. 

Our guest today is Chris Silver Smith. Chris is the CEO of Argent Media, a marketing agency focused heavily on reputation management where Chris helps people clean up their reputations in search engines. Chris has also served as an expert witness in defamation lawsuits in state and federal court. In his long time column at Search Engine Land, he has advocated for reputation victims.

Show Notes:

• [1:00] - Chris started his career in internet marketing and designing. He also worked for Verizon for many years and eventually made his way into researching and developing SEO (search engine optimization).
• [2:28] - After working for Verizon, he moved on to working for SEO companies and became intrigued by reputation management which was predicted to be fast-growing.
• [3:37] - Reputation management is compelling to Chris because of the personal stories that get involved with it.
• [4:20] - Reputation management could mean helping companies whose CEOs may have made a social media mistake or even smaller companies who have negative reviews.
• [5:48] - Chris shares a story about a CEO who was accused of many things by an escort and truly had not done the things he was accused of.
• [6:50] - Sometimes the bad reputation is because of actual unwise decisions that people have made.
• [7:35] - Chris says that his most memorable personal case was a porn revenge situation who was a trafficking victim. Chris wound up working as an expert witness for free.
• [9:30] - The woman did eventually get away from her harasser and he followed through with his threats of ruining her reputation. But she won the lawsuit and felt that her negative reputation was completely created by her harasser.
• [10:40] - There are more common reputation management cases that Chris has seen several times, such as college or high school students getting in trouble with the police.
• [11:21] - When I say reputation management, usually that means something bad appears when you google someone’s name.
• [12:33] - Chris has dealt many times with fake mugshot sites that post mugshots and charge a fee for people to take them down.
• [13:45] - After Google de-optimized these mugshot sites, it is easier to take these posts down with Chris’s help.
• [15:39] - There’s so much out there and it is so easy to defame people on the internet.
• [17:11] - Chris references the story of the sex trafficking victim to answer how some of these reputation management victims don’t care about the money. They really want their reputation cleared and prove that the accusations are false.
• [20:10] - People who have had their reputation damaged or attacked often have a really severe emotional response to it and are referred to counseling.
• [21:20] - People are surprised at how easy it is for their reputation to suddenly become tarnished.
• [22:24] - It is important to know the difference between your public persona and a private one and curate what you put up publicly. Maintaining this can come in handy when your reputation is attacked.
• [23:34] - Chris shares a story about a competitor who purchased the domain name for his new business and how he was able to amicably solve the problem.
• [26:04] - A strong online presence is a good idea. You should have a personal website and periodically Google your name.
• [26:50] - Chris recommends using Tumblr, Flickr, and YouTube under your name that could help create an online presence that would show up in the search results.
• [28:31] - Even informal stuff is great for basic SEO. Use your name as often as you can.
• [29:00] - It may feel like you’re overhyping yourself, but that’s optimization. Search engines work off text.
• [30:02] - Facebook is great because you can have a personal page for friends and family but can simultaneously have a business page.
• [31:47] - Chris shares many examples of common mistakes people make when video and audio is being recorded.
• [32:50] - Remember that every single thing you do publicly now is likely to be recorded and can be uploaded either on purpose or accidentally.
• [33:10] - Chris shares a story of employees who were connected to a man who ran a cult. They disclosed it and moved on.
• [35:02] - Chris’s wife’s name is Karen and now there are many memes and negativity surrounding the name.
• [36:51] - There are quite a few businesses out there that accidentally get sucked into the news because of their names when they really have no connection. Chris calls this name collision.
• [38:39] - There is a cost with fixing a damaged reputation and sometimes it is less costly to change names and move on.
• [39:47] - Chris has worked cases with restaurant chains that has actually resulted in some policy change within the companies.
• [42:32] - It is better to get ahead of the curve if you can.
• [43:40] - It is good to go ahead and claim your name for a personal webpage and on social media in case you ever need it. Prepare and protect your reputation upfront instead of fixing it later on.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. 

Links and Resources:

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• Chris Silver Smith on Twitter
• Argent Media
• Search Engine Land
• Chris Silver Smith on LinkedIn
• Chris Silver Smith Web Page