As the Internet grows in popularity, defamation cases are also on the rise. The Internet offers so much communication freedom that it is a melting pot of all kinds of information, both negative and positive. You might think defamation is only offline and only affects celebrities or big-time businesses. But the truth of the matter is the opposite is also true. Ordinary folks and small enterprises can also become victims of online defamation slander.

If you're not familiar with the terminology, internet defamation is simply the act of spreading or making false statements or claims about a person or a business which can mar their reputation online. Slander and libel also fall under this general term. This is usually an underhanded tactic of business competitors in the industry, or an attack by individuals with ulterior motives.

Defamation of character can be damaging in terms of reputation and monetary value. You can suffer lost sales and customers could desert you. Reputation takes time to build up but a single negative publicity can overturn that credibility in an instant. In business, your brand is your most important asset because people only transact with businesses they trust and value.

There are many options to control the online damage through the use of reputation management online. For starters, you can simply ignore the negative press. Its possible that this will die down and wont do any more damage. But this is not proactive. Internet posts can linger around for quite a while and give you headaches as they affect your online image.

Another option for reputation management is to pull the legal card and sue the offending parties. This way, you could get compensation for all the damage done to your reputation and even have the sites take down all the negative content. The downside is that this process is hard on the pocket and wastes a lot of time. There is a possibility that the court wont rule in your favor, and all the bad press will still be while the case is proceeding.

The third, and perhaps the most sensible and cost-effective option, is to tap a company specializing in online reputation management and avail of their defamation of character repair services. These professionals have the necessary knowledge and tools to rectify the damage to your online reputation.

What these experts do is to use search engine reputation management techniques which essentially is sending these offending websites and contents down to the very bottom of search results--or the very bowels of the Internet. They ensure that the offensive content will not be seeing the light of day. Simultaneously, they will raise the page ranks of websites that put your business in a positive light. They will be ranked so high that people will be always be reading good stuff about your business and would want to do business with you. Over time, the negative news will be forgotten and only the positive news will be remembered because it is what shows up on the top pages in popular search engines.

Make sure you that consider the techniques discussed here to protect your business. The internet is a double edged sword. It can give you lots of marketing and success through e-commerce but at the same time it can be a minefield for internet defamation for you and your business. It is important you take this seriously and make a plan that will give you brand protection.