1. Planning your online brand development
July 3, 2008
“The hardest thing is to know what you want, the rest is easy….”
The secret to building a successful online personal brand begins with knowing yourself, and that means knowing what you are about and what you want to achieve. When you have developed these principals into a clear vision, you will find that your brand will evolve around this identity and, because it has a clear focus, others will find it easy to latch on to, associate with and be encouraged to interact with it.
Some people, like musicians, film-makers and designers have a ready-made source of inspiration from which to develop their online identity. They probably already have MySpace and Facebook accounts, an audience and an image which they want to expand beyond the limitations of these environments which are outside of their direct control.
Others, with a focus on social commentary, creative writing or opinion-based journalism are looking to get themselves recognised, respected within their chosen fields and turn their hobby/interests into income-generating ventures.
Whichever angle you are approaching personal online branding from, we recommend that you take some time to consider the following questions and put together a written statement [first page of your Ideas Journal!] which encapsulates what you are trying to achieve:
(Incidentally, we regularly go through this process at Brand-Forge.com because no matter how experienced you are, there is always something to learn from taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture)
Function: Are you selling a service/product? Are you trying to develop your visitor count for advertising revenue? Is your site acting in a channeling role to some other service or income source? Is your site part of your career-development process? Is it just a place for fun and showing off? Be clear with yourself about what you want to achieve.
Style: Who are my target audiences? What style will they connect with? Do I need different styles for different niches? What can I realistically maintain/develop? What is the correct balance of Form & Function? How much speed should I sacrifice for aesthetics? Remember: design changes are expensive and complexity is slow.
Strengths: What are my real strengths and weaknesses? What consistently motivates me? Who and how many people share my interests? What is my technical sill level? Do I need help from other contributors/friends/professionals? Play to your strengths and know your weaknesses.
Contribution: What am I really contributing to an already over-crowded market? What makes me stand out and drives visitors to my site again and again? Which niches should I focus my efforts on? Am I prepared to commit consistent effort in developing my visitor community? Are my visitors passionate enough to interact, comment and increase my site’s popularity? Who esle is doing what I want to do and how are they doing it? Developing a passionate community is the best way to drive sales, referral and ad revenues.
Inspiration: Where does my inspiration come from? What other sources can I tap into? How can I feed and develop my opinions? Are there others who share my goals that I can collaborate with? Organise your inspiration, its a science not an art.
Productivity: How much time can I commit to my site? How can I best organise that time? What tools can I use to manage my activities? Which activities will have the greatest impact? Work smarter, not harder.
Budgeting: What am I able to invest and over what period? When do I realistically expect to begin generating income? Would I still enjoy what I’m doing without generating any income? How much is my time worth? Set yourself target periods and review your expectations based on results.
Further reading
www.chrisg.com/free-ebook-on-personal-branding/ - Effective Internet Presence E-book
www.lifebeyondcode.com/ebooks/PBTP.pdf - Personal Branding for Technology Professionals
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