Branding David

There are so many people online at any one minute, and if you are on here to build a business, you’ll want to figure out how you want to be known.

Considering your personal brand, or your personal mission statement can have little to do with fame or money, but instead it is the hook that defines you and your goals online.

I have met many people that are very successful online that wanted to be known as “the guy that isn’t known by many people online, but still makes a lot thanks to Google search result traffic.”

Everyone has a hook though. Usually, you’ll see it at the top of their site or in their sidebar. For me, I want to be known as the person people can trust to learn about blogging, branding, and new media.

While there might be many people that want to be known in the same way that I do, that is no reason to change myself and my brand. If ten people stated doing what Gary Vaynerchuk does in his video podcast, would that change Gary? Probably not!

Your brand is your own, even if there are dozens of other people want to be known for the same thing. Learning how you want to be known can help focus your pursuits, and keep you on track for the future.

It is my twenty-sixth birthday today, and it really does feel like a strange milestone. I am now closer to thirty than twenty, and my first thought is that I have so many things to do in my life before I have kids, and settle down.

I have been getting all kinds of great birthday wishes, and cards, and I am really happy that I have so many great people in my life.

As part of my little celebration, I wanted to open up the Membership area of this site to a limited number of people, and so over the next seven days, I will be randomly selecting five people that have commented on this blog for a free six month membership (a $60 value).

So if you are a lurker, and would love to get into the membership area, or if you are a new visitor and want to see what it is like, leave a comment on this or any post to have your name put into the draw. Make sure you use your correct e-mail address, or I won’t be able to contact you.

Other than that, if you are older than me, what was your twenty-sixth birthday like, and do you have any advice for me on life? If you are younger, where do you hope to be at twenty-six? Let me know in the comments below.

There are going to be many interesting things happening in the blogging world over the next eight to sixteen months, as the economy shifts, and certain things change.

I assumed that as smaller businesses decided to hold back on advertising related spending that the bigger companies would pour their money into the web in hopes of getting a higher return on investment when compared to “old” media like television, radio and newspapers. The reality is that no one is filling the void, and so advertising rates are dropping quickly.

This had changed many people, like myself, that were avid fans of pay walls on sites coming down and freeing information and expertise by using the ad-supported model to realizing that a new business model needs to quickly replace general display advertising.

Unfortunately, this means that instead of charging companies, we have to charge those that would normally be our biggest fans and supporters. While many of us are trying to keep the fees as reasonable as possible, it is far from free, no matter what the dollar amount ends up being.

Many “experts” are going to be building out membership areas on their sites, or for their companies and brands because they need to replace that lost advertising revenue, while still being able to do the things they have expertise in doing.

As a consumer, you have to figure out “who is telling it to me straight, and who do I trust?” Once you figure out who to trust online, then you can choose who you want to support.

I have a feeling that this choice is going to get difficult as more and more people bring out membership areas on their sites, but as a consumer, research them, understand their motivations, and if able to, give them a month, and see what they have to offer. If you don’t enjoy it, cancel and move on.

Hone in on who gets “it” for you, and you’ll do fine.