12 Jul 10 2:30 pm
Branding your Pen Name
Branding your pen name is an easy way to start seeing traffic to your site. I am surprised at how many people never do an about me page, or try to get rankings on their own name.
When you first start out, you won't have many people searching for you. However, in time, you will find that as your name spreads in the niche, you will begin having people looking for you by name. this is especially true if you start doing some social networking.
this is why I always recommend setting up an about me page to your site. However, don't name it "about me". Instead Use "about (insert pen name here)".
Now, as you go about building social profiles, and branding your business, you can build links to your about me page.
One of the best ways to promote this page is through commenting on blogs. I realized this when after weeks of blog commenting using my main url, I realized my main domain was starting to rank highly for my name. This is because most blog comments use your name as the anchor text. There are a few things that you can do to ramp this up.
For starters, most blog comments are no follow. In order to get on do follow blogs, I look for CommentLuv enabled blogs. This gives a Do follow link, and it also will give an seo link to your latest blog post ( if you have one.)
Now, when you do these comments, instead of just using your base url in the homepage field, use the url to your about me page. This will be a page that is all about you, and SEO optimized to rank for your name.
As your reputation grows in the niche, and people start looking for you, they can find you easily with a search.
Now, your about me page needs to be a well written page that focuses on your experience, and why people should listen to you.
I usually use an image, which is the same image that I will use on all my social profiles, so that people will recognize it as me. I write up about 400-500 words about how i got interested in the topic, and a little about my research. The point with the page is to brand yourself as an authority on the niche (not necessarily an expert).
Keep it real (except the name if you choose a pen name). Don't lie about your interest, but you can slant it to show that you have spent time reading books and researching the information that you are sharing ( which you should do anyway, if you want to target the right people). I also like to use this page as an opportunity to share my social connections. Add a link to you Fan Page if you have one, Youtube Channel, Hubpages Profile, and other social networks that you are involved with. I usually set it to no follow so that i don't bleed off the link juice.
Some people will say this hurts you because you are reciprocal linking. The truth here is that although it will hurt a little, the difference will be negligible compared to all the links you are building up. I usually only have 4-5 links on the page. Just enough to get people coming to my site into my social network, so that i can build the one on one relationships with them that really lead to successful marketing long term.
Now, I would like to know your ideas. How do you brand your names within your niches? I am looking for new Ideas to brand myself better, so share your experiences, (or ask any questions if you have them).
