It could be said we live in a WEB 2.0 World. What is WEB 2.0 World you ask? A WEB 2.0 World is a place where business is done on the web. Potential customers search for solutions on the web, they communicate with each other on the web – via social networking sites – these customers talk to you on the web, via your online store, and website. And don’t forget, this is done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

With the above in mind, it becomes quite apparent that monitoring and managing your digital reputation is critical. Achieving this however means looking far beyond your own website. Monitoring and managing your online presence means getting yourself in a position where you know when people on the Internet are talking about you, or your website, or the products and services you sell. Once you have this information, it’s then about connecting with these people.

Here’s a few tips on how to track your online reputation:

Google Alerts: Google alerts allow you track when your company, website, or other entered keyword shows up on Google (you set the frequency).
TweetBeep: This is a great tool for monitoring any Twitter buzz being “tweeted” about you. Even if the twitterer uses the “tinyURL”…if they are linking to you, you’ll find out about it.
Technorati: A great way to search the blogosphere for what’s being said about you. Technorati indexes in real time, so if someone blogged about you 3 minutes ago, it shows up.
Trackur: Not a free to use tool, but it is more sophisticated than others and it emails you updates for your saved searches.

So, you have the information. What do you do with it?
Schedule time to review the results, and where possible always respond. Connect with people and companies that post comments about you and are discussing you, your business, or your website.

Whether that be to fix customer service issues you didn’t know existed, promote yourself and your company to a wider audience, or measure the results of your search engine optimisation work, tracking your online presence, and managing it is critical to the success of your online reputation.