This document discusses how to protect your business online from three main risks: stolen or incorrect online profiles, stolen or hijacked websites and domain names, and malicious reviews. It recommends claiming and updating your business profiles on search engines, maps, social media and review sites to ensure correct information. It also suggests registering your own domain names, not letting others register them, and building your own website. Additionally, it advises asking for legitimate customer reviews to improve online presence and reputation.

1. Protecting Yourself and Your
Business Online
Mark Widawer
West Hills Web
818-592-6370
info@WestHillsWeb.com

2. Mark Widawer speaking on Internet Marketing in Singapore.

3. Landing Page Cash Machine
Blogging for Marketers
Bonuses to Boost Sales
Google Analytics for Marketers
Googleicious
Knowing your Numbers
List Power
Making Offers to Add Value
Million Dollar Template
Reuse, Repurpose, Reprofit
Subliminal Landing Page Tactics
Survey Power
Teleseminar Templates
Testimonial Power
Prospect X-Ray
SEO Finally Made Easy
My Ebooks…

4. Creating strong and
persistent rankings
for keywords
relevant to your
business can be
easy if you do it
right.
And you can get
not just ONE page
listed on page 1 of
Google…but
SEVERAL.

5. But great rankings
on Google for
keywords related
to your business
aren’t the whole
story.

6. You also need
to rank well for
your own
business name.
You need to be
in control of
what the public
sees when they
Google you.

7. What if Your Prospects And Clients…
…could no longer find you online?
…could no longer call you?
…were convinced you were out of business, or were dishonest or did
poor quality work.
And on top of all of that…
What if there was nothing you could do about it?

8. This search for
a local attorney
looks okay…
until you realize
that the phone
number listed is
not his.

9. It was wrong on
Bing, too. And
not only that, it
was a phone
number for an
Attorney
Referral Service
that said that
the number
was no longer
in service!

10. Is this a problem?
Let’s Listen…

11. Three Ways That You And
Your Business Are At Risk
1. Stolen or Incorrect online profiles
2. Stolen or Hi-jacked Websites
3. Malicious reviews

12. So what!?!?
• Lost Sales
• Jeopardized Reputation
• Expensive tech costs of recovery
• Expensive legal battle
…and all of that boils down to…
• It’s bad for your business.

13. Problem #1: Stolen or Incorrect Profiles
You are more at risk if you don’t have a website.
Why?
Because you might have no way to fight back and be the definitive
word on who you are and where to find you!

14. Stolen or Incorrect Profiles
Where could those stolen or incorrect profiles appear?
• Search Engines
• Maps on the search engines
• Social Media Sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Review Sites (Yelp, Foursquare, Angies List)
• Directories like YP.com, Superpages.com, CitySearch.com…

15. Solution: Stolen Profiles
• “Claim your business” on all of
these sites:
• Google
• Yahoo
• Bing
• Yelp
• FourSquare
• Yellow Pages sites (There are too
many of these to do individually.
See shortcut for these on your
handout.)
• Create an Account or Profile on
these sites:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• …And any other industry-related
sites or directories for your kind of
business.

16. Solution: Stolen Profiles
You want to make sure that everyone who
searches for you and your business, actually
finds you and your business, and that the
information that they find is correct.

17. Problem #2: Stolen or Hijacked Domain Names
• My Most Popular Post:
“Is Your Web Developer
Holding You Hostage?”

18. Solution: Stolen Websites and Domain Names
• If you are building a website, always register your own domain names
• Never let your web developer or anyone else register your domain
name for you.
• Never let your web developer host your website for you.
• Buy a domain name for your business even if you aren’t planning on
putting up a website now.
• And to help protect your personal reputation, buy a domain for your
personal name, too.

19. Problem #3: Malicious Reviews
Every business person knows that…
• When people are happy with your business, they’ll tell a few people.
• When people are upset with your business, they’ll tell dozens or
hundreds of people.
• And when people are really ticked off, they’ll stop at nothing to make
your life miserable.

20. Consequence: Malicious Reviews
• When people search for you, they find bad reviews
• People who would become your customers end up as someone else’s
customers
• Your reputation is compromised.
• You’re on the defensive
• You might be forced to react by dropping your prices
• You need to spend a lot of time and money to fix it.

21. Malicious Reviews
Malicious reviews can be found on hundreds of sites, including…
• Yelp
• RipOffReport
• ComplaintsList
• BBB
…and lots more

22. Solution: Malicious Reviews
• Have enough content on the web that is positive or that YOU control
so that any negative reviews never make it to page 1.
• Make profiles or claim your business on social media and review sites.
• Ask your best clients to write legitimate reviews for you.
• Build your own website so that YOU control the definitive message
that your prospects and clients see about you.

23. So What Happened To Doug?

24. We claimed his
profiles, and
are now
working on a
new website
and social
media presence
for Doug.

25. By the way, we
fixed Bing, too.
But there was
one other
thing…

26. Make sure you
think about the
images that are
posted for you
(or people who
share your
name), and that
your own
photos show up
on top.
Doug is the
second phot in
the second
row…but most
people’s eyes
are drawn to
the second
person in the
FIRST row.
We’ll fix that,
too.

27. Want a copy of this
presentation?
Give me your business card, or email me.
I’ll send you an email with a link to this presentation on SlideShare, plus some
other information to help you with your business online.
Mark Widawer
West Hills Web
818-592-6370
info@WestHillsWeb.com