Archive for December 2nd, 2009

This is part of the the book BLOGTASTIC! Growing and Making a Difference Through Blogging. You can read the table of contents and follow the book on this page:

See the table of contents for the book here: BLOGTASTIC project

Previous article: Not all blogging tips are practical

BLOGTASTIC: What’s on your “About Me” page?

Many people feel that since it’s so easy to start a blog, it should also be easy to succeed in blogging. While great content alone might get someone to the top, it is more of an exception than rule. Showing to everyone that you are “better qualified” to write on the topics you are writing becomes more important as you go higher up. Your audience need proof to convince themselves that you are someone that they should listen to.

In other words, while you are trying to get your blog in order, it is also important to get your life and career in order. Your life, your career, and your blog go together. Your personal brand, simply speaking, is “who you are” to the world. It will have a direct impact on how well your blog is received.

I started blogging at Life Beyond Code on February 14, 2005 (Yes, it was on a Valentine’s day. It was mere coincidence and does not mean anything. So don’t read too much into the date ) After more than four years, one of the most popular links of my website is the “About” link on the menu. When new visitors come to my site, they want to know more about me. Even if they like what I write, they want to know why I am qualified to say what I am saying. I took a screen shot of the home page today and yes, even today, the most popular link is “About” link on the menu.

Unfortunately, you can’t ignore your personal brand anymore. You can’t say, “Please don’t worry about who I am. Judge me by what I write and not by who I am.” That strategy won’t work.

---

Blogging Tip: Upgrade yourself today!

Renowned Mystic Jaggi Vasudev, the renowned mystic, said it beautifully: “Since your work defines who you are, your focus should be to work on who you are.”

---

Blogging will take a lot of your time. Unless you are a full-time blogger, this time will come from your precious non-work hours. Many people view a blog as part of their professional development plan.

Devote a part of your professional development time to build a powerful identity in the marketplace. The power of your blog will be directly proportional to the power of your identity. To download a free eBook on Personal Branding (PDF, 40 pages) please visit the page below:

Rajesh Setty: Personal Branding for Technology Professionals

( There is an English and a Japanese version of the eBook on the page)

Rajesh Setty is an entrepreneur, author and speaker based in Silicon Valley. He maintains another blog called Life Beyond Code and tweets as @UpbeatNow

Tagged as: about me, BLOGTASTIC!, book, Identity, personal branding, Rajesh Setty

Have you noticed how you live life and then suddenly one day you notice “something”, seemingly for the first time? Then after noticing that “something”, it seems to be hounding you – they just suddenly appear everywhere?

One of the best examples is the emergency exit sign at the movies. Amazing how an illuminated red/green sign in a dark room just goes unnoticed. Think back to the last film you watched and see if you recall  where the emergency exit was? Yes it was there, law requires it be there and clearly visible too!! You probably even left through the emergency door afterwards.

So what does this have to do with business? It occurred to me that many entrepreneurs start something that they identify as missing, flawed or incomplete. The fact that they are able to vision this means that they have a concern for this need and that is why they can notice it. This is good from the point of visioning, but it will also prove very difficult to get investors, partners and consumers interested until they too can see the need.

For big organizations they put their new products in front of us through marketing and advertising and telling us the story of the possibilities the new product will create for us. This gets it quickly adopted and widely noticed. For the entrepreneur it is a far longer and slower process. In the same way a salesman looks at his prospects and tries to convert as many to sales, the entrepreneur must maximize every interaction to ensure that the listener leaves with a clear vision of this product’s need, and the space of possibilities it will create once  in the world.

Once your listener can notice, they too will suddenly feel like they are being hounded by the opportunities for your product – and they too will then unconsciously become your speaker. This is important from a promotional point of view but more important in drawing in interested parties to build your products network.

Make sure you produce the vision every time in your listener, because that is where you will get the most powerful interaction, these listeners will see the exit signs like the fire alarm was ringing. If the listener leaves with a blurred vision, they will not notice that exit sign but take the exit!

This article was contributed by Guy Ralfe, co-founder of Active Garage and co-author of the upcoming book ProjectManagementTweets. You can follow Guy on Twitter at gralfe.

Tagged as: active garage, business, business opportunity, Business Strategy, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Guy Ralfe, http://activegarage.com, investment, noticing, opportunity, possibilities, Sales and Marketing