As an online network marketing or direct sales entrepreneur, you’ve heard about personal branding and the importance of establishing YOUR own niche and identity online. Part of this process involves setting up a WordPress blog and becoming active in social media to focus more attention on you and what you have to offer. Sounds simple, right?
It really isn’t hard to do all this, but for many people the learning curve can seem pretty steep simply because they have never done anything like it. There seems to be so much to learn. Even network marketers who have been promoting their opportunity online for years in more traditional ways (paid advertising, pay per click ads, and so forth) can feel intimidated by all of this. There is often a fear, a feeling of “this all sounds nice but I’m just not a techie type person and just couldn’t do this“.
If you feel this way, I hear you, and understand completely. I’ve been online for a few years, and have faced a number of new challenges as the Internet has grown and evolved. This included learning all about the WordPress blogging platform when I created my first blog about four years ago.
Creating your own blog for personal branding will require learning some new skills. It might seem confusing at first. The good news is, once you have everything set up, it’s pretty simple to keep it running and attracting new business prospects around the clock.
Here are your first steps to creating your own personal home base:
- Register your own domain name. For branding, I recommend registering “yourname.com” if you can. If that isn’t available, a variation such as “workwithyourname.com” or something along that line is acceptable, so long as it is reasonably memorable and not too long.
- Find a good web host for your domain and install your WordPress blog. This can be a quick and simple operation if you choose the right host.
- Select a layout and design for your blog (this is called a “theme”). I recommend a simple design that isn’t cluttered and confusing to your visitors.
- Install useful plugins to add functionality to your blog and make it more search engine friendly, and easier for visitors to share in social media and networking sites.
Then, just dive in and start writing and adding content. With your blog, you won’t be directly promoting your network marketing or direct sales opportunity. You’ll be building credibility and establishing YOU as a leader and potential business partner. Prospects like to know you a little better before they commit to working together with you in a business.
You’ll want to start a mailing list – this will give you the opportunity to begin showing yourself as a leader by offering a valuable resource to visitors who are interested in exploring the possibility of working with you.
Create a report or ebook that addresses a need or has value for your target audience, then create a series of followup messages for them after they download it. In these followup messages, you can provide useful information that expands or complements the topic of your ebook, as well as links to information about your own opportunity. The key in the followup messages is providing value – don’t just make it a series of ads for your business.
When all is said and done, in 2011 and beyond, personal branding and making yourself stand out from the crowd is more important than ever. Don’t be afraid to jump in and be who you are – just be willing to learn and continually look for opportunities to improve on what you’re doing. It will make a huge difference in your online network marketing or direct selling business.
Did you get some value from this post? If you did, I would really appreciate you sharing it with others! And, your comments are welcome below!
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About Eldon Beard
Hello Eldon, I agree with you, about this being challenging for new people sometimes. Those who see the big picture just get on with it, and follow the steps. However, many people want an easy way out, and choose to follow a “tried and true” system, without becoming a leader themselves.
There’s plenty of places to get assistance with the techy stuff, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Eldon’s steps are a good start!
Regards from Julieanne
Hi Julieanne,
If someone is brand new to all of this, I think it’s okay to start out in the beginning with a “tried and true” system perhaps, but the ultimate goal should be to develop your own system and establish yourself apart from the pack as a leader.
Elton, It is also a good idea to use the same graphics for your blog twitter, and other social networks. Did it take long to develop your own brand for your on line business. All the best Rosemary
Hey Eldon,
This is my first visit to your online “Home” and I will be sure to return in the coming weeks and months ahead. I look forward to getting to know you better.
I started building my “Home” online in November of last year (although I have been involved in network marketing for several years) and I am really enjoying the wonderful world of blogging. There is a lot to learn when just starting out of course as is the case with any new worthwhile venture but in this industry there are always many people who are more then willing to help you out and show you the ropes.
Thanks for sharing this Eldon.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by! There is a lot of great information out there to help you with learning all you need to know about blogging, much of it free. When I started my first blog about four years ago, I went through a paid membership site course until I learned what I needed, but these days you can pick up most (if not all) of what you need to know without having to pay for a formal course. Good luck with your network marketing business!
Hi Eldon, I agree completely. At first it all seems to be “too much.” But then as you go step by step, as you mentioned above, it does get easier. I believe your blog is your home base and that’s where you can sell your ebook, etc. Once you get into the swing of things, new learning curves always pop up and the secret I found is to take one step at a time. Learn one thing, and put it into action. That is always a challenge for me because I tend to want to do everything. But to stay on course is the key to success.
Thank you for giving us these points – especially for the newbies that are flowing in. They need leaders like you to show them the way.
Donna Merrill
Hello Donna,
Very wise point you made – “take it one step at a time”. It is so easy to get distracted and go off in all different directions trying to master too much at once. I know that from experience. Best to keep the focus and stay on course.
Hello Rosemary,
To me, developing my own brand is an ongoing process that will always be a work in progress. I think the key is just being genuine and true to who your really are. I agree with your point about using the same graphic or logo where you can for different social networks – it definitely helps set you apart.
Hello Eldon,
Online marketing can be a challenge for many in the beginning. I know it was for me, but I’ve always loved a challenge anyway.
You are so right about people having struggles with the technical side of getting started online.
I remember visiting marketing forums hearing people talk about how they uploaded a file to their website using Filezilla, I thought, file who?
Is that some new Godzilla monster movie?
I have since learned what FTP is and how to use it, some what.
I’ll admit while online marketing has it’s challenges, it can sure be rewarding too.
Although I was intimidated when I started online a couple of years ago, I kept at it, learning from my mistakes and never giving up.
My first blog was on blogspot, then wordpress.com.
I’ve now braved the waters and moved over to the big boy’s, word press .org.
I am still learning new things everyday, and now trying to share what I’ve learned with others.
Cheers,
Willie
Hey Willie,
Sounds like you’ve learned a lot from just diving in there and doing it. That’s pretty much what I’ve done. Setting up a WordPress blog really isn’t hard, but can be very intimidating the first time around. If you have any questions about WordPress or blogging, feel free to contact me. I’ll do my best to help.
Hi Eldon, anytime I see someone out there talking about personal breanding, I just have to stop by and comment. It is such a crucial subject. Personal branding is one of those things that nobody was really taking that seriously until about 2 yrs ago. Then it became important. Now it has become absolutley essential if you want to run a successful online business.
Thanks for really pushing the awareness out there to all new folks just getting going 🙂
Hello Mandy,
Yes, it is absolutely necessary to stand out and brand yourself first, and promote your business along with that. Prospects have lot of choices and just pushing/hyping a business opportunity without a personal touch doesn’t cut it anymore.
I got a bit of a chuckle when I read “Even network marketers who have been promoting their opportunity online for years in more traditional ways (paid advertising, pay per click ads, and so forth) can feel intimidated by all of this.” I guess the first thought I have when I hear “traditional” might be: knock on doors like Fuller brush, remember?, home parties like Tupperware, and inviting friends and family to hear the opportunity at a hotel or home meeting like Amway and many others. I have done quite a bit online in the last few years but typically shy away from pay per click or other advertising. For me, it is still, by far, the most challenging terrain in business.
Hi Richard,
I sure do remember the “traditional” offline ways. I tried Amway twice a few years ago, and this was when it was all done locally with the hotel meetings and so forth. The Internet opened up a whole new frontier of opportunity, but many people came online thinking they could just put up a web page and sponsor like crazy. It doesn’t work that way. The Internet is simply an effective way to reach prospects, but the relationships and working with people is still the secret to success.
Hi Eldon,
I think its great how you acknowledge how many network marketer find all of this personal branding and online attraction marketing stuff so painfully difficult, and then you prove it by giving a very general, overwhelming overview of the steps required in bullet points and some additional, rather hair raising, must-do items. It all kind of leads to one thing for the newbie; download Eldon’s ebook right now 🙂 The only thing missing is a direct call to action, “Get my ebook right now, find my phone # in it on page 15, and call me for help.”
I your ebook has the answers, you are sitting on a winning combination, here.
Nice work,
David H. Paul
the Follow Your Bliss guy
Thank you David, I appreciate your comments and suggestions! 🙂
Hi Eldon,
Thanks for the helpful content. I am in thew newbie stage and have just set up my blog and am establishing my online presence http://www.martinorris.com. It’s all still overwhelming but I will be checking out your site to get more helpful tips. Do you have any recommendations on where I can have a professional photo taken and then have it uploaded to my site?
Thanks.
Marti
Hi Marti,
The main photo I use for my profile on Facebook and other places was taken by a professional studio. I’ve had some made at Olan Mills, and some at Sears Portrait Studio. Just get a package that includes the photos on CD, and you can easily upload them to your site.
Hi Eldon. These are great suggestions for those just starting out or those that skipped step one when they started out 🙂 I would like to add that when dealing with WP Plugins – Watch out for the Plugin Monster! I have been visited by him way too many times and it is NOT fun. Some WP Plugins just don’t play nicely. And of course the problems/issues they produce do not come with a tag that says “I am here messing with your WP site because you have a Plugin I don’t like” LOL. So here is my suggestion. If something really wacky starts happening on your WP blog that makes absolutely no sense, check your plugins 🙂
Hey Julie, that’s great advice about the plugins! I have had several instances where one of my blogs crashed for no known reason, and deactivating ALL the plugins then restoring them one by one helped find the problem. Another thing I can add to this also – beware of installing a lot of plugins. There is no set number or anything, but the more of these you run, the slower your site will tend to load, and that can hurt you two ways:
1) Google is known to be taking site load speed into account when evaluating the quality of a site
2) When it takes forever for your blog to load, some visitors will just click away and go elsewhere
Hey Eldon,
Good article – I was attracted to the title because I’ve been working with a lot of branding recently. I think you’ve covered some very good points here – but yep, it can certainly feel overwhelming for the newbie. For this reason I think it’s so important to try and work with a mentor and find at least one community of people who are in the same boat – it really helps with morale and shortens the learning curve.