Guest post: Agent review sites and reputation management

Wednesday's WSJ article discusses the new online reputation management firms like ReputationDefender and DefendMyName, and their methods for removing or ameliorating unwanted online postings for their clients. Most interesting is how the methodology is still being tested - sometimes they work and sometimes they backfire. Efficacy depends upon the "vengeance factor" of the owner of the offending website. In more extreme cases, correspondence from the reputation management companies is mocked and the owners escalate publicity of the unflattering items, just the opposite effect of what their clients wanted.

Real estate agents, saddled with their poor occupational public image are particularly vulnerable to even one damaging online review, which can easily pop up in a Google search. The potential problem is how easily an anonymous or pseudonym party to post a bad review, simply as a slander tactic. One agent review site Incredible Agent revealed through their blog that many agents want to have their profile, culled from Department of Real Estate records, removed so there's no chance of a review. The post goes on to say that Incredible Agent has even had a death threat... it's just an indication of how threatened agents feel about such review sites.

However, the Web 2.0 era has launched a number of sites where agents can be reviewed so there's no turning back. On the positive side, the review sites do monitor bad agent behavior.

At Transparent Real Estate today, I provide a comparative analysis of the agent review sites and give tips on how to manage online reputations.

--Pat Kitano, Transparent Real Estate

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