For my money (or rather lack of money ;-)), there’s nothing that’s better for growing your personal brand than a blog. Or some variation thereof: which could be a podcast or a vlog. Why do you think I’m still here after six years?
Why??
1. You have all the control: if you want to build your personal brand, once you get clear as to what that is, you need to create a platform on which to build it. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, yes, all good things. But a blog you 100% control over. That’s important.
2. People will come to see you as an expert in your field: if you create valuable content that comes from your knowledge, people will come to recognize you as an expert in your field. When that happens, speaking engagements, book deals, workshops all become very possible.
3. Blogs are great for SEO: if you want to get your name out there, and your blog has your name in the URL, people are going to start to see and recognize your name. Blogs are great for SEO, because you are constantly creating new content (which Google loves), and because you’ll likely include linking and images in your posts (which google also loves).
4. You’ll never run out of things to say: you probably already have a dozen or so blog posts you can write off the top of your head right now. If you run out of ideas and inspiration, just go to your audience. Ask them what they’d like you to write about, or start to tackle that FAQ you’ve been working on…
If you don’t already have a blog, think about starting one. You can easily start something up on wordpress.com for free. If you already have a blog, create an editorial calendar for your blog for this month. This is a great tool to keep you on track. The key to blogging is creating regular content. Book how many times a week you are going to post, write down ideas for posts, and then set aside a couple of hours a week to write them.
If you feel like writing isn’t your thing, consider a podcast or a vlog instead. You can use GarageBand on your mac, or download Audacity for PCs. You can create really professional-looking videos using iMovie on your mac, or Windows Movie Maker for your PC.
Get creative and have fun!!
