There are over 1 billion websites online right now, and more are coming up every day. Competition online is getting fiercer and you need to be able to set yourself apart from the rest.
Creating a personal brand is the best way to get your name recognized. Whether you are a small business owner or a solopreneur, your brand represents who you are and why someone should trust you enough to do business with you.
Unfortunately, personal branding is the single most prominent aspect that most businesses overlook. Most people put more effort into trying to rank well and building a site that looks appealing than they do into building a brand.
However, without a good personal brand, you won’t generate trust and leads online. In this article, we’re going to show you why it’s essential to establish your personal brand on your website and share a few tips for how to do that.
Every product you’ve ever used, every website you’ve ever visited contains branding. Many people associate certain traits with brands. For example, if you have an Apple device, you have the iconic apple with a bite missing facing out to all who see you using it. This apple logo is synonymous with high quality products and top notch industrial design, as well as the movers and shakers who are spotted holding them.
Your personal brand works the same way. Your brand represents who you are and, most importantly, why someone should trust you enough to buy from you.
With a strong enough personal brand, you could launch any kind of business, and people would follow you and be willing to do business. That is the value of a strong personal brand: The ability to instantly garner trust just by being who you are and authentic to the value you can provide.
Building a personal brand can be challenging. It involves a lot of introspection and being honest about who you are and what you hope to achieve. Here are a few questions that can help you jump start the process:
The first question to ask yourself is “Why you?” it’s unlikely that you were the first person to offer the product or service that you have to the market. And even if you are, why should someone choose you instead of the status quo they are currently using?
You need to stand out. You have to present yourself and your business in a way that showcases your unique characteristics and strengths in a way that connects with your target audience.
It’s important not to downplay the competition in this step. They exist for a reason, and they have customers that already trust them and are loyal to them. Imagine your competition as bumpers on the lane for when you’re starting your brand. They show you both where they stand and where you probably shouldn’t go.
There are also ways to be different without relying on the old “better, faster, cheaper” approach. For example, you may talk about how you build something different or the experience you have that makes you skilled or qualified to help someone.
You may also cater to a different type of client than your competition — and this is an important distinction. While you and your competitor seek to attract the same overall customer base, your personal experience may help you serve a segment of that audience in a way that they can’t.
Once you have built the foundations for who you are, who you cater to, and why they should trust you, your next step is to develop your public face.
You will want to get a professional headshot and create some critical statements about your business that will go into your marketing materials. These statements can include things like a mission statement and value proposition for your customers.
Your website is going to be a crucial component of your personal branding. It becomes the central hub for everything there is to know about you and showcases your values, your company, and why someone should do business with you.
A good website is going to include all of the personal branding elements that you need.
There are many moving parts and a lot of technical, under-the-hood pieces of a website that need to be built and maintained with care. That’s not every business owner’s specialty, and that’s ok. Building a quality brand requires a dedicated skillset and an objective eye, and sometimes that means calling in the experts.
At BHirst Media, we’re here to help. Contact Us today to learn more about our web design, development, and website care plans, and make yourself known.
