A simple blog is one of the most powerful tools in internet marketing today. A blog can be used to manage online reputations, advertise products and services, position a business as a credible resource, and most importantly it can help to build a brand.
Everything that a blog can achieve for a business can be replicated for personal interests. Personal branding through blogging requires a focused plan, powerful content, and active community engagement.
Building Your Brand through Blogging
Before you can begin shaping your brand through your personal blog, you will need to understand the three key ingredients of successful blogging.
Set Clear Goals
It’s important to set your goals and define your target audience. This will help give you a strong focus for your content, streamlining the overall process. It can be beneficial to research keywords during this stage, as well as investigate other successful blogs in your industry or profession.
Build Authority with Powerful Content
Authority in any field will give you credibility with your audience, and can help with search engine raking and visibility. It’s important to provide articles that not only support your focus, but to take abstract views of your subjects and keywords. For example if you are a life performance coach, blogging about how depression can relate to motivation is an interesting and abstract way to tackle your main subjects. A combination of powerful direct content, abstract content, and informational or instructional articles will give readers more choice, and help to establish you as an authority within your field.
Engage with Your Audience
Your audience will make or break your blog, and in effect your brand as well. Providing strong content is not enough, but should be combined with proactive audience engagement. This means introducing comment facilities or even forums, and when your blog is more established it can be beneficial to invite active community members to post guest blogs. A thriving community around your blog will help to create a buzz for your brand, and will help to grow your audience through word of mouth and reader referrals.
Blogging is something that takes little time investment when compared to other types of marketing, and the benefits far outweigh the effort put in. With a clear direction, compelling content, and an open dialogue with readers, a blog can be used to promote your personal brand in a way that few other methods can compete with.
When it’s time to start building your own online identity, you may need some help getting set up. ABC of Internet Marketing has been helping businesses and entrepreneurs succeed with a proven portfolio of online marketing techniques. We can help you to develop your blog through all stages of planning, delivery, and continued maintenance. Talk to us today about how we can develop the brand that you need to raise your profile and create new business opportunities.
