In the past, business owners were happy to set up their facilities and conduct business. The arrival of the internet made it imperative to have an online presence. So, these business owners set up websites to extend their outreach to their target market. As the number of people doing internet searches began to increase, the importance of content optimisation became even clearer. By incorporating some essential keywords in the content of your website, you could ensure that people doing the relevant searches could end up visiting your website.

The popularity of the internet led to the proliferation of various review and feedback sites. These sites provided people with a viable means of sharing their experiences with all kinds of commercial establishments. When it comes to online feedback and reviews, many people tend to share positive feedback. But, some users will invariably have negative feedback to share as well. Both sets of feedback help people gain some idea of how satisfactory it would be to transact business with a particular company. In other words, the feedback posted on review sites helps people build up perceptions about a company. As a business owner, you could continue with your existing strategies if the impression of your company among the general public matches the perception that you want people to have. If not, you will need to come up with ways for changing this perception among people.

You could choose to ignore your online reputation too. However, in a world that is increasingly dependent on the internet, this would be a foolish strategy. A number of people check out product reviews before they purchase them. These statistics highlight that:

• Approximately 65 percent of internet users feel that they can obtain the most accurate information about companies from the internet
• Nearly 79 percent of consumers consider online reviews and personal recommendations before purchasing products and services
• About 85 percent of consumers make a purchasing decision after doing the necessary research on the internet and,
• Approximately 63 percent of consumers will believe anything that you say about your company as long as you say it thrice

So, your business has a higher likelihood of success if you can take control of what your prospective customers see online. Doing so, would enable you to establish a better level of connectivity with your customers. At the same time, you would be able to minimise any damage that negative content could lead to.