The Art of FRO - Fake Review Optimisation

We have all seen the reviews that read something like: "The best meal I ever had. Alan, the Head Chef, is a genius!!" or "beautiful tasteful decor in the room, and lovely attentive hotel staff made our stay a real pleasure", and wondered if these were written by real customers, or by the business owners themselves.

Andy Hagans, in his Tropical SEO website, suggests that many people are posting self-reviews, and provides a helpful guide to those who want to join this shady trend in the most succsssful way.

Read Andy Hagans' full article here:

Cultural Perspectives on Trauma and Crisis

"Cultures are a means for sharing wisdom and skills that are necessary to the survival of the community, the individual and the community area of humanity. Therefore, our culture shapes how we identify and interpret the threat of traumatic events and how we manifest our distress in response to these events."

So says Kris Sieckert, writing in the National Organisation for Victim Assistance (NOVA) response training manual. She emphasises how it is important that crisis responders attempt to understand their own cultural identities as they reach out to serve others..

Read the full article here:

Is Sorry Always the smartest word?

There is an increasingly accepted view that all CEOs must be well versed in the art of apologising to their consumers. There are many recent examples of public remorse from top executives.

But is it always wise to be so openly humble? Leon Gettler suggests that there are 10 questions that the CEO should consider before rushing out with an apology.

For his views, read here:

How NOT to handle an online reputation crisis

What if your customers start to post their grievances online? What would you do? Here is the remarkable story of the Amercian "Video Professor" who decided to sue 100 people who posted negative reviews on a consumer watchdog site, saying that they had been ripped off.

Read on here:

Crisis Briefs

A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows, press reports said Sunday.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now. Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their religious vocation" and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said, adding that she suspected Battista Pichierri of planning to cede the convent to another community. Liliana has been at the convent since its founding in 1963. (AFP)

And finally a domestic crisis to report...... A Czech couple who decided to take a DNA test to squash persistent pub gossip and prove that their 10-month-old baby was their own got a nasty surprise.

The couple, from the southeastern town of Trebic, had some doubts about the child as her hair was blonde and they both had dark hair. Fellow drinkers' suspicions got on their nerves.

But the test showed neither of the parents had the same DNA as the baby, Czech news agency CTK reported on Wednesday, suggesting a mix-up at the hospital. Authorities were looking into the case. (Reuters)