With blogs, Twitter and Facebook, everyone can be a critic. While that’s good for free speech, it’s a double-edged sword for business owners. Compliments and complaints can now broadcast around the world and bad reviews can linger online for months or even years.  That’s why it’s critical to keep tabs on what people are saying about your business online. Large companies can afford to have in-house “online reputation managers” scrolling the Internet, checking for any mentions of their business. But for small businesses, such vigilance might seem difficult, time-consuming and expensive.

However, it’s easier and cheaper than you might think. And it’s just as important for small companies to be mindful of their online image as it is for multinational corporations. When you have a smaller pool of customers, a few disparaging comments can have a proportionately larger impact.

Herbert Tabin and Craig Agranoff, reputation-management consultants and co-authors of the recent book Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management, say small-business owners often fail to consider how they’re being perceived online until it’s too late. ”One detractor with an Internet connection can be your enemy,” says Tabin. “Either you control what’s said about your business or other people will.” With blogs, Twitter and Facebook, everyone can be a critic. While that’s good for free speech, it’s a double-edged sword for business owners. Compliments and complaints can now broadcast around the world and bad reviews can linger online for months or even years. That’s why it’s critical to keep tabs on what people are saying about your business online. Large companies can afford to have in-house “online reputation managers” scrolling the Internet, checking for any mentions of their business. But for small businesses, such vigilance might seem difficult, time-consuming and expensive.However, it’s easier and cheaper than you might think. And it’s just as important for small companies to be mindful of their online image as it is for multinational corporations. When you have a smaller pool of customers, a few disparaging comments can have a proportionately larger impact. Herbert Tabin and Craig Agranoff, reputation-management consultants and co-authors of the recent book Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management, say small-business owners often fail to consider how they’re being perceived online until it’s too late. ”One detractor with an Internet connection can be your enemy,” says Tabin. “Either you control what’s said about your business or other people will.”