How to Brand Yourself Online

You're a brand in the "real" world but are lost in the "virtual" one. Discover how to make yourself a brand online

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet
• Time
• A message

1. The first step to branding yourself online is to have a voice. You can do this a few ways. Either have a blog, a website, an ezine, or a forum. But you need some space online that you can clearly convey your message. If you have a website great, if not than you will need to either build one or a blog.
2. Once you've decided on the blog or website, you need to fill it with content. If you are branding yourself, you need to decide what your brand is. What brand image are you sending out? What is your message? What do you want people to know about your company and your product? Hopefully you'll know right away. But if not than you'll really have to sit down and think about things. Because once your message is out there it can't be taken back.
3. This brings me to step #3. Once you have decided on your message and you populate your site around it, you cannot take it back. An example, say you are a vegetarian, and your whole site is based around this fact. You can't just decide to eat meat. The whole trust and credibility you've gained will be lost. Remember anything you write or produce will be on the internet forever. Do not lie. Keep your message clear and consistent. And if you get cornered or people get angry by it, don't back down. This is your message. This is your brand image you are presenting to the world. If you are flaky on your message, you are flaky on your brand image.
4. The last step is to be responsive. Go to forums, go to network sites and when you make a post or comment, follow-up. Go back in a week or two and make sure to reply to a comment. When presenting your brand you want to be known as someone who cares and likes feedback. If you are only in it to advertise, people will see through you. The goal to getting sales is to build a brand image. People will go out of their way to find you if they are consistently treated great, or consistently greeted with your brand.
   This applies too if someone calls your business, make sure you have great customer service. Make sure those emails are followed up. Make sure those messages are returned. By neglecting customers you are ruining your brand that you worked so hard to get. Why not answer that email and make a satisfied customer ecstatic!