Is Pissed Consumer Hurting Business Owners?

How Is Pissed Consumer Negatively Impacting People Like Jeff Asherbranner?

For Many Businesses, Pissedconsumer.com is Negatively Affecting Online Reputation Management Strategies by Dominating Google SERPs. Is Pissedconsumer.com a Legit Customer Review Website or Blackhat SEO Linkfarm?

If you do any sort of SEO (or PPC) work, you are probably familiar with www.pissedconsumer.com. Despite containing very little useful or valuable information, it has dominated Google’s search engine results pages since 2008. Sure, the site hosts tons of experiences and opinions from previous customers for almost every national brand in America, but is the content actually valuable?  Pissed Consumer hosts subdomain pages for countless companies, from Taco Bell to Best Buy, and everywhere in between.
So what are the true intentions of pissedcosumer? Some folks feel it is a valuable resource of finding out past experiences from widely known companies. Others feel that the entire site is nothing more than a giant link farm containing countless sub domains interlinking between one another.
At TriMark Solutions, one of our largest clients is a nationally franchised company, serving over 200 locations across the country. When the name brand of this company is searched, pissed consumer shows up 3rd!? How could this be possible when our client has so few actual posts on pissed consumer?

So what is pissed consumer doing to create such high rankings in Google?

• Interlinking between pages and domains. Because pissed consumer has SO MANY sub domains (your-company.pissedconsumer.com), they are able to internally link back and forth, creating a huge interwoven web of sites.
• Constantly adding new content. Despite the fact that 75% of posts on pissedconsumer are people badmouthing other posters or posting otherwise generally useless content, the constant barrage of new posts are seen by search engines as “fresh content”. This was literally the first post I clicked on from the Target Department Store, and it is utterly worthless to anyone looking for an authentic Target Review: http://target.pissedconsumer.com/nice-try-but-a-forgery-20100614185777.html. I hate linking to this site, but people need to understand the sheer volume of useless content that Google is constantly indexing.
• Targeting High Volume Brands as Keyword Searches. By constantly creating sub domains containing brand names such as K-Mart, Target, and McDonalds, pissed consumer is intentionally targeting (and optimizing) for those high volume keywords. If this wasn’t done on such a large, spammy scale, if may actually be considered white (or at least gray) hat.
So now that we know what pissedconsumer is doing “right” to build and keep such high ranks, what are they doing that could be interpreted as blackhat?
• Ignoring spam posts. Spend 2 minutes on the site and you will quickly discover that there are countless spammy comments posted on each review. Many are unrelated to the original post, are posted multiple times, or are identical copies of comments posted on other company reviews.
• Allowing people to post under different profiles. Essentially, there is no way to determine which posts are real and which are fake. Users are allowed to created unlimited names and post under each one. Someone could theoretically have an entire conversation or argument with themselves using different names. This decreases the likelihood that all content will be quality and useful to websurfers who are looking for actual legitimate reviews.
• Not deleting useless posts. Whether a post is submitted 4 times or simply consists of swear words and name calling, pissedconsumer allows it. Because these types of reviews and comments are in no way, shape, or from useful to the end user, you would think Google would realize that pissedcomsumer may not deserve the rankings it has.
• Having essentially 0 real content on the site. 99.999999% of all content on pissedconsumer.com consists of user reviews and comments. This sounds positive, but they are not moderated, and often not valuable in any way. Pissedconsumer simply relies on user driven content to constantly get reindexed into search engines, and continue to improve search results.

How is pissedconsumer negatively effecting online reputations for businesses and people like Jeffery Asherbranner?

Unfortunately for many small and medium (and even some large) sized companies, pissedconsumer.com is dominating search engine results. When a potential customer types in a company’s brand name and the 3rd result is a pissed consumer spot, they are often very likely to read these negative reviews, and not purchase from the company.
Many small business owners feel like pissedconsumer (and similar sites) are literally destroying their business by unfairly monopolizing the SERPs for their specific company brand name.

For many people like Jeff Asherbranner the case of online reputation management has become a never ending war of knocking down false negative reviews in an effort to keep one’s reputation positive. Sites known for fraud such as: Pissed Consumer, Rip-Off Report along with many others have irreparably damaged the reputations of many an honest businessman. Unfortunately it seems that until there is a way of taking fraudulent information off of the web the only way to keep a positive image online is to constantly monitor and improves one’s own reputation.

Information presented on page courtesy of http://www.trimarksolutions.com/inside/internet-marketing/how-is-pissedconsumer-com-unfairly-affecting-your-companys-online-reputation/

Is Online Reputation Important

Why is Online Reputation Important to people like Jeff Asherbranner?

                                                                                                                                                                                               

Reputation management is a hot topic at the moment as recent articles covered by the Guardian and the Telegraph highlight the importance of controlling business and individual’s online reputation. The reputation and image of any business is significantly important to the success of the company due to the impact this can have upon sales. In recent years the use of the internet has exploded as more and more people share their opinions and experiences online. The increased use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and review sites such as Trip Advisor have created a platform for users to share positive and negative experiences online.

Many businesses have been quick to harness the potential of social media sites to promote positive images of their businesses online, however reputations can quickly be ruined by only a few negative reviews. This has led to many businesses to understand the importance of reputation management. Many businesses and individuals use the internet on a frequent basis; however until recently very few have stopped to consider the impact which their opinions could have upon their personal relationships, job prospects or their businesses. Bad publicity can be very damaging for individuals and businesses however until recently any negative publicity could quickly be forgotten. The growth of the internet as a method of communication has created new problems as information shared online is much more permanent. To ensure that individuals and businesses have a positive digital footprint it has become much more important to consistently portray a positive online reputation. A bad review, critical blog post, unflattering link or an out of control rant from an ex-employee  which shows on the first page of Google search results can have devastating effects for a business, as this can cause click-through rates to plummet and business sales to drop and can often affect search results for years to come.

Businesses and individuals are beginning to consider reputation management companies to control their digital footprint and remove negative online impressions due to negative comments by ex-girlfriends, negative court cases and confusion with similar search terms which can in some cases portray unfair or outdated reflections. Google’s search algorithm can often portray certain websites to be more relevant than they are. Some industries have been badly affected by negative online reputations, in 2008 after the financial meltdown apparently some top bankers were paying over $10 000 a month to ensure that their digital footprints remained positive. Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google has predicted that in the future prominent individuals will employ an identity or reputation manager to maintain their online image.

94% of people never click on a link past the first page meaning that it is important to ensure that the search results on the first page of search engines is positive. It is possible to get negative content removed from sites and search engines however this can often be difficult and may need to be significantly defamatory to be removed; this is why many people hire reputation management companies to help with this. Reputation management companies use many techniques to affect Google search results such as reverse SEO which improves results by pushing negative pages further down the search results and push positive or neutral results higher up the page.

In the Case of Jeffery Asherbranner and many others…

For many people the case of online reputation management has become a never ending war of knocking down false negative reviews in an effort to keep one’s reputation positive. Sites known for fraud such as: Pissed Consumer, Rip-Off Report along with many others have irreparably damaged the reputations of many an honest businessman. Unfortunately it seems that until there is a way of taking fraudulent information off of the web the only way to keep a positive image online is to constantly monitor and improves one’s own reputation.

Information presented on page courtesy of http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/08/21/reputation-management-is-becoming-increasingly-important-for-businesses-individuals/

Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting

Jeff Asherbranner-Sales Consulting in Redlands, CA is committed to helping customers in any way possible. Check out http://www.yelp.com/biz/jeff-asherbranner-sales-consulting-redlands for more info.

What does a “Sales Consultant Do?” or in this case what is it that

“Jeff Asherbranner” does?

A sales consultant, like Jeffery Asherbranner, is a person who provides analysis and training to help a business improve its sales. Some people also use this term interchangeably with that of sales associate or salesperson, a person who sells things to other people. The training and responsibilities of a sales consultant depends on the type of consultant: one who advises businesses and other salespeople often has years of experience and training, while one who sells products may not need much training at all to start with. The work environment for both of these careers is generally fast-paced and involves a lot of interaction with people.

Salespeople Vs. Sales Consulting

Salesperson

Duties

Retail sales consultants represent a company's products or services in order to obtain new customers and to secure existing clients. Their exact responsibilities depend on the products or services with which they work, but generally speaking, they are responsible for making sure that a certain amount of product is sold to customers within a certain period of time. They may do this in person, as in the case of retail sales staff, or by managing a team of junior salespeople, as in the case of a regional manager. Many salespeople also do follow-up work with clients, to make sure that they remain satisfied and will come back for repeat sales.

Training

In most cases, it is less important that a salesperson is highly educated than that he or she is experienced in the field, or is willing to put in the time to gain the necessary experience. A successful sales consultant in the auto industry, for example, would have a clear understanding of how to communicate with both clients and business partners, such as vendors and suppliers. Earning an undergraduate degree in college is not necessary to work in this position, as many places provide on the job training for their sales staff.
Despite this, many aspiring sales consultants do take courses in subjects such as management, finance, and business writing at local or online schools. Once employed, many salespeople also participate in ongoing education to keep up to date with the latest selling techniques and sales-related technology. Those in specific industries, like real estate or insurance, may need to get certification from governing bodies before being able to work, but this varies regionally.

Work Environment and Skill Set

Salespeople may work 9 to 5 jobs, but may also have to work weekends and holidays, depending on the area of sales they're involved in. For instance, retail workers often work extra hours during the holidays because of increased shopping. Any salesperson needs to be articulate, good with people, and able to educate a person about a product in a short amount of time. It's also important to be thick-skinned in this industry, and to not take rejection personally. Those who supervise junior staff also need to be able to motivate others, advise them as to good selling techniques, and make clear and comprehensive reports to senior staff about his or her division's performance.

Sales Consultant

 

Duties

A sales consultant looks at a business' sales structure and performance, analyzes how well it works, and gives the business advice on how to improve. He or she generally goes through the different aspects of a business to determine how it makes its money, and then helps the business owner understand how the sales department plays into that. Many also provide auxiliary services, like researching markets and competitor organizations or helping client businesses implement online interfaces for clients and data management systems for employees. Some also provide training to sales staff, and they may speak at trade shows or hold corporate events to train and inspire salespeople.

Training

Generally speaking, sales consultants have a lot of experience working as salespeople as well as some educational background in business analytics, IT, or marketing, depending on their speciality. The training for those in this position varies widely, as some work for consulting firms, others own their own consulting firms, and some work individually. Consulting firms often have set minimums of experience or education that they require before they will hire someone, while individual consultants may have lots of sales experience, but no formal education training. Regardless of their initial training, sales consultants often take ongoing education courses to make sure that they are up to date with the state of the market and trends in selling.

Work Environment and Skill Set

The work environment for a sales consultant is often more office-based than for a salesperson, but they spend a lot of time visiting client businesses to observe their sales performance and process as well. Those who work for firms may work more regular hours than those who work individually, but this depends on the firm and the individual worker's preferences. Like salespeople, consultants need to be very good with people, as they often work directly with business owners. They need to be very analytical and quick to spot patterns and errors in a sales process. Consultants also need to be creative: since they work with so many different types of sales processes, they need to be able to come up with solutions that are tailored to individual businesses' problems.

Information presented on page courtesy of http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sales-consultant.htm