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With the growing recognition of social  networks like MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and so on, business and personal reputations are more public and exposed than ever before.  And as we all know your reputation can make or break a business.

No matter who you are or where you live, you have a reputation. Your friends and family have different views of who you are based on your behavior; while your reputation online might be thought of as professional and helpful or juvenile and indifferent. If you think your personal reputation doesn’t affect your business; that people shouldn’t mix personal and business, think again. Your personal reputation beyond doubt carries over into your business.

Trust is a fragile commodity.  Building a relationship with customers based on their trust of you is time consuming but the most important factor in building your business whether that is online or offline.  Any successful businessman will tell you that without trust they would not be in business at all, but working for someone else.

If you cheat one person by not offering the best possible service, that one person will tell his neighbor, who tells their neighbor, who tells the next person and so on down the line.  This principle applies to both online and offline businesses.  If you are working solely online it is even more important for you to build a solid reputation as an honest person.  Customers will not meet you face to face to judge you, but rather they will judge you by what you have to offer on your websites. So be very careful how you treat your customers and be honest in what you are offering.

If you gain a poor reputation either online or offline, your customers and acquaintances will not trust you; therefore these same people who feel a lack of trust believe they cannot rely on you or your business.  And this will most assuredly hurt your business!

Those customers who believe in you and your reputation, who trust you, will become loyal to you and your business. They will continue to come back to you for their needs and are more likely to refer others to you. The better their experience, the better your reputation becomes, and the more profitable your business becomes.

Do you know how you and your company are seen through the eyes of potential customers? Your company’s reputation can be in some measure assessed by searching the Internet and seeing what people have to say about you and your company. Checking with the Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce are also very good ways to determine companies trustworthiness. Search for yourself and your company at Google and on Twitter to see what people are saying about you.

By remembering that anything you add to public web pages is out there for all to see is a good way of protecting your reputation. It may not be of much interest today, you never know who might pick up on it next week or next year. The old adage that “bad publicity is better than no publicity” no longer applies. In today’s global marketplace competition is high and it is extremely difficult to overcome a negative reputation.

Remember what you sow today will be what you will live on tomorrow!