The internet can be a double edged sword.

We all want to develop our online presence but are we preparing properly for the challenges that follow our success? Social media, as we are all now aware, is a fantastic way to grow your online presence and is an amazing SEO too; large search engine gains are possible in a short amount of time, the customer base can grow with a substantial provable ROI, and the increased traffic counts are indisputable. However, as Miley Cyrus  of Hannah Montana fame found out recently,  social media can be similar to the Las Vegas tagline;” what you put online, stays online”. Ms. Cyrus is at the age where she wants to do what other teens do and putting suggestive pictures on myspace is a fairly common practice these days. Unfortunately, even if your profile is set to “private”, pictures on the internet have a way of getting out for public consumption, especially the suggestive pictures. Obviously she was ill prepared for that attention but given her popularity, it should have been expected; and it could have been prevented. Even Twitter with its limited characters and images has backfired on ill-prepared users as I have discussed in a prior blog. You can be sued for what you say.

While your company may have the foresight to not post risqué pictures or slanderous comments online, if you are actively trying to develop your online presence, you are only partially prepared. As your online presence grows, so does the attention to your company and its initiatives, both by customers and people with less honorable intentions. In my experience, there is a tipping point where one day earlier you were enjoying the new traffic and the very next day you see a near exact duplicate of your site phishing your customers or misdirecting your intended traffic. In many cases, this is a wake-up call and you realize that you have misjudged your efforts and have not covered all the bases. Here is a basic checklist to see if you are vulnerable:

1.       Have you purchased your main branded domain names? While in most cases there is no reason to buy every domain globally, picking up the basic Gtlds is always a good idea. The .net, .org, etc can be used for secondary content, or redirect to the main site or simply as a parked page that prevents others from owning it. It is beneficial to think of this in strategic terms.

2.       Do you have online monitoring in place? We have the ability to see when most anything posted, registered or purchased regarding your brands appears online. This is invaluable to show what is being targeted and potential weak spots in your portfolio.

3.       Do you have a legal solution ready to address all infringement? Cease and desist strategy and a defined escalation process and pre-arranged resources will make life much easier. Proactive beats reactive in almost all cases.

4.       Are you using SEO services or is your search engine strategy working to its fullest potential?

While we want to grow our businesses and make sure the traffic that is looking for us finds us, we are also turning the light on a giant lighthouse. The bigger the target that we make of ourselves, the more attention we receive, both good and bad. However, with a little preparation and strategy in anticipation of this new-found attention, we can enjoy the success that comes with our greater online presence.