Bloggers are not simply writing blogs, nooo, they’re all personal brands, and that includes YOU ! Just writing great content isn’t enough anymore these days – you’ve got to treat yourself like a brand that’s in the hard game to win.
You are the company, the logo and the service.
Make sure it’s remarkable and kicks-ass – after all, you want your piece of the cake, right ?
Inhale those following tips and boost your own personal brand:
- 1- Build an epic mindset. You are going to dominate your part of the web, it’s not a choice, it’s your destiny. Great personal brands have great egos – maybe that’s what makes them great. Always leave the future open – you can (and will) do everything you want with your blog. Love your brand and your blog more than your mother ! If you don’t love your brand, no one else will !
- 2- Tweak your design. Most people say design isn’t that important. WRONG ! You don’t have to win any awards, but make sure that your design is really good and that it fits your brand values. I have worked countless hours on mine, and I can tell you, I’m getting messages every week that tell me how cool it is. A personal brand is an overall package, and your design is an important part of it.
- 3- Reinvent the way you blog. Great brands stand out – there’s no competition whatsoever ! Standing out means you DO NOT censor yourself, you come with creative ways of writing posts and you invent your own writing style. Deep down in your digital soul, you’re remarkable – sharpen those edges and feed them to your audience !
- 4- Face yourself. Well, not only yourself, but also your blog. Too many blogger hide behind their banner and posts, which is simply devastating ! Show us who you are – Use a real pic as your avatar, show some personal pictures on your about page and even better, use video (even one on your about page is sufficient.) If I don’t remember your face when I visit your blog, then you are doing something wrong!
- 5- Personalize.You know why it’s called a personal brand? Yep, because it’s PERSONAL. So, treat your brand like your best buddy. Don’t say “we” when you’re just a single person, always speak directly to your readers and openly admit your failures and victories. Make it so personal that your readers think of you as an old childhood friend ! This will establish an emotional connection between you and your audience, and that’s a big GO-GO when it comes to selling your stuff.
- 6- Promote your brand. A great brand is nothing without an audience. Your community is your blog’s life blood ! Common advice dictates that you should be everywhere – but that’s totally nuts. Instead, pick your favorite platforms (mine are Twitter and Facebook) and totally DOMINATE them. Use them like you breathe the air – 24/7 !
- 7- Rinse and repeat.
Wrap Up
You know it’s hard work, but you also know that it’s ridiculous fun and that you don’t have any other choice ! Becoming a remarkable personal brand will set you worlds apart from your competitors, and maybe, just maybe it will ensure you a throne in the heaven of internet legacy !
How do you treat your personal brand, and what do you do to maximize its impact ??
Tagged as: blog, brand, brand value, branding, building, crowded, how to build a, personal, personal branding, remarkable, stand out
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
(1 comments) April 26, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Personal branding is one of the most complicated job! I think one of the core values of a personal brand is to have a clear vision of what ones life is about and work sincerely towards the realization of that vision. Even in a business, one should be clear about what they want their social marketing campaign to do!
(25 comments) April 25, 2010 at 2:51 am
this is why i love blogging…as you mentioned that you are the service, you are the company and you are the BOSS….i can not blame anybody for my failure and i do not need to give credit to anybody…everything is mine and i do not need to share it
NEW from Tushar´s last blog ..Higher Visits = Higher Popularity!!!! Not Always Dude….
(9 comments) April 24, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Having your name known is especially important if you have a job like consulting. If you are a consultant, you should be known as someone with a lot of knowledge in your field.
NEW from Karan Singhal @ Trafficke Website Optimization Consulting Firm´s last blog ..Is Twitter Truly Powerful?
(31 comments) April 25, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Hey Karan,
yep, I think you should even brand yourself in way that makes your competition cry in endless tears
But to reach that you have to be outrageously unique !
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How to Connect like you Give a Damn !
(4 comments) April 22, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I’d have to agree! A personal blog should be just that…PERSONAL. If you aren’t willing to show yourself, your blog won’t be that great.
NEW from Barbara´s last blog ..Protect Your Data – Protect Your Business!
(1 comments) April 22, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Agree with 3rd and 4th point strongly. Simply great article.
NEW from Narendra Keshkar´s last blog ..Freelance Graphic Designer India
(31 comments) April 22, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Thanks Narendra,
I put lots of juicy effort into it !
(19 comments) April 22, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Hmm! I am yet to show my face to the world. I wonder is this the reason my personal brand is not popular.
But I will soon come to limelight. Hope that helps my Personal Brand.
NEW from Agent Deepak@Blogging. Marketing & Success´s last blog ..Interview with Lee Ka Hoong of My Blog 2 Day
(31 comments) April 22, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Definitely !
Unless you use your cartoon images so many times that you create your own unique brand around that, kind of like the music group “Gorillaz” !
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(77 comments) April 22, 2010 at 10:20 am
Hi Mars, you truly have a great article there. Point #2: Tweak your design, is definitely one area of building a great brand with your blog. Count really count how many hours I spent on mine. But I know there is still much to do!
Thanks for sharing.
NEW from Chadrack@Home Business Marketing´s last blog ..Build Your Brand Through Customizing Your Blog!
(312 comments) April 22, 2010 at 3:45 am
Cool article Mars! You are always trying to build up your personal brand aren’t you? How is it working so far?
I like the idea of being epic! You definitely are
NEW from Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..3 Essential Google Analytics Reports
(31 comments) April 22, 2010 at 9:16 am
Thanks Julius,
It’s definitely working out, but not as fast as I want it to be. I’m now reaching out to major bloggers, we’ll see what happens !
And yeah, Life’s way too short to not do anything EPIC !
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(20 comments) April 22, 2010 at 2:03 am
I’m getting better at promotion all the time. It’s my weakest point.
“Reinventing the way you blog” is funny thing, risky. Based on personal experience, what people really want to read is what they already know, but in a different and unusual way. Plowing fresh ground is likely to leave many readers mystified.
I submit todays article as proof.
What’s curious is that I had no idea what Facebook was going to spring today.
Which makes my article incredibly timely: get on the semantic web, or be left behind!
NEW from Dave Doolin´s last blog ..hRecipe – Semantic Recipes for WordPress (Google loves these)
(31 comments) April 22, 2010 at 9:25 am
Hey Dave,
Yes, you might start by having an unique way of presenting and writing your stuff, but eventually, once I get more traffic – I want to try out new things. Promotion is absolutely essential in my eyes, if you have stuff that’s worthy promoting it.
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(6 comments) April 21, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I think #5 is important. Your blog should be unique and the best way to do that is let your personality show through.
NEW from Ned Carey´s last blog ..Purple Cow
(31 comments) April 22, 2010 at 9:26 am
Yeah, but the problem is that most people are afraid to pour their entire persona into their blog, and that’s why a lot of people miss out !
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(128 comments) April 21, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Great writeup. It still surprises me that a lot of bloggers dont build their personal brand. Instead they just get stucked with the old blogging technique of posting and publishing. I like the way you emphasized on having to face it yourself and just not worry about the competition.
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(31 comments) April 21, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Hey Melvin,
Yep, many blogger still don’t get it, even if your personal brand is your biggest asset when it comes to your blog. I think that’s going to change soon. At least when I*m around
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(2 comments) April 21, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Yeah, I agree with all of your points mentioned above. The most important element is the personalization where people or consumers or readers or whoever will look for uniqueness of a person including blogger or site.
Nice touch, pal. And keep up.
(31 comments) April 21, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Thanks, I brought as much personal branding as possible into this post
NEW from MarsDorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(246 comments) April 21, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Ah see, I use “we” all the time, however I make it perfectly clear that it stands for me and the community reading it; without which there would be no blog.
Excellent tips Mars, and you do have a sweet design.
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(1 comments) April 21, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Mars, this is a very uplifting post and I think you have a lot of really important points. The first bullet doesn’t get mentioned enough and is very entrepreneurial. It is very empowering dominating your niche, but most people don’t have that mindset.
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(41 comments) April 21, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Hey Dan,
Yeah, mindset the powerful force that makes you rock the world with your brand. Perception and psychology are the main part of the branding game, and they’re also the hardest to establish !
NEW from Mars Dorian´s last blog ..How an Ugly Girl rocked my World, and why that can Skyrocket your Brand’s Influence !
(41 comments) April 21, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Yeah, Ryan
Showing your full package – including your flaws and “failures” feels very uncomfortable in the beginning but is sooo rewarding in the long term. Mixing your own, unique personality into your online work instantly establishes a connection who those who can relate to you !
NEW from Mars Dorian´s last blog ..You can’t please ‘em all !
(5 comments) April 21, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end…
errr… I think I went a bit overboard on that build an epic mindset thing, but I am all out for World Domination and either that or simply crash the data center hosting my site when I get myself dug or something.
Now I’d have to work on facing myself because I’ve long wanted to create my own videos.
You’ve got some really good pointers there and I agree with just about everything you said.
NEW from Archon Digital´s last blog ..LinkWithin-Inspired YARPP Template
(41 comments) April 21, 2010 at 1:30 pm
lol, I think you got the right mindset – after all you and your brand are the most important things in your universe. Video is super-fun, I’ve started it myself a few weeks ago. The first one will feel awkward, but you’ll get used to it and your confidence will skyrocket !
NEW from Mars Dorian´s last blog ..You can’t please ‘em all !
(38 comments) April 21, 2010 at 11:49 am
Excellent branding advice.
When I decided to “Face myself” people seemed to like the face. My #1 post by far was the one which I linked to here. It’s my story. I talked about some wicked demons which I’ve had to overcome to reach where I’m at today. People relate with someone who’s been through hell and back because just about all of us have been there. A brand is built on trust and sharing your life – with no touch-up’s – is as real as it gets and the quickest way to build trust.
Many feel that I’m brave to post this stuff but it’s a necessary step to connect with my readers. They want to know who you are. Don’t be afraid to let them know. We each have an awesome story to tell!
NEW from Ryan´s last blog ..Cash Gifting Is Paying It Forward
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