In 2009, the Better Business Bureau received almost one million complaints, which is an increase of about 10 percent over 2008.

The largest number of Better Business Bureau complaints, according to the Wall Street Journal excerpt from Real Time Economics, was against wireless carriers; there were an astonishing 34,477 complaints against these companies in 2009 alone. This industry was also ranked first in the number of complaints in 2008.

The industry that received the second most complaints was the cable and satellite television industry; banks were number three, with the bureau receiving 42 percent more complaints about the financial industry when compared to 2008.

Here’s how to lodge your own Better Business Bureau complaints – and otherwise state complaints – to get results.

What about the reverse side? What if your business has received unfair criticism online? What reputation management techniques should you use?

It can be frustrating to see criticism about your company on Internet forums and other places online – especially since the negative comments could be posted by competitors or disgruntled former employees.

Here are several free resources from The Search Guru that can help with your online reputation management efforts:

• Online reputation management: why should your company monitor this daily?
• Internet brand management: set up Google alerts to monitor negative comments.
• Internet brand management page 2: learn ways to fight vicious comments online.
• Internet brand management glossary: set up Google alerts and much more.

To receive the free The Search Guru e-newsletter, sign up on the home page of the site – and, as a gift from us, you’ll receive a free white paper about SEO and site usability.

Internet reputation management is a growing niche service in the world of search engine optimization. And it is no wonder. A single negative comment that appears in the top 10 positions for a search for your company name can cost you thousands, even millions, of dollars in lost sales and leads.

Saving your name and reputation online is crucial to being successful online. The benefits of protecting your reputation online can be seen in both retained customers and your bottom line.

How do I defend my reputation online?

The first key to saving your name and reputation on the internet is to simply be a great company. Look around. Are there places in your company that you can improve your relations and communications with your customers? Poor communication from companies and bad reputations online go hand in hand. The less your customers have to be upset about, the less likely they will air their complaints publicly online. Fix any customer service issues you know about quickly.

Another answer to “how do I defend my reputation online” is to use other sites to help you with this. Using Web 2.0 sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are crucial to proactive internet reputation protection. Use these tools well to communicate with your customers and not only will you be saving your name and reputation in the search results with your profile pages, you will also be opening new lines of communication with your customers. This is just one of the side benefits of protecting your reputation.

Good companies and bad reputations

Maybe you are a good company, but you already have negative comments coming up in the search results. You are probably asking “how do I defend my reputation now? The damage is done.”

The damage can be reversed. First contact the site and the person who is behind the negative comment. If possible, leave a responding comment on the offending page. Ask how you can make good the issue they feel they have. Do not mention you are saving your name and reputation. Do not threaten. These will only hurt your efforts. Simply offer to fix the issue.

Often times the hurt party will retract their complaint, or at the very least, the evidence that you wanted to help will be in plain sight for anyone else who visits the page.

Also, take negative comments in stride. Rather than try to deny the issue happened, see how you can improve your company to prevent complaints like that in the future. One of the hidden benefits of protecting your reputation is that you learn how to be a better company.

The benefits of protecting your reputation are obvious.

Internet reputation protection is quickly becoming a basic need for any online company and bad reputations don’t have to play a part in that equation. With a little time and introspection about your company, you are well on your way to saving your name and reputation in the search results.

We field a lot of questions around Reputation Management. They range from:

• What is it?
• How do you do it?
• How fast can you get this @#$&!*% handled?

So when we see someone doing a bang up job after they’ve experienced a semantic attack online we have to applaud, and share.

Disa is living her life and serving clients, just like the rest of us. A blogger wrote about her… and got it wrong. And that blogger’s post is ranking top 10 for her name. Check out Disa Johnson and her new blog at AirDisa.com. There you’ll see a narrative of what happened and learn how she’s dealing with it.

What do you do when you see something you don’t like about you or your company online?

Most of us have seen something we aren’t happy about when we do an ego search in Google, whether it’s for our name or our company’s name. But many don’t know what to do and so they stay upset and inactive.

Disa Johnson implements logic + strategic action = rewards with Internet Reputation Management

So Disa is experiencing the impact that blogger has had on the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs), just like the rest of us. And she’s not happy.

And she’s doing something about it. What’s remarkable, and what we would draw your attention to, is that she’s doing it in a logical, strategic and effective fashion. She’s separating her emotional response from her course of action. Bravo! That’s what we recommend and what we implement for our clients when they are in this unfortunate, but all too common scenario.

If you aren’t fortunate to be a world leading SEO strategist, like Disa Johnson, and you come under attack online, don’t worry, don’t fret: get into action. We’re here to help.

We have a terrific bunch of speakers and attendees at SMX, don’t we? I’m thrilled to have been able to meet some of you before and during our presentation on Internet reputation management and its ethics – but I wish that I could have spoken one-on-one to everyone here. Read an overview of our presentation at The SEM Blog.

Here’s the next best thing: post your questions and comments about Internet brand management at The Search Guru blog.

If you had a question that didn’t get answered at SMX or if you want to pursue it further – or if you want to discuss Internet brand management techniques that have worked for you and your company, we’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for posting! I hope to meet more of you at the SMX conference!