The World Wide Web is here to stay, and if you want to be successful as an internet marketer or    entrepreneur, you need to embrace it by developing your personal brand online. A personal brand is an image or reputation that people relate to your name. Wherever your name is online, that reference needs to promote your desired image – your brand. Your personal brand should ideally evoke a positive emotional response in people … i.e., they like you, they trust you, and they connect with you, usually from something you both have in common. Here are some tips on developing a strong personal brand.

Why Worry About It?

Why is a personal brand online important? If someone, whether they are a potential employer or a possible client, searches for you, what they find will determine the way they view you. Those who come across your name online will be forever impacted by what they see. You must establish the reputation you want others to see, not the one that they will accidentally see, by establishing a good personal brand.

Have a Home

Whether it is your blog, a professional business website or your LinkedIn account, have a “home” that you want to point people to when they come across or search your name online. This is where you will focus any inbound links, so you have more control over what people see when they search for you. A blog is an ideal place to create this home, as you can fill it with as much content as you want and even monetize it if you wish at some point. Consider registering a domain name that is attached to your personal name, so at some point you can build a website about it too.

As you develop that home, focus on being helpful and offering people value, do not promote your business or products directly. Provide expert advice to people that will establish you as a leader in your niche. Everything you publish on your home website needs to showcase your talents and the way you can help those who find you, establishing your authority on a particular topic.

Become Highly Visible

Do you have a FaceBook account? What about a LinkedIn profile? Start setting up accounts on social bookmarking, networking, and media sharing sites. Some to consider include:

• FaceBook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• MySpace
• StumbleUpon
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Del.icio.us
• Digg

On some of these sites you can have a profile, some you submit content to, and others you simply need an account in order to benefit form the bookmarking and sharing aspects they offer.

Set Yourself Apart

No matter what your niche may be, there are likely several other marketers or entrepreneurs out there with the same niche. You need to figure out what it is that makes you unique, and then market that extensively in your personal brand. You must have something that sets yourself apart from the crowd if you are going to succeed online.

Get Google’s Attention

Once you have a “home” and several social media accounts setup, you need to get Google’s attention. The most powerful people online are those that show up early in Google’s search engine results.

First, make your website or blog professional, filled with updated, readable content that is also searchable. Instead of focusing too strongly on “keywords,” focus on making content that appeals to your readers and covers the topics you want relating to your personal brand.

Once you are up and running, submit the website to directories. Then, start looking for inbound links, and build outbound links into your site that point to quality websites in your niche. All of these point to a live website that is helpful to the reader, which are all things Google values when deciding which to place first.

Building a personal brand online is not difficult. It takes some time and dedication to learn new websites and technology, but the returns are worth it in the end. A little bit of work now to establish your online presence will bring lasting dividends in the future.

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