News stories published online by your local newspaper or television station usually rank pretty high when you Google your name or business name. Even old news you thought was in your past can resurface.
That's because digital online news sites are a permanent record, unlike your daily newspaper or TV station. Instead of stories being digested and dismissed after a couple of days, the digital version of these stories can hang around for years, haunting you each time you Google yourself.
If you're looking for employment or trying to operate a business, you know how challenging it can be to have to constantly defend yourself and answer questions about it. You also probably have a sense that most of the problem is in the questions you DON'T have to answer - because people have found the article and moved on - not bothering to call you back for a second interview or to engage in a business transaction with you.
Many newspapers have a policy to not remove any content once published. I'm not a real big "policy," guy. I believe rules are made to be broken and exceptions can be made if you make a good case or are able to find someone who is on your side.
Getting The Negative News Story Removed
If you want to get rid of a negative or incorrect news story, you have two courses of action. The first is to contact the source of the article and see if they will update the story, publish a revision, or correct any inaccuracies. Since they probably won't remove it altogether, your best chance is to see if they will correct it.
In my post "Free Reputation Management Advice For Job Seekers," I describe an actual case where a student was successful in getting a newspaper to acquiesce and remove the negative reference about him. He followed the instructions to the letter and the website owners modified their story. He was lucky - he found someone who had a heart and realized the damage their site was doing to this young man's career.
If you're going to try this route, I can't encourage you enough - be extra sweet with a cherry on top. Plead your case politely and eloquently to the journalist who wrote the story, the editor of the paper and whoever else who will listen. If you're successful, it won't cost you a dime and you will have gotten to the root of the problem. You won't need reputation management.
Using Reputation Management To Push Down The News Story
If you're frustrated or want to hire a professional to push down the story, call us at 503-890-6663. For one affordable flat rate price, we'll get the story moved off of the first page of Google, so you won't have to worry about it.
We do it by creating 80-100 new digital assets for you on web 2.0 and social media sites. We promote ALL of the sites with an aggressive link building campaign and in time, some of those sites will start to rise up in search results when you Google your name. As they move up, the news stories gets pushed down.
How Long Will It Take?
It's hard to precisely predict how long it will take to push down a negative story about you. Google uses over 200 indicators to provide it's search results and no one knows for sure how Google ranks websites.
We do know that domain authority and PageRank are an important factor. So, the stronger the domain of the site we're trying to push down, the longer it could take. If you'd like to give me a call at 503-890-6663, we can give you an estimate of how long we think it will take, based on our experience dealing with similar cases.
Summary
For more of an overview, watch this video: "How To Get A Negative News Story Off Page One of Google."
We're one of the least expensive reputation management firms and we do quality work that gets results. In addition to being cheaper, we also only ask for 50% of our flat fee up front. The remainder is due only when we've gotten you a result. Call 503-890-6663 for a quote. We're located in Portland, Oregon.
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