The Cost of Online Image Improvement

The power of websites to impact the reputation of a person or business is tremendous today. A simply bad remark can produce significant, negative ramifications that can even cause a person to lose their job or force the company to close with enough of a following and audience. And, unlike the sense of fairness everyone wants to have, reaction to bad comments or information judges first and gets the facts long after the reaction is over.

Remedies are Available, For a Price

Fortunately, negative information or comments can be suppressed, even removed, but it comes with a cost. Whether one does all the work himself or hires outside help, the effort takes resources, time, effort, and money to produce a viable defense. The issue that people and companies often face is which cost is worse: the cost of the effort or the damage of the losses that may occur. Given that one can result in serious disadvantages, reputation protection or restoration starts to become quite affordable.

The cost of online reputation management services is different than the price for reputation defense. One is being proactive and suppressing risks before they occur. The other is focused on damage control and removing problems from being visible after they have already occurred or been reacted to by audiences. The suppression approach varies in costs for a business because it depends on what is needed or desired by a client. Generally, the services are delivered as a package, ranging from a few thousand dollars to over $10,000 on an ongoing basis annually. All of the work delivered is associated with monitoring, positive information placement, and SEO work on suppressing old negative information so it can’t be found easily.

Regarding personal reputation management, the price range is different, far more in the scale of what a person needs versus an entire company. These defense activity costs run a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, depending on the amount of work needed. Usually, the startup work takes the most activity. Then, ongoing maintenance comes down in cost over time as less effort is needed after the primary negative information risks are resolved. These are extensive price categories, and a lot depends on a person or company’s specific case, the amount of negative information already present online, and how difficult it might be to remove or “bury.”

Gauging the Value of Hired Reputation Services

Everybody’s situation is unique. In one case, a reputation issue may really end up being caused by disgruntled employees. In another situation, a person’s past life and indiscretions have come to light or have the potential to become spread virally with a lot of embarrassment. As a result, the price paid for reputation services needed has a lot of fluctuation from one case to the next. Companies generally can expect more of a cost because more effort and information have to be generated and removed. Individuals tend to be easier, but significant cases can be just as involved when the negative risks are huge, such as in criminal allegations, for example.

Whichever is needed, remember that the true value is in an online reputation monitoring that delivers consistently from one client to the next versus just making promises. Net Reputation has a long history track and performance record. We stand on real cases with real solutions delivered for real people. We don’t make magical promises, but we do deliver for our clients. Call us to find out how we can help your situation, business, or personal.