21 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND THROUGH YOUR BLOG
21 ways to build your personal brand through your blog - As blogging becomes more of a professional endeavor than a personal hobby, bloggers are starting to follow more of the industry trends for marketing themselves online.
What many of us are finding is that the more strategic we are with our blogging, the more it benefits our businesses and careers! Are you maximizing your blog as much as you could be to build your personal brand online? Or are you just winging it? Chances are, you could be passing up opportunities for greater visibility in your niche by not making these improvements.
21 ways to build your personal brand
1. Buy yourname.com.
If you want people to remember your name, use it! Head over to Go Daddy and. snap up your name before someone else does. If your name is already taken, use a variation like AllisonJ.org or Jim’s Marketing Blog.
2. Self-host your blog.
Using free blogging services like WordPress.com or Blogger can make your site
3. Look unprofessional and amateurish.
And when you’re trying to build your brand, you wanna run with the big dogs.
4. Buy a premium theme.
Here are the ones I recommend that look great right out of the box: Standard Theme, Woo Themes, Elegant Themes, Themeforest, and Headway.
5. Use a custom header.
Get something with a nice font and your picture, like what I’ve done here. Or you can get a logo designed by 99 designs. I used them to make this logo and it was super cheap and fast!
6. Make a kickass about page.
Your about page is always going to be one of the most visited pages on your site, so make it count! Stuck for ideas? Michael Hyatt has some great guidelines for sprucing it up.
7. Show your face.
You can do this with your header, sidebar, or on your about page. People connect with pictures, plus it will help them recognize you at events and conferences!
8. Meet your readers in person.
Host an informal Meetup or a Tweetup in your city. Announce it on your blog and ask your readers to spread the word through their social networks.
9. Talk about your expertise and experience.
No, it’s not bragging! It’s simply showing people that you are worthy of their time and attention.
10. Write exactly how you talk in real life.
Give your blogging some personality and your posts will stand out above others in your niche, even if it’s already “crowded.”
11. Create a Facebook page for your blog.
With 600 million people on Facebook, most of your readers likely use the site and will use it to engage with you and share your posts if you have a fan page there for your blog.
12. Respond to reader comments.
People who take the time to comment are usually your true fans – those who will promote your blog to others. Give them positive reinforcement by responding back to them and letting them get to know you a bit better as well.
13. Comment on other blogs in your niche.
Don’t just talk to people on your own blog, get out there, and talk to your fellow bloggers. If you leave a meaningful comment, they will love you for it and often come by your site to return the favor.
14. Guest post on another blog in your niche.
Guest posting can introduce you and your personal brand to a whole new audience as well as bring in a huge influx of traffic to your blog.
15. Get business cards for your blog.
This is so helpful when you meet people at networking events and conferences and you want them to check out your blog later on. I recommend Moo Cards and Vistaprint (get 250 free) – be sure to list your social networks on there, too!
16. Blog at least once a week.
Frequency is important if you’re trying to build your brand in a particular niche. If you share good stuff, people will want to hear from you often.
17. Make “best of” or “top 10? lists. People love reading list posts. Write to them.
They will get shared. Blog on the same topic all the time. Don’t be too scatterbrained on your blog. Make sure people know what your topic area is so they can begin to think of you as the expert on it.
18. Allow readers to subscribe to your blog by email.
You want them to keep coming back to read your posts! Believe it or not, email is still popular – most of my blog readers subscribe this way even though they also have the RSS option. Use Feedburner (it’s free) and put the widget on the right-hand side of your blog, “above the fold” if you can.
19. Ask your readers to share your posts if they liked them.
Put the Twitter and Facebook share icons on your blog posts (search WordPress.org for the plugins) to make it easy for your readers to promote your personal brand for you.
20. Write something controversial, yet related to your niche.
This tactic always works for page views and traffic, especially if you’re talking about a current event or hot news story. Just be careful not to overdo it or people will just label you as a sensationalist hungry for the attention to your site.
21. Teach your readers how to do something.
People love getting free information online – so be the supplier! “How-to” posts are about as popular as list posts, so use them to your advantage. Show your readers how to do something useful and they will keep coming back for more of your wisdom.
Have you used any of these strategies on your own blog? What are some other ideas for using blogging to build your personal brand?
Post a Comment for "21 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND THROUGH YOUR BLOG"