When businesses start seeing negative reviews online, they tend to panic and brace themselves for any backlash they might receive. But the truth is not a single entrepreneur is immune to bad press.
With the right help, any business — including yours — can shield themselves from harsh criticisms regardless if they’re fair or otherwise.
We’ve rounded up the 9 best reputation management services. They all specialize in repairing tarnished reputations and building trust with both leads and existing customers.
If you’re struggling with your brand’s online presence or wish to maintain the great relationship you have with your customers, then check out our list of online reputation management services.
What to Expect From a Great Reputation Management Company
You must wonder: What is reputation management? And what can online reputation management do for me?
Before we dive into our list, let’s take some time to discuss what you should expect when you sign up for a reputation management service.
A good reputation management company should provide most or all of these services:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — Employing SEO practices will help you rank your landing pages for the most relevant and profitable keywords. Not only will this generate more sales, but it will help you outrank negative content on search engines.
- Social Media Management — This will monitor your social media accounts and keep an eye out for posts or comments that can damage your brand. It also can publish posts that’ll keep your community engaged.
- Content Generation — This will provide you with content that will serve as the foundation of your good reputation online. This increases your discoverability and trustworthiness.
- Online Monitoring — It’s crucial to keep tabs on blog comments, reviews, forums, videos and other places where frustrated customers post negative feedback about your company and products. It will then take appropriate actions such as clarifying issues or reporting them back to you so you can handle them from your end.
- Acquire Positive Press — Look for third-party media sites that can do positive write-ups about your business. The more positive reviews you have, the more people will respond to your offering.
- Competitor Research — It will look at your top competitors and report back on how your business stacks up against them on search engines, social media, and other channels.
However, there are companies that choose to only specialize in 1 or 2 of the features above which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
About 97% of businesses believe that online reputation management is important according to a report released by travel site operator TripAdvisor. You can’t underestimate the value it brings to your business.
How Much Does Online Reputation Management Cost?
Most online reputation management services offer custom solutions. That means they don’t disclose their pricing until after you schedule a call with them to discuss your needs.
You can pay a few hundred dollars. But having to pay thousands of dollars for online reputation management isn’t out of the question either. It all really depends on what kind of services your business needs.
All the companies in this list will require you to contact the company to get a quote unless specified otherwise.
The Top Reputation Management Services
So, which is the best online reputation management service for your business?
It will all depend on what your business needs at the moment so we can’t provide a definitive answer. But here are our top recommendations.
1. WebiMax
Inc. 500 named WebiMax the fastest-growing company 3 years in a row. More than 50 marketers work for the online reputation management company, which has a client retention rate of 97%.
When you sign up for an account, you’re assigned a marketing expert who will handle all your needs and concerns. You also get complete transparency. You can monitor your campaign’s progress through WebiMax’s Client Center platform.
Pros
- You have the option to work with WebiMax on a month-to-month basis.
- It uses a data-driven approach to planning and execution.
- You have direct access to your very own marketing expert.
Cons
- There are no set pricing plans to choose from.
- The site is a little vague on what you can expect from the company.
2. Birdeye
If what you need are more reviews for your business, Birdeye could be the reputation management provider for you. Not only does the company generate reviews for your business, but it monitors and manages the reviews you get.
Birdeye also puts your business on listings, sets up referral programs, and creates custom pages for your brand. There are solutions available for businesses of all sizes.
Pros
- It offers different solutions for acquiring reviews for your business.
- You can monitor your progress from 1 location.
- You can also access all the information through a mobile app.
Cons
- The standard plan only gives you access to listings and reviews. If you want to unlock other features, you’ll have to sign up for the premium plan.
- You’re required to commit for 12 months.
- It lacks features like content creation and social media management.
3. Go Fish Digital
Go Fish Digital is a company that performs SEO, content marketing, influencer marketing and web design for its clients. But more than that, it does online reputation management. So, you’re really getting a lot when you sign up for its services.
Businesses like Go Fish Digital because of its ability to remove negative reviews on Yelp. The company does this by notifying Yelp about low-star reviews that violate the company’s guidelines.
Pros
- It has great reporting features that inform you when there are significant changes to your campaign.
- It’s very effective for businesses hampered by too many bad Yelp reviews.
- It’s a one-stop shop for all of your online marketing needs, including SEO.
Cons
- It’s more suited for large-scale operations.
- The company doesn’t disclose its pricing information unless you contact them directly.
4. Gadook
Gadook has a reputation for delivering results. To be more specific, the company specializes in damage control. If a company’s reputation has taken too many hits, Gadook will help rebrand the business.
It helps organizations rebuild their image through better brand awareness using SEO, social media and news releases.
Pros
- It can work for both business and personal branding.
- It offers lead generation services.
Cons
- The pricing page doesn’t show you its pricing information.
- The website looks and feels outdated for an online reputation company.
5. Podium
Podium is a great service for compiling all of your online reviews in one place. This makes the task of replying to each of them more manageable. You can also use it to get payments via text and capture leads.
It’s a great tool for communicating with leads and existing customers. And the best thing about it is that you can try it for free.
Pros
- You get to control how you respond to your negative reviews.
- It allows you to see all of your reviews including those from Google and Facebook.
- The video chat feature lets you connect with customers in a meaningful way.
Cons
- Strictly speaking, it isn’t an online reputation company but more of an online reputation tool so you do all the work.
- It does not help you with other reputation management concerns such as SEO or social media management.
Reputation Resolutions
Reputation Resolutions offers a unique proposition: It will go online and look for negative content on search engines and will try to remove as many of them as possible. And here’s the cool part: It will only ask you to pay if they’re able to remove the negative content.
If removal doesn’t work, it can bury negative content by increasing the ranking of new and existing results that have a neutral or positive tone.
Pros
- It works for businesses and individuals.
- It does a comprehensive analysis of search results to find all the negative comments pointed at your brand.
Cons
- You need to book a free consultation to get a price quote.
7. NetReputation
NetReputation is a reputation management company with years of experience dealing with negative content on search engines. When you sign up, you gain access to different services like search engine optimization, local SEO, public relations and branding solutions.
This company will do whatever it takes to get negative reviews out of Google. This includes DMCA takedowns and other similar methods. It even removes YouTube videos that don’t put your business in a positive light.
If you’re considering litigation as a means to removing bad publicity, you should consider NetReputation.
Pros
- It’s great at suppressing bad reviews on search engines.
- It can mitigate the effects of negative public relations events.
- It will go through Wikipedia pages and edit the content to present you in a positive light.
Cons
- It implements slightly aggressive tactics to remove negative reviews.
- Some customers voiced concerns their issues weren’t addressed after paying $1,500. (Source: Better Business Bureau.)
8. Fractl
Fractl is a full-service digital marketing solution that also happens to be good at public relations. It does content development, it does technical SEO and it can help you to rank organically on search engines.
You can have Fractl do an SEO audit to see if there are other strategies you could implement to get more positive articles about your brand online. The company has received awards that prove just how well-received they are in the online marketing space.
If you want to go beyond damage control and get your business to rank organically for the right keywords, Fractl is a safe bet.
Pros
- It’s highly credible and looks professional.
- It does more than online reputation management.
Cons
- No pricing information available.
9. Reputation X
Reputation X promises to help you fix your online reputation and build an online brand. This company has been in business for 15 years which tells you that they really know what they’re doing.
It also is reassuring that the company promises to be ethical in how it approaches its online reputation management. And it can manage Google’s Knowledge Panel, Wikipedia and social media.
Even better, it’s the only service on the list that discloses its pricing:
- Under Reputation Repair, there are 3 plans. There’s the Basic plan ($3,000 a month), Professional ($5,000 a month) and Enterprise ($8,000 a month).
- Under Reputation Branding, you have Local Branding ($3,000 a month), National Branding ($5,000 a month), and Global Branding ($15,000 a month).
- Under Wikipedia, you have Wikipedia Editing ($3,000 a month), Wikipedia Creation ($5,000/month), and Wikipedia Monitoring ($2,000 a month).
- Under Review Management, you have 1-9 Locations ($500 a location), 10+ Locations ($400 a location) and 100+ Locations ($225 a location).
Pros
- It offers a lot of different services to choose from.
- It explains what you get when you sign up for a plan.
- There are different plans to choose from.
Cons
- It can be expensive for some people, especially if you have multiple reputation management needs
