So when I brought up the subject of personal branding, it was a little surprising that my normally loud, raucous family went totally silent. Quizzical expressions and dumbfounded looks surrounded the table. Finally my sister spoke. “Personal branding?”, she asked. “What is that? Like branding a cow?”

I sighed. “No, Sis,” I said. “It’s NOT like branding a cow. It’s like a product brand. You know, like Coke is a brand. Or Walmart is a brand. If Gary (my brother) decided he wanted to be known as the Louisiana Real Estate guru, he would market himself that way, establishing his own personal brand as Gary, the Louisiana Real Estate Guru. If he marketed himself well, then he would become well-known, and everyone would know that HE was the Louisiana Real Estate Guru. That’s what personal branding is. Marketing yourself.”

Although I’m not sure they completely “got it”, it was a good enough explanation to allow us to move on to safer topics that everyone could participate in – like how our local college baseball team was doing this season.

Personal branding is on my mind lately because Dan Schawbel’s book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success is now available at Amazon.* Dan is the guy behind the Personal Branding Magazine, and as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a staff columnist for that magazine. So of course, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Dan’s book get published. I ordered it before it was even published, so I could be one of the first to have it. It arrived on my doorstep (ok, in my post office box, actually) a few days ago. I’ve devoured it since then.

Although I won’t be recommending the book to either my sister or brother because they are at the tail end of their careers, I am recommending it to each of you. If you read this blog, you should read Dan’s book. If you have any interest in furthering your career (even offline), you should read his book.

In fact, Dan’s main focus in Me 2.0 is that of young people embarking on careers, and using the power of personal branding to get the jobs they want and be successful in their chosen careers. This is especially useful information right now, when so many are laid off. Competing for a job has gotten a lot tougher because so many people are desperate for work. How you market yourself can make all the difference in whether or not you land the job you want. The book does a great job of showing how to market yourself before, during, and after a job interview.

Of course, I work from home, so I’m not particularly interested in resumes or interviewing. But the world of freelancing and online marketing involves lots of personal branding as well, and if you are involved in ebusiness in any way, you need to understand personal branding. Your reputation is on the line every day in the ebusiness world, and your personal brand is your reputation. How you manage your brand’s reputation is critical to your online success.

Luckily, the advice Dan gives in Me 2.0 works just as well for me and you as it does for the recent college graduate looking for that perfect job. The concepts of personal branding – marketing yourself – extend to all of us, regardless of what kind of career we’ve chosen.

Here’s a little of what you can find in the book:

• A 4-step process for building a powerful brand (discover,
  create, communicate, maintain).
• Tips on using social media tools for personal empowerment, confidence building, and professional networking in order to attract jobs directly to you, without applying!
• Tested advice on how to create an online and offline presence for
  career protection and self-promotion.
• Over 40 expert quotes from leaders including Don Tapscott, Guy Kawasaki, Penelope Trunk, and David Kirkpatrick of Fortune Magazine, among others.
• More than 70 research reports, 3 personal case studies and examples to give you a broader perspective on the topic.

I personally bought this book because I know Dan’s advice is always excellent. I know that he knows this topic inside and out. I trusted that the few dollars I would spend on the book would be worth it, and I was right. Dan’s own personal brand is that of a personal branding expert, and there’s good reason for it. Anyone looking to market themselves – for online or offline careers – would be smart to read Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. It can make a huge difference in your future career plans.

If you are interested in the things I’ve had to say over the years on the topic of personal branding, you might want to check out the branding category here on my blog. Needless to say, I’ll continue to post on this in the future as well, because it’s an important topic to understand if you want to be successful in an online business.

*

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Post tags: Amazon, Dan Schawbel, David Kirkpatrick, Don Tapscott, e - business, Fortune Magazine, Guy Kawasaki, Louisiana, online, online and offline presence, online marketing, Online success, Penelope Trunk, professional networking, social media tools, staff columnist, the Personal Branding Magazine
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I try to cover as much of the basics as possible for creating a successful site online that will earn you a comfortable living. I’m not able, within a blog format, to really get into the kinds of detail that a full hard-cover book can get – on every detailed subject. Jon Wuebben, in his book Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web, does a great job of really covering one very important topic well – how to create compelling, keyword-rich copy for your site. The right copy will convert well, it will enable your site to rank well in the search engines, and it will attract traffic and links. All of these things help to bring your site to the level of success that you’re looking for.

Here’s a quick look at what’s covered. Jon begins with the basics of SEO copywriting, which includes analyzing your site’s copy and usability, keyword research, and optimizing the content. He then moves on to discussing the various types of seo copywriting, such as site copy, articles, press releases, blogs, wikis, landing pages and newsletters. Next, he puts it all together with real world examples and case studies of various sized businesses. By showing you real-world examples and case studies, Jon helps to really clarify the benefits of seo copywriting, and gives clear instructions on how to do it right. Finally, he ends with showing how to outsource your copywriting project, discusses choosing seo copywriting as a career, and wraps it up with the future of seo copywriting.

Because I’m an old SEO by trade, I wanted to pick the book apart and find where he might have gone wrong, but I wasn’t able to do that, because he gives straight-forward, easy to understand information that is right on the money. If you want to write compelling copy that attracts traffic and converts visitors to buyers, you won’t go wrong by reading Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web. It was a good read, and I’ve added it to my collection.

Oh, this just in…the author has informed me that he will be holding a “super 1 Day sale” on Amazon on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. If you order the book on that day, you’ll receive these extra goodies:

• Dianna Booher’s ebook “Affect or Effect? 258 Commonly Misused Words Along with Proper Usages” + her Online Grammar Assessment ($39.95 value)
• Scott Fox’s ebook “E-Business Strategy Basics” ($34.95 value)
• Bob Bly’s ebook “Online Marketing that Works” ($39.95 value)
• Free website copy analysis (priceless!)

That’s enough to make me consider getting a duplicate copy of the book just to get the extras.

*

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Post tags: Amazon, Author, Bob Bly, Dianna Booher, e - business, Jon Wuebben, Online Grammar Assessment, online marketing, Scott Fox, search engines, straight-forward
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The same people who created that site, have also created a 26 week Internet marketing program that gives an incredible amount of in-depth information aimed at helping small business achieve online success, and is the expanded version of the free PDF report above.

I’ve been reviewing the 26 week program for a few weeks now, and it is definitely comprehensive and informative. In fact, when the package showed up in the mail, I was surprised by everything that was in the box. (It came with a t-shirt too, but that’s in the washer right now, so it didn’t make it into the photo below).

Besides the fact that it comes with 4 workbooks with 4 accompanying dvds, which details the 4 phases, it also comes with 7 bonus interview cds, and a bonus cd with everything in mp3 format as well. Oh, and it even comes with a nice poster that outlines the steps to be taken during the 26 weeks of training.

If I were to create an Internet marketing training program, I’m not sure I could create a better one than this. Look, let’s face it, I’m a pretty tough critic. I hate when people pretend to know something (such as SEO) and you quickly find out that they are just spewing old information that is no longer true or relevant. So I was prepared for the worst, and was really excited to find that this is really good, quality information!

This course is comprehensive, easy-to-understand, and does a great job of really helping anyone understand the fundamental tasks that should be undertaken to implement an effect Internet marketing strategy. If you are in charge of your business’s marketing efforts, or you want to learn how to effectively manage all of the various online strategies, this plan will lead you in the right direction.

Over the course of 26 weeks (my calculator tells me that’s 6 1/2 months), you get detailed instructions and guidance via video, workbook materials, charts, pdf’s and audio interviews that lead you through the various phases. You are shown what to do when, and how often to repeat each process. Again, I kept waiting to find the “gotcha” – the one thing that I could point to and dispute, but it wasn’t there.

The course structure is well thought out and relays information to you at the right time and at the right pace. Let’s take a look at the course outline now.

Phase 1: Website Structure
Business Strategy
Keyword Research
Site Architecture
Conversion Rates
Viral Coefficient
Visitor Tracking

Phase 2: Automation and Launch
Blogging
RSS
Email Updates
Blog Communities
Blog & RSS Directories
Press Releases
Pay Per Click

Phase 3: Broaden Your Base
Major Directories
Industry Directories
Local Directories
Article Marketing
Competitor Backlinks
Forum Interaction
Blog Comments

Phase 4: Broaden Your Horizon
New Website
Social Networking
MyPage Marketing
Podcasting
Video Marketing
Visitor Analysis

Now, let’s take a look at the bonus interview cd’s.

Bonus Interviews with:
Matt Trimmer
Brad Fallon
Yaro Starak
Jeff Walker
Timothy Seward
Jonathan Farrington
Shawn Collins

This is not a cheesy product, thank goodness. I am so tired of checking out Internet Marketing products, only to find them filled with cheesy sales hype that boils down to “Make Millions Overnight” bullsh#t. This product is real. It’s not cheesy, and it’s not bullsh#t. It is an educational product aimed at explaining the process of online marketing in the right way.

I’ve wasted a fair amount of money on cheesy waste-of-time products. This training course is a bit pricey, but you do get a product that delivers quality information in exchange for the price paid (£399). I wish I’d created it first. Good stuff.

Go check it out. Read the information about it. In the near future, what you read may enable you to win a little contest in which I’ll send one of you everything you see in that photo. (Sorry, I’m keeping the t-shirt).

(I should note that I did have one small problem with the dvds. They are in a format that I couldn’t immediately view on my computer. Luckily, if your computer can’t read them, there are free tools online that make them work. They are .vob files, and I used VLC Player to get them to run. I’m guessing this is some sort of format commonly used in the UK maybe, but not here in the U.S. Anyway, just be aware that if your computer has trouble understanding the format, there are several free programs out there that quickly solve that problem).

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brad Fallon Yaro Starak Jeff Walker, cheesy product, cheesy waste-of-time products, educational product, effect Internet, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Plan, Internet Marketing products, Jeff Walker Timothy Seward Jonathan Farrington Shawn, Jonathan Farrington Shawn Collins, Major, Matt Trimmer Brad Fallon Yaro, mp3, online marketing, online strategies, Online success, private membership site, United Kingdom, vob, week Internet
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Me: Although I know logically that Bold Interactive is primarily an online marketing blog, somehow I tend to think of it in more far-reaching terms. I almost feel like I’m listening to my own life coach when I read the posts. Because of that, I decided I needed to pick Nathania’s brain, and find out why I felt that way.

Nathania, your company’s online marketing blog affects me in a personal, life-coach kind of way. Why is that? What point of view do you have that transforms marketing into something much broader?

Nathania: Thank you. That’s a huge compliment! The types of marketing we’re encouraging companies to do are new – at least to them. Social media, blogging, conversation marketing – it can all seem intimidating if you’re used to direct mail, broadcast media, and traditional PR. Even if you’ve been doing online marketing for years, the way online marketing is being conducted and received is changing. So my goal is to help people feel positive about the change.

There’s a ton of bloggers out there who write about specific technical tips for SEO, paid search, social media, etc. But I know that long-term success is based on the values behind these techniques. There is a reason why social media works. There is a reason why blogging increases conversions. I’m here to help you with the why.

Me: Ok, in layman’s terms, what is conversational marketing? It sounds so…friendly.

Nathania: Conversational marketing is when companies stop pushing products and start engaging customers. It has to be friendly because if it’s not, it won’t work. The core component of conversational marketing is listening. Think about times when you truly felt listened to. That’s how everyone wants to feel, but these moments seem unfortunately rare. So if you’re looking to stand out among the competition, then conversational marketing is the way to go. (Of course, you have to be genuine about it.) But even if all of your competitors engage in conversational marketing, you’ll still stand out. Because no one can communicate and connect authentically in exactly the same way that YOU can.

Me: I know you’re a part of a team at Bold Interactive, but you seem to be the blogger of the bunch. Are you the official blogger, or do you just have the most to say? And more importantly, does that have anything to do with your past political consulting job? (ducks and runs)

Nathania: Anyone at Bold can blog, but so far I’m the only one who does it. That has made me the face of Bold by default, I guess you could say. But it’s not because I have the most to say. Adam Schultz, our CEO, has the most to say. He just doesn’t have the time or patience to type it all out. His mind works at a million miles an hour.

Your question about my blogging being related to my prior work as a political consultant was unexpected! I hadn’t quite thought of them being related. My career has been in marketing, communications, and PR no matter what industry I’m working in at the time. But now that I think about it, my work in politics has shaped who I am as a blogger. Mostly, it has taught me what NOT to do! Politics is a nasty, dirty game whether you’re a donkey or an elephant. It’s so ironic to watch the parties smear each other because they both engage in the same dirty tactics.

Politics is the antithesis of where marketing is trending right now. It’s not about real conversation. No one really feels listened to. And when there’s so much at stake, desperate measures usually take hold. Consumers are almost always the ones to lead an industry into the realm of social media and conversation marketing. But consumers have yet to truly lead politicians in that direction. Don’t be fooled by YouTube debates or MySpace profiles. We have a long way to go before politicians from either party start being transparent!

Me: If you could package up some bold words of wisdom into a one-line fortune in a fortune cookie, what would it be?

Nathania: Ha! This question is so ironic because my previous employer was Fortune Interactive. So we like to say Fortune Favors the Bold. But if you’re looking for something original, try this:

“Stop chasing after other people’s success, and instead create your own.”

Me: Finally, do you have any other sites we should know about?

Nathania: I have my personal blog (nathaniajohnson.com) where I write about TV, Movies, Music, Politics, Fashion, Religion, etc. TV is dominating my posts right now because I love TV and there are a ton of incredible new shows on. Pushing Daisies, Life, Aliens in America, Journeyman, Private Practice, and Bionic Woman – I’m just blown away by the quality of television this season. That might make me sound like a couch potato, but I’m a screenwriter, improvisor, and indie filmmaker “on the side.”

Me: I can’t thank Nathania enough for taking the time to answer my questions and letting us all get to know her just a bit better. Add her to your roster of people to learn from, would you? She’s a great resource to have.

There’ll be another great interview with someone else on Monday. Look for it!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adam Schultz, Aliens in America, America, CEO, Fortune Favors, life coach, online marketing, online marketing blog, political consultant, Politics, screenwriter, social media, social media works, Youtube
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