Think you’re in control of your Web presence? Think again.

Just because you’ve got your website in order, doesn’t mean you’ve got a consistent or accurate Web presence. Why? Because you may not entirely be in control of your online identity.

We talk to many small business owners who think that since they control the content on their own website, they’re in control of online information about their business. But they’re not. Others who don’t have a website at all, think they don’t have a Web presence. But guess what? They usually do. There are online directories that collect and publish information on local businesses. Often, the information being presented about the business is wrong.That’s one of the first things we do for WebVisible clients. We investigate their Web identity, and we help those local businesses make sure they’ve got a consistent identity across all those listings.

Consistency is important. The obvious reason: you want people to be able to find you. So you want to make sure your contact information is correct. The not-so-obvious reason: Search engines use that information in their organic search rankings. When they find inconsistencies they’ll drop your ranking down the page. The flip side – you’ll get a natural lift in web presence just by making all those listings consistent. Much like credit report monitoring, WebVisible provides “reputation monitoring,” to make sure your directory listings are accurate and consistent.

WebVisible CEO Ron Burr talks more about this with Will Crist, host of Pilgrim Talks, which airs live every Wednesday from 5-6pm PST on www.OCTalkRadio.net. You can find Ron’s interview on iTunes as a business podcast by typing Pilgrim on the 405 in the iTunes podcast search box.

Have you had the experience of finding incorrect information about your business in a directory listing? Tell us about it.

Comments for Think you’re in control of your Web presence? Think again.

Monday, August 1, 2011 by Jason C. :: This is kind of scary. I had never even thought to check if my business' info was correct in all the directory listings. Now I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to check it out...
Monday, August 1, 2011 by Seth J. :: Thanks for the advice. I'm going to have my team start checking on our directory listings to make sure everything is accurate and consistent. I'll let you know if I find anything!
Saturday, August 27, 2011 by B. Merkle :: Geez, I didn't realize that wrong information published by search engines could lead to lowered organic search rankings. Now I see that online consistency means more than just putting up a couple of websites.