This article gets  a lot of things right concerning reputation management. Especially the part about getting out in front of online defamation problems by continuously growing your search engine presence. This can, in many cases, be done by an individual. However, to do it right, a professional reputation management firm should be consulted.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Internet-Reputation-Management-Techniques-To-Counter-Negative-Attacks&id=1005777