On Creating Your Personal Brand

On Wednesday, July 23, 2014, I posted on the topic of Multiple streams of income: The way to financial independence.  This was cut straight out of one of the chapters in my eBook: Common Core Money (see Amazon link on the left sidebar).  If you didn't read the post entirely, then you would have missed the part on why you need to self-brand.  If you intend on making a boat load of money doing an online business that has a multi-level sales funnel, you need personal brand power, aka, authority.  Without telling you explicitly, I've been showing you all how to do this!  I'm showing you yet again right now, as a matter of fact.  I said,





Now I want to tell you something new about me.  I subscribe to several blogs and follow various bloggers.  Though I don't always get the opportunity to visit these blogs and read every post, I do take the time to speed read the emails that get directed to me from their feeds.  These include the blog posts that I couldn't catch the day before, and the newsletters these bloggers take the time to create for their subscribers.  Today I got a great email from author and blogger, Lindsay Buroker  It was on the topic of branding yourself.  It is filled with valuable information I thought was too good Not to share with all of you.  Take the time to read it, if truly you want to boost your eBooks, products, or services sales.  Don't forget to subscribe to Common Core Money blog and be up on all of my future posts. You never know when one will strike home in your mind and get your levers wound-up.  Also remember that if you are a small business owner, I can help with your content and marketing needs via my company, aptly named, Common Core Money.  Thanks!  Now here's Lindsay:

Hello C.Osvaldo Gomez,

It's Day 3, and it's time to talk branding.

You don't have to brand yourself to make money online, but it's something I wish I'd thought a little more about when I got started.  By creating a brand, or turning yourself into a brand, you build an intangible asset that can make it easier to profit from all your other assets. 

It helps people remember you, and it immediately identifies new books or products as part of your empire.

Just think of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books.

What started with one book has turned into a whole series of books, many not even written by the original author (though you know he's making a cut!), and there are a couple of board games to boot. 

You can brand yourself with your name or with an idea.  Personal names can be tricky, especially if you have one that's hard to spell or remember, which is where brand names or short phrases can come in handy.

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is a lot catchier than "Robert Kiyosaki"

And if I were successful in churning out a lot of products, it'd be easier for folks to remember "Writing for Your Wealth" than my last name, which--though it's not particularly long--always has the Safeway clerks stumbling over it when they're telling me to have a good day and thanking me for using my club card. 

Also, if you use your name, and put a lot of effort into branding yourself, you're possibly pigeonholing yourself.  For example, the name Rachel Ray is probably going to make you think of cooking first and foremost.  If she suddenly decided to get into financial advising, it'd be a little odd. And if Suze Orman suddenly wanted to teach Cajun cooking lessons.... again, it'd be odd.

So, make sure you're doing your life's passion if you try to brand yourself using your name.  If you're still figuring out what your niche is, then creating a brand that isn't attached to your name can be a good idea.

Also, if you choose a word or phrase as your brand, it's possible to sell your business (including your brand, your sites, your products/books, etc.) down the road if the money is right.  Today you may find it hard to imagine selling the assets you're creating with your words, but if you grow popular enough, an offer might eventually come in that is awfully tempting.  If your brand is linked to your name, it's hard for someone else to come in and take over, but if you're using a made up word or phrase, then it's easier to pass along.

You can build your brand through websites, books, digital products, and also through the way you communicate with others.  For example, in many forums and social media sites, I've started posting as "writingforyourwealth" instead of with my name or some random user ID.  This helps me spread knowledge of my brand across the Internet, where it can help bring visitors to my blog.

Speaking of getting visitors, part of making money with your words is getting people to your blog, and we're not just talking about bodies en masse, but people who will be interested in what you have to say. 

That's why tomorrow is all about getting the right kind of visitors (AKA targeted traffic) to come to your site. 

Until then,

Lindsay
Writing for Your Wealth