For older entrepreneurs, the vastness of the Internet may seem daunting, and rightfully so. Since almost anybody can disseminate anything to an audience, monitoring your online reputation is more important than ever.

Online reputation management means keeping close watch of public commentary and opinion regarding your product, services and brand. Mitigating negative reviews or slanderous commentaries can seem like an overwhelming task. But it’s simpler than you might expect when approached with a few basic steps.

Without ORM, someone is sure to wrongfully ridicule you or your company. Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, anybody can have a voice without real consequence. Sadly, that means vengeful customers and disgruntled employees have a way to criticize you, no matter how irrational or mundane the reason.

At the same time, the Internet gives you the chance to check yourself and respond to malicious content. Follow these steps and you’re sure to maintain a good online reputation.

Search Thyself. Don’t think typing your name into Google search is good enough either. Google doesn’t encompass the entire Internet, only its servers. Try other search engines, such as Dogpile, Yahoo! and even AskJeeves. However, it’s a good idea to set up Google Alerts for your name, its derivatives and your company name. Go to Yelp and find out if there are more bad reviews than good ones about you. The purpose of searching for content about you is to find anything that disparages you. Though you cannot delete that content, you can counter it with positive content, such as a blog of testimonials for your company.

Think prevention. To keep from always being on the defensive and having to produce new content, stop reputation-destroying web users before they start. A common practice is to buy domain names that are similar to your business’ site. For instance, buy different extensions (mybiz.net, mybiz.org), any abbreviation of your company name, several domains with your name in it and maybe unflattering site names (yourcompanysucks.net) by doing this you’re stopping some content from ever existing. You can also purchase and build simple customer review sites to help counteract potentially damaging online postings.

Be a social (networking) butterfly. You can’t expect to have one website with sufficient traffic anymore. Make use of the free social networking sites (SNS) to attract potential customers. Having tons of usernames and passwords can be difficult to manage, but free programs like HootSuite let you juggle all of your SNS accounts from one place. At the very least, you’ll need Twitter, Facebook and blog accounts. Don’t just use SNSs to manage your reputation because they’re great places to show off your personable side. You’re allowed to be more casual with your SNS interactions.

Embrace it all. Technology has come a long way, and as an older entrepreneur you might remember the days when computer towers filled a room and car phones’ one function was to make calls. No matter how scary, it’s time to make use of everything, especially the internet to manage your reputation. Regularly check what’s out there that might hurt your cash flow. Stay educated on your industry and post stories, your reactions or questions on your blog. Use SNSs to put a face with your name. Customers need reminders that you’re a person, too. Given your experience and wisdom that you’ve acquired for years, they won’t mind seeing a gray hair or two.

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This is a guest post from Chris Birk.

Two days in a row now that I’ve woken up super early. The first time it happened (4am) I thought it was a fluke because of a misaligned body clock, but when I woke up naturally this morning at 5am I realized, perhaps my body is so anxious to “get things done” that I’m jettisoning myself out of bed.

Some people claim that my trip to Australia should be a time of disconnecting and total relaxation. In my opinion, though, that is an old-school escapist vacation mentality. I LOVE my job. I am enamored by the work I get to do, and get paid for, so “disconnecting” for me is not a fun thing to do. I don’t need/want to “escape” from anything, even while I’m traveling.

In terms of workflow a few things I’ve learned thus far:

• very important to get through emails and to-do items just as always. I remember yesterday morning as I was leaving for the day to explore Sydney I had this pain in my gut because I was not taking my laptop with. It was kind of funny as Katrina knew it too. However, it wasn’t because I’m addicted to being connected, it’s because I’m addicted to extinguishing open loops. I had a lot of open loops that morning, despite my waking at 4am. Mainly because I was going through an inbox of 150 emails due to about 72hrs of non-processing—and still didn’t finish. And mainly because I was trying to get through them all–mistake! Point learned: Prioritizing emails responses and to do items is a MUST when traveling.
• I’ve accepted now that I’m not going to be able to do as much as I could before when I was working 8-10hr days. Now, I’m trying to squeeze it all into one 3-4hr block in the morning and a 1hr or so block of casual social networking in the evening. This is forcing me to be okay with not quite being SO responsive to everyone. It’s okay to let a few email fall through, as long as I put them in my to-do list to reply to them later. The anxiety of leaving for the day for exploration is not because of the low priority open loops. It’s because of the high-priority ones, those that I didn’t get a chance to get to because I was focusing too much on the lower ones. So I’m learning priority-level discipline–albeit forced, so that I don’t have that pain in my gut when I leave for the day without my laptop.
• Web based tools. Keeping the clutter low on this little computer is a must, mainly because the hard drive is so small – 12gig. But in all actuality, this is a blessing. I like not having a bunch of applications installed on here—it’s almost like a mental cleansing. I’ve been using Google Docs quite a bit and also instead of installing programs I try and find an web based alternative. For example I always like keeping track of my time I spend doing tasks. This is mainly because when I get into my flow, I totally lose track of time and then find myself frustrated with how many hours I focused on something that was low priority. I’ve been using Online Stopwatch instead of my usual Multitrack Stopwatch. In all honesty, it’s just a small file to download, and I could install it, but it just feels good NOT to.
• Not having a means to digitally capture my life as usual is tough. I normally use twitter and facebook mobile throughout the day to catalog my ongoings. This is impossible here, though, as international rates are a pain with my current cell phone plan. I might change it, but maybe it’s a good thing to challenge myself here. Not sure. It is getting me to blog more after all and post  facebook photos.
• Brainstorming increases dramatically when out of the element. All day—TONS of ideas. Wow, can’t even explain. Just being exposed to so many different elements that only being in a foreign environment can provide is quite breathtaking. My brain impressed me. If anything, that’s a reminder to everyone that we still have the faculties to brainstorm like always, but perhaps we’ve forgotten the path to that synergy. Or perhaps the pathway has changed over the years, it’s just a matter of tapping into it in a new way.

That’s all for now. I’m going to work on a miniature version of a weekly review so that I can make sure that I’m not overlooking anything crucial on my to do list. Lookign forward to it as today will be an AMAZING day of exploration if I can be sure to have closed all open loops. No more anxiety, hopefully.

It does not make sense to have an advertisement that appeals to a small group of people in a mainstream location.

For example, I saw a big poster on the wall advertising a cement truck company.  When people see this, it does not apply to them.  Find out where cement truck customers go, and advertise there!  I’m not sure where that is—perhaps near a a construction site, cement supply store, industrial areas, Home Depot type places, etc.  But not just randomly in the middle of mainstream walkers!

Probably the biggest reason this is a problem is because it makes you feel as if you’re putting yourself out there—you’re advertising.  It’s this sense of “I’m working towards success!”  But in reality, putting up that ad was a waste of your time.  It will not bring you any new customers.  And no, it does NOT help build brand awareness, despite what some may say. As soon as it’s looked at by someone who’s not in your niche market, they dismiss it almost instantaneously.  It’s viewed as an interruption—spam.  In effect it may even promote negative brand awareness.

We’re not in the same kind of interruption-based advertising world we used to be. Grow up!

Willie, a delivery guy from Dean Foods, comes to Mozarts Coffee in Austin TX every day at 12noon and goes through the same process. With a huge cart on wheels stacked with gallons of milk, he clumsily navigates his way down 7 stairs and then up 3 stairs. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of giving him an easier way to deal with this. It’s got to hurt his back. He looks to be in his mid 50s.

Companies have got to listen to their workers on the front line. But more importantly, the workers must know that their opinion matters that way they’ll be thinking about making things more efficient.

Paradox goes as follows:

1. Company A buys mainstream advertising. Ex. TV advertisement
2. Competitors, Companies B & C, must spend extra money on ads to keep up with Company A. This causes an oversaturation of messages to consumers, which decreases effectiveness (and sales).
3. In response to decreased effectiveness and decreased sales, Companies A, B, & C spend more on advertising.
4. Cycle repeats.

I wonder how companies can spend their advertising budget with a bit more innovativeness and subsequently eliminate this otherwise inevitable paradox.

P.S. Happy 2008.