Personal Blogging And Personal Branding Are One And The Same

Freelancers, especially web workers, are constantly reminded about the importance of developing your personal brand.  I believe personal blogging plays an integral, and sometime undervalued role in establishing your personal brand.

First, let me explain exactly what I mean by “Personal blogging”.  I’m talking about your personal (yet public) site where you share your ideas, experiences, lessons learned, opinions, etc.  Most likely this site is branded with your own name (as I do here on briancasel.com) or perhaps you’ve created a brand name to represent you.  It serves as your behind the scenes version of what you do.

Think of your portfolio, your business storefront, your guest articles, interviews, lectures, books and other exposure as your “center stage” content.  The stuff you put out in front of the world.  Think of your personal blog as your “back stage” content, available to those who actively seek more from you.  I blogged about digging into the personal blogs of others.  Today’s post is about is the importance of keeping a personal blog for yourself.

140 Characters is Not Enough

Many folks rely solely on Twitter as their only channel for personal output.  Some, including myself, even keep two twitter accounts.  One to represent their business and another as their personal account.  While Twitter is great for sharing bits and links throughout the day and making connections, I think it’s best used in conjunction with a full-length blog.

Take the 10% of your tweets that you feel most passionately about and expand those ideas into full blog posts.  Flesh out those ideas – even if you don’t have a large audience.  The few who do read your blog are probably the most valuable followers you can ask for, ones who are truly interested in what you have to say and likely willing to share and spread your ideas.

A Solid Foundation For Your Personal Brand

Your personal blog should be your most authentic representation of who you are.  After visitors have passed through your storefront (your business website), seen your tweets, or read your guest posts, they arrive at your personal blog seeking a more complete picture of who you and your company are.  If you’ve been blogging regularly for the past few months or years with authentic, insightful, and relevant content, then you can bet that person will come away with a positive view of you, your company, and your future endeavors.

Again, those who do find your personal blog are likely the most engaged members of your audience.  You want to give them what they want, and that’s more information to consume, draw opinions from, share and re-blog.

Where? When? How?

Where should you publish and promote your personal blog?  It’s really up to you.  The approach I’ve chosen is to fully separate my business sites (casjam.com, themejam.com) from my personal blog (briancasel.com).  I gear my content here towards other freelancers and web workers, sharing un-edited ideas, and providing a behind-the-scenes look at how I do business.  I’ve taken a similar (but on a much smaller scale) approach as Gary Vaynerchuck (business: winelibrary.tv / personal: garyvaynerchuk.com) and Adii Pienaar (business: woothemes.com / personal: adiirockstar.com).

Others take the fully integrated approach, where their personal blog doubles as their business or portfolio site.  This can work, especially if you’re business is primarily in serving other freelancers in your industry.

How often to blog?  The SEO experts will preach that you must set a consistent schedule, at least once or twice weekly.  While I do think it’s important not to leave your blog idle for too long, I think your schedule should largely depend on when you feel passionate enough about a particular topic to whip up a solid post with substance.  A quick way to get me to unsubscribe or un-follow you is to post fluff.

How to do it?  Tumblr is probably the easiest way to get started with your own blog.  Of course WordPress would be the next easiest way to go.  Both of these platforms give you loads of awesome themes to choose from and endless ways to customize it to your liking.

Over to you

What is your approach to personal blogging and how does that differ from your other avenues of exposure?  Do share…