Friday, January 29, 2010

You.Com: The Process of Branding Yourself Online

By Art Basmajian

It could appear like patting yourself on the back initially, but branding yourself online may turn out to be the secret to the success of your online corporation. And because it is becoming to be a well-accepted way of building a web business, you should start branding yourself online as soon as you are able by following these simple steps :

1. Register a web site name. The most certain way to get your name recognized in the net world is to register it as a domain. This is like having your name put on a parking space reserved particularly for you where you can build your site. There are many domain registration sites online which will enable you to register a website domain name for different amounts of time at different costs.

2. Build a unique and functional site. The average net surfer has the attention span of a child with ADHD, which means that if your site does not interest them in the first 10 seconds of them finding it, you will lose them. After all the difficulty that you have gone thru making an attempt to make them visit your internet site, it'd be judicious not to disappoint them. You can get ideas about good websites from the billions out there, BUT don't copy them. Web design is as customizable as it can get, and there are so many pros out there who can build one to reflect your personality. There is just no reason not to have a unique site.

3. Get an attention-grabbing symbol. Like in the old days where cowboys branded their cows with initials, you could have a symbol that will identify your products or online presence as something related to you. It does not need to be too flashy, but it has to be unusual. Example, if you see a check mark, you know it is a NIKE.

4. Select your colors. If a school has its own 'colors', so should you in branding yourself online. And because there are so many hues to make a choice from, select a particular fave and be consistent in using it in your sites and blogs. Together with your unique logo, it will not take long for people to associate these colors with you.

5. Don't be afraid to sell yourself. Since branding yourself online is about getting your product identified with you, make it known whom your prospects are identifying the product with. You will find forums, social networks, and even discuss rooms where you can post as much content about yourself and your product. While consistency in your content is supreme, you also need to adjust the tone or the standard of your content to the audience.

6. Be patient and follow thru. There are many people out there that have succeeded in branding themselves online, and if you take the time to study their history, you will see that many of them didn't achieve their success immediately. It would be impractical and extraordinarily disheartening for you if you expect that branding yourself online would not take any time.

As you have seen, the method is simple. The more difficult part is in making the method part of your success story because branding can swing either way. The good news is that you're going to have a bunch to do with how things will swing. Once people have identified your company and your product as an element of you, you have got to be beyond reproach because from the point the process of branding yourself online has taken hold and done its duty, EVERYTHING that you do will automatically be identified with your product.

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