How to use Blogging for Personal Branding
- How I Became a Chameleon
- 3 Seconds First Impression
- 10+ Reasons to Beef Up Your Personal Brand
- Are You A Purple Cow?
- Why SWOT Your Personal Brand?
- 10 Personal Branding Lessons from Legends
- How Low Can You Sink?
- How to Use Social Media for Personal Branding
- How to use Blogging for Personal Branding
- 17 Habits that Radiate Success
- What is Personal Branding from Within?
- 7 Quick and Dirty Ways to Become a Charmer
- How to Get Results Using Your Personal Brand
- 13 Personal Branding Mistakes
- 10% of Your Actions Define 90% of Personal Brand
- The Value of Consistency
- 10 Ways to Stamp Authority in your Career
- What does all Talk and No Action make You?
- Bouncing Back From Adversity
- Personal Branding Salad Bar
- 10 Steps to Personal Branding Success
- How to Ruin Your Personal Brand
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective Personal Brands
- Personal Branding Outside your Comfort zone
- Personal Branding for Rich Men
I always wondered why people try to convert others to their way of thinking and way of doing things. A real estate developer may try to influence you to invest in property. A preacher may try to get you to say goodbye to a life of sin. And then there are bloggers (like me) trying to get you to start your own blog. Why is that?
When people get to do something, they get a deeper understanding of it. They see the insider benefits more clearly. I have seen the effects of blogging on my personal branding efforts. I will present the case for blogging to you; with the hope of inspiring you to start a blog today.
My Blogging Lessons
I used to run a web design business. Getting clients was not easy. I did not have an ad on the yellow pages nor was I listed in the web designer directories online. I relied on word of mouth and that was slow at best. Every time I finished one job, I had to hit the tarmac, or pick up the phone trying to find the next job. It is not the smartest way to run a business or build a brand.
When I started this blog in January 2009, I set out on a personal development journey. I wanted to learn to be more positive, and to inspire others. Over the years, I had accumulated experiences, both good and bad; that I thought could benefit others if I shared. My end goal was to grow, and to help others grow. I also wanted to meet new friends and “future business contacts”. Nobody had told me about the power of blogging in personal or even business branding. I experienced it, and as usual, I will share with you freely.
The blog started slowly, I was not sure what direction to take the site. I did not have many visitors at first, but my friends Paula, Philip, Brenda Njeru and Nyomi were always there, encouraging me to keep going. I would get home after work, tired but knowing there were a few people waiting to read my blog the next morning made me write something to inspire them.
Then I started promoting the blog on a few places online. More people started coming, they seemed to like what I was writing and invited a few of their friends as well. Soon enough, I met incredible people who I have no doubt will be my life long friends. I started getting requests for consulting, and help with web design from people from different countries. This was without even me trying. I was subtly giving hints about my expertise on the blog, but that was not the main objective. The side effect of blogging turned out to be bigger than I anticipated. I knew about blogging since my uni days in 2001. Why had I never taken action and started one?
Going by the number of inquiries I have got from readers of this blog, I can tell you with authority that blogging is a powerful personal branding tool. People email asking me to give them advice on immigration to Australia, about relationship matters, about social media, about online marketing, about starting a blog, etc. Others ask me to mentor them and give them advice on one area of life or another. I do my best to help, but I feel like I cannot do everything for all the people who send me requests. With time I will develop this site to offer more help on the areas that people ask me about…but I digress
If during my web design days I had a blog, I reckon I could have got a lot more business than I did. Blogging has proven itself to be a good way of connecting with friends and am sure it can be used for connecting with partners, customers, suppliers and media. You do not have to be a business owner to benefit from blogging. You can be a student and start a blog; you can be a career person and start a blog. Whatever you do in life, think of how blogging can help you.
How to Brand yourself using a Blog
- Your Objectives – A road to anyplace leads to a town called nowhere. If you want to achieve any kind of goal, you need to precisely plan where you want to go and how you are going to get there. What kind of brand image do you want to communicate using your blog? What are you trying to get out of it? Write down your objectives on a piece of paper. Review them a few times before you even write your first blog post.
- Your Target Audience – One man’s meat is another man’s poison. What I write on this blog may be appealing to you but boring or annoying to another person. Do not try to be everything to everyone. The quickest way to erode your personal brand is to try and please everyone. Think clearly who you want to target with your blog and obsess over meeting their needs. I have a particular type of target on this blog and I think day and night about how to meet their needs. Every time I hear something on TV or read something on another blog that can be of benefit to my target audience I write it down. I am obsessed with meeting the needs of my target audience.
- Get Your Angle – Website and blog readers are like ancient Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians had many gods, each god provided them with something unique e.g. fertility, rain, wealth etc. They worshiped the god that met their particular objective. If you are not meeting an objective of your website visitors and target audience, they will turn elsewhere. If you provide the same information as another god (or blog), you will be fighting for scarce attention. Take time to define your angle. Your brand will shine brighter if you have a unique angle instead of copying someone else.
- Communicating Ideas – A blog is a means of communicating ideas. In a war or in case of disasters, government spokesmen have a clear objective of communicating. They are responsible of keeping citizens informed and assured. You may not be a government spokesman but you are the spokesman for your brand. Think clearly how you want to communicate with your target audience. Communicate with them in terms that make sense to them. Do not talk down on them. Do not be too technical if they are not. Use the right lingo to communicate your ideas. You may communicate your ideas through written word, videos or podcasts. Be the perfect spokesman or woman for your brand using your blog.
- Getting Feedback – I celebrate every time I get both positive and negative feedback on my blog. Writing and getting no comments or feedback would be lonely. I do not think I would be able to do it with the same dedication if I did not have the feedback. Feedback comes in many forms. It may be in the form of blog comments, website statistics or comments from other bloggers and my friends. Seek to improve your blog and brand by actively soliciting feedback from your target audience especially at the beginning of your blog’s journey.
- Promoting Your Brand – It is not a matter of build it and they will come. Even after pouring your heart out with great content for your blog, you have to promote it. You have to get people to know that your blog exists. There are a number of ways of promoting your blog that are beyond the scope of this article. Let it suffice to say that you can promote your blog through paid advertisements, search engine marketing, viral marketing, link exchanges, and content syndication amongst hundreds of other ways.
Bloggers and Personal Branding
- Gary Vaynerchuk – WineLibrary.com
Gary Vaynerchuk brought wine appreciation to the masses. He is a blogger who has attracted a cult-like following of more than 80,000 viewers a day. To break down the barriers, stereotypes, and misperceptions that otherwise prevent people from exploring and enjoying the exciting and rewarding world of wine. Vaynerchuk’s informal style, described as “unpretentious, gonzo approach to wine appreciation” is in contrast to conservative wine industry norms. Vaynerchuk refers to his followers as “Vayniacs” and “Vayner Nation”. He has built one of the most powerful personal brands using blogging and in particular video blogging as his platform. Customers depend on Gary for his advice and within five years, Wine Library grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $45 million business.
- Brian Clark – Copyblogger.com
In January 2006, a former attorney, Brian Clark founded one of my favorite blogs on the net. Brian built three successful offline businesses using online marketing techniques before switching to a producer model that involves building, monetizing, and occasionally selling online media properties. He is a very good writer and shares his best information with his blog readers. Copyblogger has over 55,000 subscribers and more than 150,000 unique monthly site visitors. He continues to grow his personal brand as an authority in copy writing and generosity.
- White African – WhiteAfrican.com
One of my favorite bloggers is Erik Hersman (Hash). He grew up in Kenya like yours truly but now lives with his family in America. He writes on WhiteAfrican.com, which is a blog about technology and his thoughts on how technology is impacting, and can change Africa. He has built his personal brand and in the process earned the respect and admiration of visitors from 1200 cities who visit his blog every month.
- Mario Armando Lavandeira - PerezHilton.com
Amongst the most popular gossip blogs is PerezHilton.com. This is a blog by celebrity blogger Mario Armando Lavandeira. He writes under the pseudonym Perez Hilton. On his website, Lavandeira posts gossip items about musicians, actors and celebrities. He often posts tabloid photographs over which he has added his own captions or “doodles.”
- Heather B. Armstrong – Dooce.com
Dooce.com chronicles the life of Heather B. Armstrong from a time when she was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when she was dating the man who would become her husband, to when she lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when she married her husband and moved to Utah.
In 2002, Armstrong ignited a fierce debate about privacy issues when she was fired from her job as a web designer and graphic artist because she had written satirical accounts of her experiences at a dot-com startup on her weblog, dooce.com. This action has led to what is commonly known as to be “dooced” – to be dismissed from one’s job as a result of one’s actions on the Internet.
She writes under the pseudonym of Dooce. Armstrong explains that “Dooce” came from her inability to quickly spell “dude” during IM chats with her former co-workers.
Setting up a Blog
Ok, you have heard all about how blogs can help you achieve success in personal branding. You have even sat through as I shared stories about 5 bloggers that I admire. Yes you now know that it is important to have a blog and it can make your personal brand popular. But where do you start? How do you launch your blog today?
- Blogger – You can setup your own blog on Blogger.com within 10 minutes. Blogger is a blog publishing system. It is owned by Google. The service itself is located at www.blogger.com, and blogs that do not publish to their own websites are hosted by Google at subdomains of blogspot.com.
- Wordpress.com - This is a free service by the makes of the free open source Wordpress software that powers this blog. It is an easy to use system with over 4.5 million blogs hosted. You can get started in 10 minutes or less on http://www.wordpress.com
- Livejournal – Express Yourself, Share Your Life, Connect with Friends Online. You can use Livejournal in many ways: a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum or a social network. Check out http://www.livejournal.com
- Typepad – TypePad is a blogging service from the company Six Apart Ltd, and the largest paid blogging service in the world. Originally launched in October 2003, TypePad is marketed to non-technical users and includes additional features like multiple author support, photo albums and moblogging. The service is available in several languages and countries around the world, but in the United States is sold at three different subscription levels. TypePad is currently used by many large organizations and media companies to host their weblog, such as ABC, MSNBC, the CBC, the BBC and Sky News. Check out http://www.typepad.com
Buying Your Own Domain Name
A great way of building your own brand is to use your own name or brand name when registering starting your blog. This name is called the domain name. Examples of domain names is danielngari.com, copyblogger.com, whiteafrican.com etc
A domain name costs about $10 USD per year if it had not been registered before. If the name you want to buy is already owned by someone else, it is likely that they will ask for payment upwards of thousands of dollars. Spend time on domain registration websites to find out if your name is already registered. Alternatively, start a blog using the free blog services above, and they will provide you with a blog name for free.
Summary
Blogging is a fantastic way of building your personal brand. I hope you have been inspired through this blog post to test the waters when it comes to creating your own blog. It may seem daunting before you start but once you get to write a few posts, it gets easier. The trick is to define your objective upfront and not expect overnight results. Have fun blogging and add value to the lives of people who read your blog.
Other articles you may enjoy:
- 10 Steps to Personal Branding Success Today’s blog post walks you through 10 simple steps that guarantee personal branding success....
- Personal Branding for Rich Men Most of my theories on personal branding would not resonate well with people in...
- Personal Branding Outside your Comfort zone Real growth is only experienced when you step out of your comfort zone. Going...
- 13 Personal Branding Mistakes There is a right way for building a personal brand, and there is a...
- Personal Branding Salad Bar In today’s post, you will be able to fill your personal branding plate from...
- How to Use Social Media for Personal Branding Gone are the days when you had to wait to be featured in a magazine,...
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I keep returning to your blogs esp when i need a boost of confidence. I started my blog today and i was surprised how simple it is i just wonder if you run out of things to say and talk about.
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Hi Dan,
i had not checked this one out.Honestly i had no idead about blogging,it is great at least i have learnt something.Thanx for the positive influence…am getting interested you know…
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Dan, great blog and great post!
Blogging can really help you establish and develop your personal brand no matter what your area, topic or industry of interest.
If you are not quite ready to blog or don’t know what to blog about, Google Blog search some topics in which you are interested and comment on the articles you find. Contribute some valuable insights and browse others’ comments. You can also even answer questions on LinkedIn’s Answers section, or on LinkedIn’s group discussion boards and help others in areas where you have an expertise or have some interest.
All of this can help you start to create and formulate your brand and can help direct you to launching your own blog for your own personal branding efforts.
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Dan..u make me want to start my own blog.. lol The begining of this blog was humble and like we prayed. we now have thousands friends… it is interesting how many people read the bolgs daily…your stories touch us a lot.. keep up
I appreciate you big time!!
Greetings from Florida!
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Dobah Reply:
May 26th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
“it is interesting how many people read the bolgs daily” It actually is. Dan, good job.
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Thank you Daniel for this article. It is amazing how much you are willing to share. Your generosity will be blogged about some day. Perhaps by me:)
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