This document provides steps for enhancing a personal brand with a blog in 3 sentences or less: The document discusses why blogging is a key component of personal branding by establishing credibility and expertise, and recommends starting with free blogging platforms like Blogger, TypePad, or WordPress. It also outlines models for blogging with WordPress, including hosting on your own domain or using a WordPress.com subdomain, and provides tips for getting started, customizing the look, and using a blog to serve as a website.

1. Easy steps to enhancing your personal brand with a blog. Return to Work Center April 14, 2010

2. Today’s agenda For beginners and neophytes More ‘how-to’ than ‘what-to’ Why blog? Relation to personal branding Where to start/models of blogging Cool things you can do Getting started Refining and enhancing

3. Why blog? “ A blog can lead to bigger and better things.” --Personal branding guru Dan Schawbel, personalbranding.com

4. Why blog? Key component of your personal brand Establish credibility Maximize SEO Hone writing and expertise Update LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter Reinforce your website OR Serve as your website

5. Personal branding across platforms Establish your full name, consistently LinkedIn profile Twitter name Facebook Purchase domain name Multiple email addresses Your blog and/or website Make it look right!

6. Where to start blogging? Blogger.com Part of Google, free Relatively easy to use, many options Typically ‘blogname.blogspot.com’ TypePad.com Also free (paid options) Many templates Good reputation among blogging community

7. Where to start blogging? WordPress More like TypePad than like Blogger Free and paid options Highly customizable Easy to use (in 5 minutes!) Clean, elegant look and feel Growing use for both blogs and web pages

8. http://alis-space.blogspot.com

9. http://wmubhelpdesk.blogspot.com

10. http://www.futilitycloset.com

11. http://us29blog.wordpress.com

12. http://bit.ly/clevesblog

13. http://clevecallison.com

14. Three models of blogging with WordPress 1) Install WordPress. org Content Management System (CMS) on your own web hosted space 2) Publish as ‘yourname.wordpress. com ’ 3) Publish as ‘yourname. com ’

15. WordPress.org CMS on your space Domain and web space Most flexibility and control Strong personal brand Cost is reasonable ($50-100 per year) Greatest refinement of look and feel Requires some knowledge of HTML and/or SQL and PHP, at least for now

16. Arthur C. Clarke “ Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic.”

19. 5 cool things you can do with a WordPress blog (automatically) New content on your LinkedIn profile Tweet Update your Facebook status Maximize SEO For Google, Yahoo and Bing Post from your cell phone

20. ‘ yourname.wordpress.com’ Most common FREE! Easy to use Good technical support online Starts in 5 minutes Little or no HTML required Partial personal branding

21. Publish blog as ‘yourname.com’ Strong personal brand Minimal technical requirements (same as ‘yourname.wordpress.com’) Low cost (c. $50-$100 annually) Can be made to integrate with your website

22. Starting your WordPress blog •••••••• X johnsmith •••••••• [email_address]

23. Choosing a look (Theme)

24. Navigating the Dashboard data: posts, pages data: views options

25. Shaping display contents with Widgets select available widgets drag to sidebar

26. Creating and editing Posts put your post title here put your post content here preview categories write a brief excerpt here Twitter and Facebook publish

27. Pages

28. Pages

29. Creating and editing Pages

30. Creating and editing Pages

31. Publish blog as ‘yourname.com’ 1) Buy domain name through WordPress Least complicated Least expensive (c. $15/year) Some restrictions (e.g. no Google ads) 2) Use one from another ISP Publish your blog to the domain (or sub-domain) Change ISP settings to allow this

32. Profile photo Comments -- allow/ moderated? Jump posts, or full? PermaLink to full post Private or public? Allow search engines? Other items

33. Using your blog as your web site “ Not every website is a blog. But every blog is a website.” Easy to update without HTML Multiple contributors if desired Automatically creates an archive Archive is searchable

34. Using your blog as your web site

35. Using your blog as your web site Modify blog so structure is minimal Look at entries per page Modify navigation and other elements Make a static page the home page Blog can still be one of the alternate pages Requires careful construction of widgets

36. Changing your home page

37. Automatic publishing on LinkedIn excerpt most recent post

38. Search Engine Optimization

39. Goodbye.

40. Cleve’s contact info [email_address] LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/clevecallison Twitter: clevecallison Blog: bit.ly/clevesblog