Storm in a tea cup: an online reputation crisis

If you hold a prominent position in your web community, be it high up on the Google rankings or a very successful blog, it’s likely that at some point you’ll slip up. The nature of the web necessitates that scandal and mistakes can throw unprecedented attention – in the form of heavy traffic – to your (currently compromised) brand.

Andy Beal from Marketing Pilgrim cites Search Engine Land’s article that was published concerning Wired’s wiki – pointing out a loophole from which people can easily link to Wired. Danny Sullivan, who approved the post, responded to the ensuing media storm with sincerity and humility, explaining in a very transparent way exactly how the flak hit the fan.

In this way, Sullivan put a lid on a storm that could have broken the teacup – with the potential to damage both Wired and Search Engine Land’s reputations permanently. First, he addressed the problem by bringing the discussion right to his doorstep. It was clear that the sensational post had set tongues wagging in other areas of the SEO community, and in order to control those scattered, damning conversations, he simply brought the focus back to Search Engine Land. Second, he didn’t shove a scapegoat in the spotlight, he stood there himself. The response came from the top of the company, as opposed to the author of the post having to take a very hard fall.

Third, Sullivan’s apology was surprisingly transparent and humble. Most people, when exposed for pointing out someone else’s problems, would take a defensive stance. Instead, he wrote, “I simply cannot apologize (sic) enough for the mess the article made over there (Wired)…For me to have contributed to the industry`s reputation problem was wrong. To everyone in it, my apologies.”

Fourth, he sought a resolution. By communicating with Wired he demonstrated that Search Engine Land could do more than apologise – it could learn from its mistakes. He posted a foreword describing the intentions behind the post, and pointed out that Wired had implemented a robot.txt block on links coming out of the wiki. He had sought a resolution, and in the process, demonstrated to critics that Search Engine Land was not above taking responsibility for its content.

As Beal points out, sincerity, transparency and consistency are your best ticket to recovering from an online reputation crisis. The price of publicity, as all celebrities discover, is the focus on not only your successes, but on your failures as well. And we do so love a good, public collapse. But with the right mix of humility and professionalism, prominent people can contain the storm and move on without obliterating their brand.

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