Personal branding is important in today’s online-driven lifestyle to establish a person’s reputation.  Many individuals have opted to start a blog for a number of reasons but all share the common goal of increasing their identity of the web.  This has recently extended to other demographics including organisations, high-profiled individuals/groups or a product.  But personal branding is essential in today’s competitive marketplace for job seekers, service providers and already established business men/women.  Being a freelance web designer myself, I understand the importance of maintaining a respectable and transparent identity.

Your personal brand is how others will compare you with your peers/competitors.  Nowadays, in many companies providing a service it is often a person behind the product or service that is its greatest asset.  Personal branding builds a unique proposition and it allows you to stand out from everyone else.  Your personal brand helps to drive yourself to the next level through the integration of several social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, Blogger and most recently Google+.  In addition, I have experimented with industry leading Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to optimise my website around a list of relevant keywords.  For example, my website is ranked 1st on Google for the keyword string “student website designer brisbane” and also a few others.  This strategy has undoubtedly increased the number of visits to my websites and consequently improved my personal branding.

Through this blog I hope to further establish my personal branding using a number of techniques discussed on Francois Muscat‘s blog.  The main blogging strategies that I will be utilising include building credibility and trust, being innovative and consistent, always offering value to my content and most importantly being a leader and to be followed by others.  A highly respected blog that I wish to follow in the footsteps of is Smashing Magazine which offers invaluable information and resources for web designers and developers.  The magazine/blog has many authors which all have gained the respect and trust of millions of subscribers.  I will also integrate my other social networks into my blog through the use of WordPress Widgets.  Another blog in a the same field is the Web Designer Wall which is solely written by Nick La, a Toronto based web designer.  I will implement the common strategies of these blogs which include having an active Twitter account by re/tweeting articles and resources relevant to my industry and followers.

A method that I will use to track my progress in increasing my personal branding is utilising Google Analytics‘ features to see page views, traffic sources and a geological overview of my blog and website which will be interesting to determine how far my blog has traveled around the world.