You can help small businesses to manage their reputation online with RepMogul.
RepMogul is the latest local Internet marketing training product to be launched by the Ryan Deiss organisation.
RepMogul - affiliate link
Like Let's Get Social, Mobile Local Fusion and Rank Mogul, RepMogul is a joint venture with a third party.
RepMogul and Ross Goldberg
This time Ryan Deiss has partnered with Ross Goldberg to offer RepMogul.
Ross Goldberg is the author of The Web Traffic Book (affiliate link to Amazon) and one time faculty member of StomperNet when they were widely recognised as the leading Internet training organisation.
He's sold software to help website owners to get more traffic and now he has spotted the opportunity in online reputation management.
Rep Mogul & Online Reputation Management
The Internet is wonderful and the popularity of social media means that businesses that do well can earn a great reputation as customers and fans talk online. It also means that the scam artists can be exposed for what they are and a simple check in Google can be very revealing.
Unfortunately this power of the Internet to spread positive or negative word of mouth rapidly across the world can be abused by anyone with a malicious intent by posting nasty comments anonymously.
Online reputation management (and the RepMogul course) is designed to reduce the damage done by these negative anonymous comments which can cost businesses a lot of money in terms of lost customers and revenues.
Wikipedia defines online reputation management as...
"The practice of monitoring the Internet reputation of a person, brand or business with the goal of suppressing negative mentions entirely or pushing them lower on search engine results to decrease their visibility."
RepMogul - affiliate link
RepMogul - The Opportunity
Unlike many of the Ryan Deiss training programs, I haven't seen RepMogul.
Since it's satisfied his exacting quality standards, I'm sure it is good and even if you don't like it, the money back guarantees are honoured.
RepMogul is being promoted as a business opportunity which can show you "how you can start making $3,000 to $10,000 a month yourself in just 3 to 6 weeks as an online reputation manager".
RepMogul - affiliate link
I'm naturally cautious of these high income claims.
While big money may be possible for the exceptional person who works very hard, if RepMogul and helping small business owners to manage their reputation online appeals to you, I'd like you to scale back the income claims and the speed of success significantly.
How much, I don't know but RepMogul still looks a bargain if you only think in terms of 10% - $300 to $1,000 per month. At that level, it wouldn't be enough to replace a 9 to 5 job but it is a nice source of extra income to top up what you get at the moment.
RepMogul - affiliate link
I think it's important you don't go into this with expectations that you'll make big money, very easily.
Life is never that simple. If you expect big things and they don't happen immediately, you get discouraged and rush off for the next magic bullet. On the other hand, if you start off with low expectations and you do better than you thought, you get a big emotional boost and a surge of energy to do even better.
I'm sure there is a need for online reputation management as businesses are smeared on the Internet and have their reputations damaged.
Many small business owners will not have a clue about how to respond and defend their good name. They will feel vulnerable and may be sceptical but if you can prove that you can make the problem virtually go away, then it should be an easy sale.
The RepMogul Course
RepMogul is an 8 module course. Each module is about 30 to 40 minutes long. This means that with focused effort, you can complete it with a weekend and be ready to start promoting your online reputation management services in a few days.
The modules in RepMogul are:
- Overview of the online reputation management opportunity
- Understanding SEO
- The reputation management process
- Getting clients - including how to spot the businesses you should avoid
- Research and content creation - including tips on how to get others to do the work for you
- Distribution
- Going local
- Managing and growing your business
With RepMogul you also get templates and documentation and the Link Bounder software that is said to make reputation management easy.
There is also four weeks of Q&A coaching to get the important questions you have answered.
RepMogul - affiliate link
An exit pop-up on the RepMogul page sometimes gives you the chance to try the first module (the overview) for free. If you don't see it, it's because Ryan Deiss is testing different things to see what works best. It's frustrating but it's also what makes his newsletter so powerful - see Digital Marketer Pro.
I haven't seen a competing training product on reputation management but I have seen organisations with a reputation problem online.
Who Shouldn't Buy Rep Mogul?
The price for RepMogul is low but if you can't afford it, don't buy.
The sales video has a big value build and huge discounts. This is a classic sales technique designed to make you want to buy now. The price will go up in the future but if you're short of cash, I believe you're better off waiting, even if you really like the idea of offering a reputation management service.
Second, if you have a bad habit of buying Internet training products and then not taking action, your personal history suggests that the same thing will happen with RepMogul.
If you're thinking "yes but this is different...", ask yourself some hard questions about why it will be different this time. Yes there is a money back guarantee but only you know whether you can see yourself committing to do what's necessary to succeed.
Third, I fear that RepMogul can be abused and, if it happens a lot, that could bring the entire online reputation management service into disrepute. Used honestly, the service is very valuable and much appreciated by clients when you help to restore their good name online.
But there's the problem of the fireman who liked putting out fires and being the hero so much, that he went around starting them in the first place.
Dishonest scam artists can target good businesses, create malicious anonymous comments online and then pretend to be the cavalry riding to the rescue. In my view, that action is despicable and a complete scam. It's little different from the scum who launch viruses for phishing attacks to steal money from bank accounts.
RepMogul service solves a problem but it's a bit like selling burglar alarms. I wish the underlying problem didn't exist and I'd like the big ripoff sites to outlaw anonymous posts and stop publication if people use fake email addresses.
If anyone has a legitimate complaint, they should have the bottle to use their real name and only resort to the Internet if they've failed to resolve the issue with the business. Bad stuff happens and things don't go to plan but a good company will see the customer right.
However, we live in the real world and have to accept that there are nasty people out there with a grudge (against a person, a business or the world) and honest small business owners deserve protection.
Who Should Buy RepMogul?
If you're already active as a local Internet marketing consultant helping small businesses with SEO, pay per click and social media, then the online reputation management service seems to me to be a natural extension to what you offer.
It is an important extra service you can sell to clients who have suffered from one of these nasty attacks or even as an insurance policy to stop it happening.
Online reputation management is subtly different from usual SEO work that is based around achieving high rankings for buyer-based keywords with clicks going to one website.
Reputation management is about multiple pages on different websites for brand based searches which force the malicious Internet attacks onto page 2 or 3.
I'm surprised that I haven't thought about it myself because I know the reputation problem exists.
Because the work can be done outside of normal business hours, RepMogul seems appropriate for people who want to supplement their income from their day jobs. Just be wary of the high income claims made and reduce your expectations.
RepMogul - affiliate link
Promotional Emails For RepMogul
You can learn a lot by studying the email promotions from the best marketers which is why I like to keep a record.
The reports that I'm getting back as an active affiliate for Ryan Deiss say that RepMogul has been selling well and I'm seeing a bump in traffic as people land on this blog posting.
SUBJECT: $300 Per Hour Erasing Online Graffiti?
This story might scare the crap out of you, or even offend you, but there is an amazing opportunity deep inside it.
I promise you've never seen anything even remotely like this.
Click here to see the details:
RepMogul - affiliate link
If you ever wanted a business where clients literally BEG you to take their money, this is it.
And you get to do a lot of good and make people's lives so much better.
Click the link for the whole story:
RepMogul - affiliate link
Talk soon,
Paul Simister
P.S. This video can't stay up long for obvious reasons.
RepMogul - affiliate link
SUB: Big Profits from Bad News...
Have you ever wondered what happens when really famous people have psycho's that say really bad things about them online?
What about when this happens to just regular people?
Both call this guy:
RepMogul - affiliate link
He charges them a bundle to clean up their name and what he does is so simple you can learn it in a weekend.
Get this, he makes 5 figures a month JUST from the little guys and he has software that can find 500 of them in about 10 minutes flat.
This is really an amazing business you are going to want to copy.
Click the link below to get the full scoop
RepMogul - affiliate link
Talk Soon,
Paul Simister
What Do You Think About RepMogul and Online Reputation Management?
If you have views about online reputation management in general and Rep Mogul, in particular, it would be great if you could leave a comment below.
thx for shining a sober light on Rep Mogul. i'm glad a read your article; you provided great insights, that touched upon my current situation. RM is not a logical extension of my business- thx for setting me straight.
kindest regards
Posted by: diane stern | December 20, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Diane, I'm happy to help.
While I am an affiliate and I obviously want to earn commissions, I don't think it does you, me or Ryan Deiss any good if you buy something you don't need and won't use.
I think RepMogul makes sense for some to buy but not for others.
Posted by: Paul | December 21, 2011 at 06:23 AM
I really appreciate your honest assessment of this program both pro and con. I'm one of those who buys too many internet products. Some I follow through on. Most I don't. :-( I am thinking about providing services for local small businesses though and if I do decide to do that, it does makes sense to add this. Thanks much for the very helpful perspective! I wish there were more out there like you.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Sharon Gibson | December 27, 2011 at 06:59 PM