This week we interviewed the guy behind reputation HAWK dot com. Interesting name - so what exactly do they do?

Well, this is where it gets interesting. If you or your company is getting bashed on the net - they can evidently ‘fix’ it. But they don’t contact the owners of the offending web sites which is what we immediately assumed, instead they focus on pushing the negative information off of the first few pages in Google. This new field is known as internet reputation management or online reputation management.

That appears to be what matters the most. These days when someone want’s to know something, in unison, we all go to the same place - the mother of all information, Google, lovely google. Have you tried Googling your name or your company’s name lately? If your company is getting attacked on the front page of Google then it’s almost a lock that your bottom line is already being negatively affected. This is where the reputation Hawk service comes in. So, check out the interview below with the web site’s founder - Chris Martin.

BetaFlow :: Okay, so your like an internet janitorial service?

reputationHAWK :: Ha! yea I guess so man. Thanks, I needed a shot of humility today.

BetaFlow :: So, what kind of messes do you clean up?

reputationHAWK :: We usually help companes deal with the negative comments found in open source sites. In most cases the culprits are blogs, forums, or review sites.

BetaFlow :: By open source, you mean?

reputationHAWK :: Web sites that allow visitor comments. Keep in mind there is no accountability system on the internet. Anyone can say anything about anybody and do it anonymously. Have you ever been fired?

BetaFlow :: Maybe.

reputationHAWK :: Well, let’s say you worked at Bob’s Cleaning Supplies and they fired you because you had a habit of coming in too late. You go home angry. What stops you from creating a profile on the internet. You could give yourself the name “Bob Mayberry” and claim you used to be one of their clients. You spend a few hours bashing Bob’s Cleaning Service on the internet in blogs, forums etc. Now when visitors go to Google and type in “Bob’s Cleaning Service” you get inudated with a flood of negative reports. Now Bob’s business is slowing big time and he has no idea why? It’s simple. Bob’s potential clients are going to Google and doing a search on his company’s name. They see all of the negative reports and find a competitor to call.

BetaFlow :: That sucks. So, you come in and do what?

reputationHAWK :: We evaluate the situation and see what we have in front of us. We then put together a plan and work on getting positive information about Bob’s Cleaning Supplies in front of the false negative reports. If we can get the negative publicity out of the top 20 in Google than we are golden. 99% of visitors will stay within the first two pages of Google results.

BetaFlow :: How long does that take?

reputationHAWK :: It totally depends on the amount and strength of the negative publicity.

BetaFlow :: What makes negative publicity strong or weak?

reputationHAWK :: Google uses complex algorithms to rank web sites. There are numerous factors that make up that rank by Google. So, for example if you are being blasted by a page on a web site like Wikipedia, or a government site than that would be considered very strong negative publicity. But if you have some negative press on a remote forum than that is generally weak and much easier to bump in Google. The time frame to clear the top 10 can range from two months to over a year. It is entriely dependent on the strength of the negative pages.

BetaFlow :: Who is your typical client? What’s his story?

reputationHAWK :: Alright, for example, one of our clients offers a web based software program. A few months ago they started a new pricing model. When someone signs up and submits their payment info they are told that their credit card will be charged $29.95 a month until they cancel. This company has many satisfied customers but there are a few who evidently did not pay attention to the payment terms and when their account was debited the following month they went straigt to sites like Rip off Report and Bad Business Bureau. So, when you type in the name of this company the front page is flooded with the negative reports. Just think about the impact it can have. A potential client going to Google to search for info about your company and sees a listing featuring you from a web site called the Rip off Report.

BetaFlow :: So, will you help anyone?

reputationHAWK :: No, some companies simply deserve the negative press. We turn down more inquirers than we take on.

BetaFlow :: Have you been contacted by crazies?

reputationHAWK :: Lol. Sure.

reputationHAWK :: Let’s see, the other day someone submitted the form on my web site and in the description of the problem field he typed in, “False, outdated information posted by idiots,” I thought that was pretty funny. But, a crazy one, hmmm. Okay this one was pretty bizarre. I get a call from this guy in London. I introduced myself and asked for his name, “Let’s just call me Steve,” he said. That’s when I pretty much wanted to put the phone down and get back to what I was doing but of course my southern hospitality gets me in trouble and I ended up wasting an entire hour talking to him. I assured him of confidentiality and that i needed to know the name that was receiving negative press online or I wouldn’t know whether or not I could help him. He refused and then began telling me this story where I was supposed to imagine and understand his online dilemna and tell him how to fix it. It was something like, “Okay, so you have a guy who works for a company for say twenty years and then all of the sudden he is fired. Well, one of the workers there…” For some foolish reason I got into his game and started trying to follow his story and figure out what his problem was which proved ultimately impossible. At the end of the story I told him that I just needed to know his name. He then said that he could not give it to me and offered this solution instead. He would fly me to London or New York and we would meet at a resteraunt or a hotel lobby. At this point he would still remain anonymous. He would then pay to show him how to fix the problem that I knew nothing about. I don’t remember how I got off the phone but it was no more than a minute after hearing his solution.

BetaFlow :: Could you have shown him how to fix it?

reputationHAWK :: No way, not without knowing who he was and the negative sites he was up against. Plus there is no overnight ‘fix’. There are only solutions that take alot of time and persistence.

BetaFlow :: Do you get contacted by celebrities?

reputationHAWK :: Usually the only time I get contacted by a celebrity is when one of their former acquaintences who knew them before they became famous goes off on them in a forum or blog and the page found it’s way to the front page of Google.

BetaFlow :: So, how do you decide who to help?

reputationHAWK :: We basically have two main criteria. The first one simply relates to ethics. If the company or individual is rightfully receiving negative publicity than we do not have the desire to help him or her bury those negative pages in Google. The second parameter is budget. These projects take alot of man hours and the company has to have some sort of budget room for the campaign if they really want to solve this problem and keep it that way.

BetaFlow :: Final question, if one day the internet dies and with it reputation hawk dot com, what will you do?

reputationHAWK :: I once lived in Costa Rica for a month. I rented this shack in the jungle for $400. The shack sat right next to this beautiful river that was almost crystal clear when it hadn’t rained. The river flowed out into the pacific. When I was there I met this old man who I could tell was an American. I found out that when he was young he was a reporter in Chicago but a tragic family event led him to pack up his things and move to Costa Rica which is where he had been for the past forty years. The local children would bring their broken bicycles to him and he would sit down and fix them. That is basically what he would do during the day. He would fix these kids bycicles and sit on the beach. If the internet died I think I would move my family to that town in Costa Rica and go hang out with him.

 

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I figured Yahoo Buzz, yet another Digg clone, would have been a flop when it launched on February 25th. Three weeks later, the site seems to have picked up a bit of steam. The big benefit that Buzz offers over Digg is that top stories on Buzz are published on the Yahoo homepage, therefore exposing the link to a ton of viewers.

TechCrunch wrote about their recent Buzz experience. On Saturday, TechCrunch was linked to from Buzz at 5:45PM PST. Despite Saturday being their typical slow day trafficwise, TechCrunch saw their highest traffic day ever and over 1,000 comments were posted on the linked story.

Other sites have seen similar response. Salon had 1 million unique visitors to their page the day they were linked to from Buzz. US Magazine had their second highest traffic day ever with 32% of the visits coming from Buzz. Sugar, Inc sites have had almost 1.8 million unique visitor sent from five different stories on Buzz.

Buzz publishers must be invited to use the service. That’s a bit of a difference from the Digg model. But Yahoo Buzz appears to have the same web server crushing power that Digg has been famous for. Yahoo is continuing to ramp up the number of links posted on its home page from Buzz.

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Douglas Merrill, Google VP of Engineering, has posted an interesting entry on The Official Google Blog discussing how Google keeps your information secure. He discusses the philosophy, the technology, the process (Sarbanes Oxley, SAS 700, and PCI compliance), and the people. When thinking of Google and the number of services they offer, security becomes a big concern for many people. Having your email, blogging, and search habits all linked together by one company tends to concern people. Hopefully, Google is really on their toes with security and this blog isn’t just market-speak.

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Jivox provides templates for creating online video ads. Now, knowing my readership, I know that most of you will absolutely hate this company. But it is an interesting idea for not only online publishers, but also bricks and mortar companies.

Jivox online video advertising is a powerful new way to tell your customers about your business beyond the visual and geographic limitations of search engines and banners. With Jivox, you can easily create Free professional video advertisements for your business with music, visuals, and more. Through the exclusive Jivox network your ad will appear “on the digital air.” Jivox pinpoints the sites your customers go to in the markets you need to reach them. You only pay for the actual sites where your video ad runs.

Once you create your free ad, you then define demographics of your target audience and set the budget for the ad. Jivox then takes over and sells the ad within their own network and that is where this startup intends to make money. Do it yourself business people are a good market to go after, especially with free services.

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Non-profit organization Takes All Types released their very own Facebook application which will help find blood donors quickly. Users install the application, tell it their location and blood type, and choose how often they are will to be contacted to donate blood. If a shortage in blood occurs, TAT will contact users via the Facebook, email, or text message — whichever option you have authorized them to use. It’s nice to see social networking sites finally having a good use. The organization is looking to expand in to other social media sites and “advanced communication systems.”

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Topicle is a search engine community built by users handpicking URLs. The community creates new Topicle search engines for topics. URLs are added to each search engine by users. Those URLs are then rated by other members of the community before being included in the Topicle. Topicle uses Google Custom Search to search the selected sites.

For example, the Web 2.0 Topicle includes reddit.com, readwriteweb.com, digg.com, and others. When searching within the Web 2.0 Topicle, only the 7 “indexed” URLs will be searched. Betaflow is added as a suggested URL, but won’t be include until other Topicle users rate the URL.

The site is an interesting mix of Google’s search power combined with crowd-sourcing. It makes search engine optimization a little less important and all but eliminates the option to spam.

Topicle was founded by Steffen Mueller and Christian Meister. Mueller was a Product Manager for Google, working on Google Maps, Google Web Search, and Froogle.

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Just to show that pretty much any startup can get a little funding I’m going to tell you about Y Combinator startup MightyQuiz. MightyQuiz isn’t a grand idea, it’s not even really much of a new idea. Users write quiz questions on any topic and these questions. The questions are then presented to visitors along with other submitted questions in a quiz format. It’s an educational waste of time.

And in typical Web 2.0 fashion, there are social features to the site. User profiles, top contributor lists, most popular questions, and the ever important widget should give you the 2.0 interaction you desire.

TechCrunch was told that the potential monetization strategy for the company is to offer the service as a web label service for “traditional media site.”

File this one in your time waster bookmarks while it lasts…

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