I had a referral come in this last week where a young professional wanted help suppressing a less-than-favorable article on Google when someone searches his name. Ideally, he wanted to see go to the third or fourth page. What’s more, he wanted it done quickly and for little money.

The problem was he didn’t have any sort of web presence, so the effort to do would be costly and take time. I think a lot of people get really sucked into some of the quick fix brand reputation, do-it-yourself platforms that are out there. They can work on some levels but you have to have a functioning website, an active blog, ideally some really robust social media pages, and then continually push new, valuable content out to make that work. Pushing an article down on the Google search rankings doesn’t happen because you simply push a button.

Think about repairing your online brand reputation in the same vein you would do a home remodel. It’s going to take more time and probably cost you more money than you think. And before you execute, make sure you think about all the things that need to be done before you execute.