You already have a personal brand name. New customers come to you mainly on the recommendation. However, most of them, before calling for the first time, will first check who you are and what your achievements are on the Internet. Building a personal brand online should therefore be a well-thought-out process.
Technical matters at the beginning
Domain
So the address where you will be visible on the web. If you provide services on the UK market, a domain ending in .co.uk will be the best. If it is already taken, it is worth considering as an alternative to .com or .eu. Buying a domain is an expense depending on its type and the current promotion. The domain must be renewed every year. I also recommend buying the domain name “name. com”, even if you run a business under a brand other than your name and surname. Even if you do not use it, you will block other people from purchasing it.
Hosting
That is a place on the server where the website and e-mail accounts can be placed. Usually, in the beginning, the cheapest package is enough. It’s best to buy a domain and hosting in one company – not only will you limit the number of invoices you receive, but you can also save a bit.
The most popular companies like the best australian online casino provide this type of service.
Communication is essential
Website
It is your basic tool for maintaining relationships with current and potential customers. Before you start creating it, ask yourself a few questions:
- In what field am I a specialist?
- What problems am I solving?
- Who is my client? Who am I addressing my offer to?
- What language should I use to address my clients?
- What image do I want to ultimately build?
- What distinguishes me from the competition?
You can create a page in two ways:
- Design from scratch – the graphic designer creates an individual graphic design tailored to your needs, the developer codes the page and provides you with the administration panel (CMS), thanks to which you will be able to edit its content yourself.
- Buy a ready-made template (the so-called skin), for example for the most popular blogging system WordPress. The template itself costs about $ 50 – $ 150, plus the cost of installation on the server and possible modifications to the template by the developer (hiding unnecessary elements, adding missing ones).
The advantage of the first solution is an individual approach and potential distinction in the market. The downside is higher costs and a longer implementation time for such a project.
In the second case, the advantage is that you can see the result before buying (template demo). The advantages are also lower costs and a shorter implementation period. Importantly, ready-made templates are in most cases adapted to display on mobile devices. The downside of this solution is the possibility of purchasing such a template from more than one person.
Photos
When creating a personal page, it is worth investing in a professional photo session.
Blog
If you have something interesting to say about the current trends in your industry and you can save a few hours a month, I certainly recommend you write a blog. Entries do not have to belong – it is enough that they appear regularly and will be an inspiration/solution to a problem for your customers. The blog is also a source of additional entries from the search engine. Google awards higher positions to those pages on which fresh content appears regularly.
Google Tools
Speaking of Google, this company offers several tools that will help you reach new customers. If you haven’t used any of them yet, you should start by creating an account with Google services. One login and password will be used to operate all of the following tools.
When creating a website, make sure that the developer adds the Google Analytics tracking code. It is thanks to this tool that you will find out how many users visit your website, how they find it, how much time they spend on individual subpages, etc. We wrote more about its possibilities here: Google Analytics knows your users.
The second important tool is Google Search Console. Here, you can find out how your website is indexed by Google or if there are any problems (e.g. malware). You will also get valuable information on which search terms the link to your website appears on in the search results and the approximate number of entries they generate.
If you have an office/premises where you host customers, be sure to create a business card in the Google My Business service. Thanks to this, you will increase your chances of reaching customers who are looking for companies in your industry in the area using Google Maps.
The last of Google’s tools that will allow you to directly reach potential customers is Google AdWords, i.e. text advertising in a search engine. A potential customer will come to your website when he enters a phrase defined by you in the search engine and sees the ad text that will convince him to click it. You’ll only pay when they click on your ad and go to your website. How is advertising in the search engine different from positioning in natural results?
If you would like to remind your clients about yourself from time to time, you should use remarketing. You can read exactly how it works here: Remarketing in Adwords, i.e. retargeting in the Google edition.
Social media
For some people, an active presence on social media is enough to build a personal brand. In my opinion, however, it is not worth relying only on external tools that are beyond your control.
If you direct your services to the business sector, a personal business card in portals such as LinkedIn or GoldenLine is essential. You can also use them actively to search for customers. You can read more about it in the post: How to use LinkedIn in B2B communication?
Facebook is still number 1 in communication with consumers. To reach more fans (without having to pay Facebook to promote your posts), it is worth adding posts that engage users regularly. For example, photos or videos work well.
Twitter, on the other hand, remains a niche tool in Poland. It is used actively mainly by politicians, journalists, and sportsmen.
If the result of your work is something that can be presented in photos (for example, a house design if you are an architect, a collection of clothes if you are a designer, etc.) you should try Instagram and Pinterest tools. More information about them can be found in the posts:
A bonus for the persistent
Do you only associate the newsletter with spam? Mistake! E-mail remains the cheapest and most effective sales channel. If you want to maintain regular contact with your customers, be sure to collect e-mail addresses for your database on your website. FreshMail will be the perfect tool for this. Thanks to it, you can also send a beautiful message using one of the dozens of free templates.
