Some Don'ts in Internet Branding

Much advice has been given on what to do with your Internet branding. Little has been said about what not to do, though. Here are some definite do nots when it comes to pushing your brand.

• Don't dilute your branding.

This should be self-evident, but it bears mentioning. Especially in the early stages of a company's development, some businesses will try out different logos, different fonts and other variations on the overall theme of their branding. This is a very big mistake, since it can lead customers to think that there are different companies in your niche with your name.

Consistency is a key element here. Even if you decide that you don't like your branding or that it's not attracting enough of the right kind of attention, you stand to lose more business by constantly changing things up. Also, you will want to trademark your images so no one can steal them. Constantly changing them around creates an unnecessary expense.

• Don't use "high speed, high rank" techniques in your SEO.

Many SEO firms will try to sell services that promise a high rank quickly. Considering that your main web page will probably be one that you want to keep for a long time, you will want long term ranking. Whenever you are being pitched for quickly high-ranking services, you can probably expect that should they deliver on it. However, your rankings will be only short term, and may get your site banned.

The only sure way of getting long term search engine rankings is by playing by the rules of the search engines. This typically means that it can take a while before a page gets ranked. Once it's there, though, you can rest assured that it's going to stay around and not suffer any bans or penalties.

• Don't ignore negative press.

This is a common mistake especially among the older, more established companies. No one is bulletproof, especially on the Internet. Recently, Domino's suffered a 50% loss in their approval ratings over a couple of employees videotaping themselves tampering with food.

On the same concept, don't immediately take the hard line when you respond to criticism. There may be a legitimate complaint, and a harsh response can provoke more negative publicity. This can be especially disastrous on the Internet, where a video complaint can be viewed hundreds of thousands of times before you know about it.

Again, on the same notion, don't be a complete pushover. Some complaints aren't legitimate, and may be just a negative press campaign from your competition. These require extreme measures to deal with. You just have to make sure it's a legitimate complaint first.

• Don't ignore positive press.

Don't just take for granted that people will speak well of your products or services. You should encourage these "evangelists." The more you can make them speak well of your company, the more people will see it. You may find yourself with a trusted affiliate marketer in the bargain.

These are just a few of the things to avoid when maintaining your Internet brand. For more information, contact us at www.directhorizon.com.

Search engine marketing is the most powerful way to drive traffic on the web. With Content Syndication you can control your internet brand. For more info on reputation management go to www.directhorizon.com