To avoid any indecent Internet exposure, some of the city’s biggest institutions are snapping up corresponding domain names ending in “.xxx” to make sure they are never bought by or associated with adult entertainment websites.

Mary Rodgers, who works in marketing and communications at the city, said the IT department had just purchased www.citywindsor.xxx on Tuesday.

“It’s to protect our reputation,” Rodgers said. “We’re not going to use it, but we own it.”

It’s all about protecting online reputation and engaging in basic web reputation management.

According to careerbuilder.com and the Chicago Tribune, potential employers’ biggest pet peeve is discovering applicants have lied about their qualifications.

Additionally, employers say negative postings about previous employers, inappropriate photos and poor language skills are in their top five list of pet peeves. Posting comments about drugs or alcohol were also negatively viewed.

However, only 7 percent of study respondents said they had not rejected a candidate based on what they found on a social networking site.

Just remember: Google doesn’t have a memory that fades. Anything that is put online will stay for quite a while.

A company’s online reputation can either be great, poor or non-existing. Your prospective clients can instantly look you up on local search directories like Yelp, SuperPages, MerchantCircle, Kudzu, Google Maps and many others. Your customers can leave comments, both good and bad, on these directories.

All of these sites are outside of your control. That makes them unpredictable–they can be a huge help, or a handicap for your business.

There is a lot at stake when it comes to ORM, which is why hotels will take greater risks with improving their positions on search engines or review sites—sometimes even hiring companies to post content to “push down” a negative review.

There is never an excuse for hiring a blackhat firm. Ever. Hiring an online reputation management firm is a great idea for any hospitality industry business, though.

It’s an easy strategy for one disgruntled employee, jealous competitor or bitter ex to use the web and ruin your online reputation with a few short keystrokes; and the worse lies seem to move up the ladder and certainly make it to a prominent page.

• In 2005, an unknown blogger posted a single criticism about Dell Computers that quickly spread worldwide and brought on years of scrutiny for a computer company with a solid reputation.

Online word-of-mouth comments can influence decision makers and change reputations by gigantic proportions.

The importance of your online reputation

The first thing somebody learns about you gives perspective to all subsequent interactions. If you make a positive impression, it will be remembered and will reinforce a positive image. But a negative first impression will sabotage your future interactions and leave you at a disadvantage.

• Social reputation; how important is your standing among friends, acquaintances and your community? False or malicious online content can create whispers and gossip behind your bank and will decide what people closest to you think

• Professional reputation; in many professional fields, your reputation is everything. If false or malicious online content casts a shadow over your ability, judgment or qualifications, then you could lose business dealings or career advancement.

People search online and make quick decisions. Studies show that web surfers decide within 5 seconds whether they’re interested in what they see or if they want to move on. In other words, people do not take time to slowly research all possible information before making a decision. Instead, in less than 3 minutes, people make snap decisions about who to hire, fire, befriend or banish from their circle.

Your online reputation can become the most prominent information about you. Do not assume hiring managers, even friends won’t quickly search the web to weed out any obvious flaws. They may investigate further, or simply make their final judgment about you on the basis of the information at first glance.

Unfortunately, your online reputation is not reflective of the complete truth about anyone; it’s incomplete. It may show outdated information; it may show inaccurate statements and distortions of the truth. It might focus on only one event, rather than the entirety of your life or career. Or it might contain outright lies and attacks. In short, your online reputation does not necessarily reflect the truth.

Now for the good news; you can use the same divisive tools to improve your online reputation. There are creative ways to re-shape and create new words that will give you leverage.

1. Offer the web something new and give new insight.
2. Express a new passionate perspective. Begin submitting new content that’s compelling and newsworthy to override the negative perceptions.
3. Engage the web-surfers. Words can engage and entice the reader; find ways to connect with effective material to give them something new to talk about.

Finally, anonymous attacks are submitted online everyday and the only way to combat the damage is replacing it with positive influential material.

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