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We have just released a press release titled “Reputation Stars Offers Unique Solutions for Reputation Management.”

In summary, Reputation Stars works with a legal team to try and get most negative reviews removed.  These legal methods often work much better than traditional SEO methods and result in complete removal of the report from the offending site or Google.  Reputation Stars, will use traditional SEO method if the legal method is not an option or if it fails.

Reputation Stars management have 18 years of experience in SEO and online marketing services.  “I got into the reputation management industry because I figured out unique, proprietary ways to help people through their reputation crises,” said Pierre Zarokian, CEO of Reputation Stars.

You can see the full release at:

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/03/p5361249/reputation-stars-offers-unique-solutions-for-reputation-management

When Yelp first began, it caught on like wildfire. Users were providing honest ratings, complete with photos, and businesses were receiving valuable bumps in revenue and foot traffic. As time went on, the site became open to gaming. Fake reviews began to pop up, slandering some businesses and inflating others. Yelp recently won a court case that allows it to tailor its reviews as it wants, disabling any chance a business may have had at controlling their Yelp reputation.  It is possible to remove some negative Yelp reviews, but that the chances are very slim.

Asking the Original Poster to Remove

Asking the original poster to remove the review may be your best bet. If you do not know who the poster is try to contact them via Yelp messaging system. However, never ever offer a Yelper money to remove your reviews via Yelp. If you can get a hold of the poster ask them what you can do to make it write. Let them be the one asking for a refund or telling you what it would take to get the review removed.  If you cannot reach an agreement, then read on.

Cease & Desist Letters

If the post contains false information that can be proven, you may want to send the poster a Cease & Desist letter. It is best if you hire an attorney to do this so you can be taken more seriously. Please contact us if you would need an attorney referral.

Lawsuits

You cannot sue Yelp, since the Communications Decency Act protects them, but you can sue the poster. However, be advised that there is a law called the ANTI SLAPP in most US states, which basically allows the defendant to get awarded damages if your lawsuit’s only purpose is to scare them into removing a valid post, which can be proven to be valid and true. You could be liable in paying a large sum of damages.  Additionally, lawsuits are really expensive even if you win, so consider the pros and cons before engaging in a lawsuit. This could also backfire if the poster decides to post more defamatory reviews on other sites and go public with your threats.

Yelp’s Terms of Service

If the review is against some Yelp Terms of Service and content Guidelines, you can simply flag the review and let Yelp know if your reasoning. If you have a valid reason Yelp may remove it. However, be adviced there is only one chance to get Yelp to review a flagged review. If the review gets declined the first time for removal, any further removal requests would result in an automatic email from Yelp stating that someone had already flagged it and they had already reviewed it and found it to be in accordance to the Yelp terms.   This is why it is important that you know what you are doing. We highly recommend that you do not try this method yourself and consult with us first.

Our company has removed many reviews this way and we know what works.  If flagging fails, we then send a legal letter to Yelp with more details and any evidence that we can provide.

Although the chances of removing most reviews this way is low, it is still well worth a shot. We have had about 10% success rate in removing Yelp reviews this way. We also never charge for Yelp removal service unless we are successful.  Every review is different and needs to be analyzed to see if it is a good fit. Please contact us to see what we can do for you.

By Pierre Zarokian
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was meant to help individuals establish copyrights for their materials online. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work to get defamatory content removed, unless the content was something you owned, such as a section of your website copied or a copied picture that you own the copyright to.  However, be adviced that some sites such as ripoffreport and thedirty.com may not comply with a DMCA take down notice, where the owners use federal protections to justify their behavior.  Sending a notice to Google may not even work, as Google most often asks to deal with the sites directly. We have sent plenty of DMCA notices on behalf of our clients and know what works and what doesn’t.  Unfortunately, most often DMCA would not work to take down defamatory content.

When the DMCA takedown notice fails, there are a few more options left to you.

Establish Your Reputation

You can leverage the power of social media and SEO to help rebuild your reputation after a crisis, and you don’t even need a large budget. It helps to have tools that manage social media for you, identifying what people are saying and who your likely product evangelists are. This lets you build multiple profiles, update content and monitor how everything is performing for you.

Within no time, the negative content will be buried in favor of positive content with a higher user engagement. You also get the bonus of increasing market reach and identifying key influencers you can use to spread your messaging.

This is a service our firm is best at, so if you need a professional to help you, contact us.

Take Legal Action

You cannot sue the site hosting the defamatory content the Communications Decency Act protects them. What you need to do is sue the poster or if it I anonymous you need to sue a “John Doe” and try to subpoena the records of the site hosting the content to find out who posted it. Some sites like Ripoff Report may remove content if you have a court ordered removal and if they don’t Google would most likely comply.

Legal action is costly, and not always guaranteed.  Although our firm does not provide legal removals, we can refer you to one of the best attorneys that does this service.

Nik Richie – thedirty.com

We reported last week that thedirty.com was a victim of hackers taking it down due to DOS attacks. It seems the site has gone live now and Nik Richie has improved his servers and technology. He posted a message on thedirty stating:

“TheDirty.com is back online. We are still under DDoS attack and other attacks, but I’ve put a stronger team in place and rebuilt the infrastructure from scratch. I’m not going anywhere. This year the DIRTY ARMY will rise — I implore you to join.

As you can see the new design is in place. I’m 35% complete and there are many bugs. The castle wall is strong and with your help I’m hoping to build Malbork. So please use this comment section to give us guidance on what you like, don’t like, what to build in your favor, any fixes/bugs to kill and suggestions.

We will win. DIRTY ARMY Strong!- nik”

A speed analysis at Google Insights shows that the site is still a bit slow and this could be because they are still under attack.

If you have been listed on thedirty.com and require removal of your post, please contact us for pricing and details. You can complete the contact form on the right side of this page.

Nik Richie – thedirty.com

A judge just awarded $1.25 million over defamatory comments on Thedirty.com brought by a woman who says comments on the site stated that her 3 children were from 3 different men because she wanted to collect child support and the owner Nik Richie refused to remove them when she requested.

The judgement was awarded against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings. However, TheDirty attorney states that thedirty.com is not owned by that entity and Nik Richie has nothing to do with it. The correct entity that owns Thedirty.com is called the Dirty World, LLC.

The attorney stated that the Sarah Jones judgment last year was also awarded towards the wrong company!

This is what Attorney David Gingras stated:

“In short, Ms. Stewart certainly has obtained a judgment against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, but that company has nothing whatsoever to do with Dirty World, LLC or TheDirty.com. She is welcome to try to collect that judgment, bearing in mind that the plaintiff in the Sarah Jones case also has an $11 million default judgment against the same entity (see attached copy). However, to the extent that Ms. Stewart claims that she has a judgment against TheDirty.com or Dirty World, LLC, those claims are completely false.”

You can read more details here.

We just reported that thedirty.com was down due to hacker DOS attacks.  Apparantly they also hacked Nik Richie’s icloud account and a personal message from it was posted online showing Nik trying to make a deal with girl or prostitute to sleep with his friends so then he could remove a post…funny stuff.  We have no way of knowing the authenticity of this, so we leave the judgment up to you.

Read below the full messages.

Thedirty.com has been down for the past 2 weeks apparently hit by a group of hackers. The group “Anonymous” seems to be behind it and FBI is currently investigating. However, another group called Justice Squad took credit on youtube as well.

TMZ Reports that the owner Nik Richie has lost over $250K-$300K already in ad revenue due to the hack.

It seems this is a Denial of Service Attack (AKA DOS Attack), which means even if the servers are moved the attack will follow. These hackers are doing some serious attacking because Nik has not been able to put the site back up for the last 2 weeks!

Similar attacks often are launched against ripoffreport.com as well.

TMZ quoted Nik as saying: “These hackers are hypocrites. My website promotes free speech. F****** losers.”

Apparently Nik also had his iCloud account hacked and some personal messages were posted online showing attempts of post removal in return for sex. Read it here.

There is a video of Anonymous from June 2012 that threatens to take down Thedirty, which you can see below.

Here is a screen shot of the post by Justice Squad on Twitter.

Yelp was created to try and help users familiarize themselves with amazing spots in a city they thought they were familiar with. It used the opinions of friends to try and source these recommendations. At a small scale, this worked very well. Reviews were honest and people used the check-in feature to add authenticity. As Yelp scaled, it failed to deal with the underlying of problem of transparency. CEO of Reputation Stars, Pierre Zarokian, understands this problem all to well. Reputation Stars helps businesses develop strategies to fight negative reviews on Yelp.

The State of Yelp

Yelp has added some new features that may help with the authenticity of a review. Users have been able to add photos for some time, but videos will be coming soon. Until then, Yelp still has issues identifying who the real reviewers are. They ran a recent sting operation to weed some of these fakers out, but there is a very real problem that exists with Yelp’s transparency. Business owners aren’t feeling very much more confident after a recent ruling that declared Yelp was free to reorder its reviews.

Yelp doesn’t require check-ins or proof that a transaction actually occurred. Yelp can rearrange reviews the way it sees fit, affecting the reputation of countless businesses without publishing any kind of standards or style guide to help real reviews stick. Businesses are powerless against Yelp too, as the company outs those who incentivize or pay for reviews with an embarrassing banner.

Fighting Yelp

The key to fighting Yelp, says Pierre Zarokian, is to engage customers and get more positive reviews. Stop paying for a temporary fix. This video contains important information businesses need to know about how to fight Yelp.

Read some articles Pierre Zarokian wrote in Search Engine Journal about Yelp here.

Anyone whose web site appears in response to an online search might need ORM. Consumer generated media offers the public an opportunity to express their views. This information can be found in search engine results. The more a product, brand or company is exposed to public attention and scrutiny, the greater the likelihood that someone will want to challenge their reputation. This can include dissatisfied clients, customers and competitors, who may have legitimate complaints, but can also include rumor mongers, and irresponsible, vindictive web site wizards, whose sole purpose is to challenge another website’s integrity.

Consider the search results for the following “name brand” web sites:

* Walmart – 2 of the first 10 Google listings is negative:

* McDonalds – 1 of the first 10 Google listings is negative;

* Coca Cola – 1 of the first 10 listings is negative;

The problem is universal. Thousands of companies like these can have the effect of their web sites neutralized by stories appearing on the search engines. And its not limited to companies. People of high profile are convenient targets; celebrities, high-power business people, government as well as individuals from all walks of life, regardless of gender, national background and social status are being victimized and insulted. If you have a company, a brand name or product, which someone could or did find fault with; or if you have ever been written about in the media in a less than flattering vein, or if you monitor your Google listing and a negative listing appears, you must realize that the negative story will not disappear on its own.

Negative reviews are there to stay and may even multiply until you retain the services of a professional online reputation management professional. Reputation management is vitally important for all organizations. Both on a personal and corporate level, everyone should be concerned about their online image. On a personal level, having a damaged reputation can result in not being eligible for employment. For businesses a bad reputation can mean tremendous financial loss. As a result of a tarnished reputation, businesses have lost millions, have replaced trusted CEO’s, and have even ceased operating within months of negative publicity.

Yelp, the online review database that has become an ubiquitous part of the Web, is being accused of shielding companies who pay premiums from bad reviews. Yelp’s sales team has been using poor reviews as a sales tool, implying that businesses can pay their way out of hot water caused by user reviews. Since 2008, some 2,000 complaints have been filed by businesses and consumers.

Yelp also has several problems with anonymous reviews, and currently faces a court order demanding they reveal the identity of users who posted on their website. Yelp has states in its FAQ that pay to play is out, but 2,000 complaints don’t come out of thin air. Something is wrong, and the CEO of our company, Pierre Zarokian, has the latest news on this recent development from his new article featured on Search Engine Journal.