[ti:Paying Others to Worry About Your Online Image] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.04]Economics Report. [00:04.98]A reputation [00:06.77]-- what people think of you, [00:08.82]good or bad [00:09.61]-- is built one message at a time. [00:12.40]The difference today is that [00:15.48]people can get their messages [00:17.13]out to lots of other people [00:19.07]at lightning speed through [00:21.61]websites and social media. [00:24.14]So, not surprisingly, an industry [00:28.22]is fast developing around managing [00:30.81]online reputations [00:32.57]for individuals and businesses. [00:35.88]KEN WISNEFSKI: "Up to eighty percent [00:37.00]of people have been influenced [00:39.04]in a purchasing decision [00:40.39]by what they've read or seen online." [00:43.48]Ken Wisnefski [00:45.19]is chief executive of WebiMax, [00:47.28]a company he started [00:49.14]in two thousand eight. [00:50.58]WebiMax is a search engine [00:53.22]optimization, or SEO, company. [00:56.50]Search engine optimization [00:59.19]involves different ways to improve [01:01.88]the results of online searches. [01:04.36]WebiMax offers several different [01:08.10]services, but Ken Wisnefski says [01:11.03]reputation management [01:12.97]is growing the fastest. [01:14.81]Some of his customers need help [01:18.50]with urgent publicity problems. [01:20.69]Others are seeking long-term [01:23.97]management of their online image. [01:27.11]Mr. Wisnefski says about one-fifth [01:30.94]of his business is with companies [01:33.23]and individuals outside the United States. [01:37.16]How does reputation management work? [01:40.29]WebiMax has two sides to its business. [01:44.57]The company can organize [01:46.61]online publicity campaigns to try [01:50.35]to limit the harm done [01:51.71]by negative comments or bad news. [01:54.35]Mr. Wisnefski says when a client [01:58.55]gets in the news for the wrong reasons, [02:00.94]his company does not [02:02.93]try to hide what happened. [02:04.72]Instead, it develops a campaign [02:07.90]to show that the client is dealing [02:10.44]with the problem in a productive [02:12.54]and positive way, he says. [02:14.78]In that sense, [02:16.32]the work seems a lot like [02:18.56]old-fashioned public relations, [02:20.65]but in cyberspace. [02:22.06]But what if clients [02:24.20]are the target of lies [02:25.89]or maybe an organized effort [02:28.63]to harm their reputation? [02:30.22]Then WebiMax would use its legal team [02:34.00]to try to have the comments removed. [02:36.75]KEN WISNEFSKI: "We realized pretty early [02:38.74]on that it wasn't going [02:39.98]to just be a marketing function, [02:41.82]that there also needed to be [02:43.62]a legal function involved with it. [02:45.56]And marrying the two together [02:47.50]is what really has impact [02:49.04]and makes this successful." [02:50.53]In the United States, [02:51.83]not all speech is protected [02:54.12]by the Constitution. [02:56.06]And even if the comments are true, [02:58.60]the threat of a costly legal fight [03:01.48]may be enough to get them removed. [03:03.67]Ken Wisnefski thinks the legal side [03:07.26]of reputation management [03:08.70]is only going to grow. [03:10.84]He says WebiMax is profitable [03:13.72]and expects ten to fifteen million [03:16.56]dollars in revenue this year. [03:18.55]Clients of companies that [03:21.64]manage reputations can pay thousands [03:24.08]of dollars a month or as little [03:26.56]as a hundred dollars a year. [03:28.26]But here is some free advice. [03:30.74]KEN WISNEFSKI: "If you're not [03:31.89]paying attention or at least [03:34.08]monitoring what's being said [03:36.27]about you online, [03:37.01]you're making a mistake [03:38.51]because other people [03:39.65]are paying attention to that." [03:41.05]And that's the Economics Report [03:42.84]in VOA Special English. [03:44.93]You can read and listen [03:47.66]to more business news online [03:50.25]at 51voa.com. [03:53.39]I'm Mario Ritter.