Reputation management as most frequently referenced (by blogs, articles, books, companies providing ‘Reputation management services) is the practice of being proactive about, and carefully monitoring, your own personal (or company) internet-related reputation. It is usually focused on the negative side of things, when your reputation is threatened. Examples of some protective actions are listed below.

• Don’t let anyone grab your name and misuse it on the internet. Try to own any website name that resembles your own name.
• Listen (watch) closely to what is being said about you on the internet so you can react as needed. This involves using ‘online reputation management tools, which, on the simplest level, are Google alerts.
• Get your name out on the web in as many places as you can: social networks, photos of you for Google Images, your websites, your own blog… and on and on.

I’m just at the superficial level of this topic. My take away for you today is to simply recognize the phrase: reputation management, and to know that it is usually used when someone’s is in trouble. They've been Google-bombed or somthing similar. More on that later.

But I’m going to always go back to my belief that this, like all other aspects of marketing, is directed by the good you do, the quality of your product and service, the value of your word. If you are vigilant about that, you are less likely to need to be vigilant about your Reputation Management.