IN THIS AGE we live in of social networking, blogging and online forums, the issue of online identity has never been so important. In the business world, there have been several high-profile examples of where individuals have made a negative impact upon a large corporation via their personal online material. However, it appears that personal online identity is now also a risk to the everyday small business.

A study commissioned by Fasthosts found that over two thirds of British business owners (67 per cent) admit to now having concerns that how they appear online could have a negative effect on their business. While publishing material online is highly popular and enjoyable, some 95 per cent of those surveyed recognised that the online image it creates for an individual owner can have an impact upon their business. People don’t hesitate to put up information about others on sites like Facebook, and don’t think about any consequences this may have. The same survey of 540 British businesses found that 78 per cent of business owners believed there to be personal material related to them on the internet, and 43 per cent admitted to anxiety that material posted online by friends or partners could have a negative effect on their business affairs.

Significantly, the level of concern on the issue of online material appears to mirror how heavily business owners themselves now use the web for researching each other. The survey revealed that one in five owners routinely ‘Google’ for personal material on rival owners and 48 per cent judge personal online material to be representative of a business person overall. The need for prudence when publishing personal material can be seen from the swiftness with which proprietors judge those they see online. Also significantly, 66 per cent of owners surveyed have made a judgment on at least one business contact based solely on their online personal material. At least 48 per cent of owners surveyed believe that it is possible to make a reliable overall assessment of a person from their personal online material.

For the web designer, the issue of a client’s personal identity can be potentially crippling to an online project. There is clearly no worse scenario than having developed a great web presence for a business only to have it eclipsed by unfavourable personal material such as photos, blog entries and Facebook profiles.

Businesses are increasingly seeking an integrated approach for all their online activity. The web designer is nowadays expected to provide strategic advice, and today this may inevitably involve a client’s personal media, too. So how should you approach the problem? The potential impact on sales revenue is key. Significantly, 86 per cent of owners surveyed suspected that there could be a link between a proprietor’s unfavourable personal online material and a decrease in sales revenue. The extent of alarm varied, though, with 48 per cent viewing this to be a "significant" risk, and 46 per cent recognising a "small" risk.

The challenge that web designers have now is how to take counsel on personal online identity without scaring a client or making them disillusioned with the web. Perhaps most significant of all the research, over three quarters of all the business owners asked believed that if the right balance was struck, then their personal online identity could be used to positively impact their business, with one in five strongly believing this to be the case. Designers and web consultants should be advised nowadays to arm their clients with guidelines and a blogging strategy for using their personal web presence in order to complement, rather than hinder, their business ventures.

Perhaps the crux of the issue with personal online identity is the level of control available. While social networks offer the greatest degree of credibility and perhaps fun, they are by nature less manageable than a dedicated personal website. Indeed, another recent survey of 300 people who publish their own personal websites, as opposed to just social networking, found that 84 per cent of those believed this offered more control over their online image, and 79 per cent of personal website owners were happy to recommend the tool as a means of creating or modifying an individual’s online image or identity.

Indeed, personal online identity comprises an opportunity for web designers to extend their remit beyond just the regular business brief. If web designers can apply their experience to a client’s personal online material, there can be great scope for synergies between the business and the owner. Proper personal websites, while requiring more work, offer individuals a platform on which to publish socially and creatively but in a more controlled, balanced way. In relation to social networks, 68 per cent of personal site owners surveyed valued their own sites as allowing more creativity and only 26 per cent suspected that a social networking page could be potentially more communicative.

A personal site with well-balanced content could be the best tactic to neutralise unfavourable personal material posted online by others. Now there is the need for clients to regularly perform an analysis of their personal online material as well as their business material.

The responsibility lies with web design pros to advise their clients on managing the personal and professional aspects of publishing on the web. Web pros should seize upon this business issue and make it work for them.

With the right approach, business owners can present their personal online material in a way that won’t compromise their business activities. Research highlights that personal websites in particular appear to offer a high level of control over online image, and can allow this to be modified effectively.