How To Use Blogging For Your Personal Brand

Last Updated on August 23, 2024

Building a personal brand online is essential for everyone from entrepreneurs to small business owners and working professionals. No matter who you are, personal branding is key to a successful career. But how exactly do you start creating one?

We all probably have a favorite blogger that we follow.  But blogging is actually a much more powerful tool than many realize. Blogging is a key part of an effective content marketing strategy. Plus, it is the best way to tell the world exactly who you are and what you’re all about. 

There are many ways you can use a blog to promote your personal brand. Here are 15 ways that you can do that:

1. Focus On Quality
2. Be Consistent
3. Find Your Voice
4. Choose Topics Relevant To Your Brand
5. Leverage Newsjacking
6. Go Evergreen
7. Engage your readers
8. Formatting
9. Show Your Personality
10. Demonstrate Your Expertise
11. Use Keywords
12. Clarify Your Brand
13. Engage in Guest Blogging
14. Promote an Email Sign-Up
15. Share On Social Media

15 Ways To Use Blogging for Your Personal Brand

Use these tips to boost your online presence and promote your personal brand through blogging:

1. Focus On Quality 

By having a blog that consists of high-quality content, you are showing that your personal brand is high quality.

Let’s break down exactly what quality blog content means:

• Before you start writing a blog post, ask yourself “Who cares?”. It sounds rhetorical, but the answer to this question will help you write your content.
• Quality content is relevant, useful, and interesting to your audience.You need to understand and write content for them. Every post needs to offer your readers something. 
• You should format your posts in an organized way with headlines, sub-headers, clear paragraphs, bullet point lists, etc. This makes the post more engaging and easy to follow.
• When writing a blog post, be clear and concise in your language. Double check your spelling and grammar before posting.
• Your post ideas should be unique and stand apart from the competition. Research your blog topics well and keep the information up-to-date.
• Include relevant and engaging images, videos, audio clips, etc in your posts. People don’t want to read a wall of text, but they will enjoy a multimedia experience.

2. Be Consistent

Be consistent in your writing and posting schedule. People who subscribe to or visit your blog want to know when to expect new content. Keeping a schedule  creates a sense of trust and builds loyalty.

Consistency is important, but so is frequency, so write often. Here’s why:

• Frequent and consistent blogging boosts your SEO (search engine optimization).
• More content will only help to build up your personal brand.
• The more you post, the more you refine your blogging skills, and the more engagement you’ll get.
• People consume a lot of content, but even more people produce it. Frequent blogging helps you stay competitive.
• Fresh content regularly reminds readers about your blog and personal brand.

Write often and schedule your posts to go live on the same days each week.

3. Find Your Voice 

Your  voice adds character to your blog and helps you build an identity online. Use these three basic elements to help you find your voice:

• Tone. This is the persona or mood of your writing. It can be formal, informal, serious, funny, friendly, professional, etc.
• Style is all about how you present your blog through the structure and format.
• Language is how you use words to get your message across.

These elements can change. On one hand, you want your voice to be authentic to your brand and relatable to your audience. At the same time, make some room to adapt and switch things up depending on the situation.

4. Choose Topics Relevant To Your Brand

Ensure that what you write about is relevant to your personal brand. If it is not, it will confuse your readers and turn them off.

Let’s look at an example. If you’re a fashion blogger, most of your posts talk about clothing and style. It would also make sense for you to blog about makeup, hair, and beauty. However, a blog titled “Top 10 Fishing Spots in Massachusetts” would not make a lot of sense.

If you’re stuck for blog topics, try these tips:

• Keep a running document to keep track of your blog topic ideas, as well as ones you have already written about. Get all of your ideas out and refine it later.
• Look at other blogs in your niche and see what they are posting. Think about what you could add to the conversation that others haven’t.
• Use a keyword research tool to find various keywords related to your blog topics. This helps you understand what people are already searching for.
• Once you build up your audience, you can directly ask them what topics they’re interested in. You can do this by asking on social media or directing them to a submission form on your website.

The importance of choosing blog topics that are relevant to your personal brand can not be understated.

5. Leverage Newsjacking

Newsjacking is when you produce content that references hyper-relevant, newsworthy events and piggyback your content to capture search traffic.

Here are some tips for getting newsjacking right:

• Make sure the news topic is something your readers want to know about.
• Offer your own unique take on the news story.
• Timing is key here. There should be a quick turnaround to get these posts live, so you need to monitor the news. Set up a Google Alert for relevant keywords to make sure you don’t miss anything.
• Make sure that any data or statistics you cite are credible.
• When using humor, do it in a tasteful way. Depending on the story, you could risk coming across as insensitive. You don’t want to damage your brand reputation, so be mindful of your tone.

These topics are great for gaining a lot of traffic in a short amount of time. But the story will die down eventually. However, there is a type of content that keeps readers around for the long-haul.

6. Go Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to any topic that is continually relevant to a reader. Just like pine trees are green no matter the season, evergreen content stays relevant for a long time. 

This kind of content does not focus on trends. Writing trendy content is great for gaining short-term traffic, but evergreen content has long-term value. Aim to have a mix of trending and evergreen content on your blog.

Evergreen content ideas can include:

• How-to and step-by-step guides
• Beginner guides
• Answers to commonly asked questions
• Timeless tips and pieces of advice
• Thought leadership articles

Posting this kind of content allows you to constantly drive traffic to your website and connect with your audience. You will also establish yourself as an industry expert. Provide your own unique insight and expertise that readers can only get from you.

7. Engage your readers

One of the best ways to use your blog to promote your personal brand is by engaging with your readers. 

An engaged reader is one that stays on your website longer, shares your posts, and keeps coming back for more. This all helps promote your brand.

Use these tips to engage your readers:

• Give readers the content they want (even if they don’t know they want it).
• Connect with readers in the comment section and on social media. You might not be able to respond to all the comments, but do your best.
• Make sure blogs are visually appealing.
• Write an enticing, catchy headline.
• Hook readers in the first paragraph.
• Ensure your site is mobile-friendly.
• Reduce the page load time on your website.
• Make your blog scannable (more on that below).

8. Formatting

Creating a well-formatted blog is a great way to engage your readers. Most of the time, people won’t read your entire blog post. Instead, they scan it for the information they are looking for.

Making your blog scannable will ensure it is easy to read, which boosts engagement. Use these tips:

• Write in short paragraphs of 2-4 sentences. Long paragraphs are harder to read, even more so on mobile devices. We’re not writing a novel here.
• In a similar vein, write in short sentences.
• Use headings and subheadings in your article so that readers can keep track of where they are.
• Utilize bullet points and numbered lists instead of listing out a bunch of points in a sentence.
• Add images throughout the blog post in addition to the featured image. Add captions to your images.
• Bold certain words and italicize others to draw attention to important information.

9. Show Your Personality

Compared to a blog of a corporate brand, it is easier to show off your personality for a personal blog.

When people read blogs, they want to get a feel for the writer’s personality. This adds flair to the content, making it unique, enjoyable, and relatable. 

Add personality by:

• Giving your authentic opinions or feelings about a topic.
• Offering personal anecdotes and stories.
• Writing as if you are talking to your friends. Of course, you don’t want to come off as unprofessional, but don’t sound like you’re in a job interview.
• As tempting as it is these days, avoid using artificial intelligence to write the content for you. People want your own take, not a robot’s.

10. Demonstrate Your Expertise

To become a thought leader in your field, you must show off your expertise. This helps with Google’s E-E-A-T factor, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Using this concept will not only help you create great content, but boost SEO as well.  

To demonstrate expertise, try these tips:

• Inject personal stories and insights into your articles.
• SEO is important, but your goal is to write quality content for people, not search engines.
• Cite credible sources in your articles and do thorough research.
• Use the Home and About pages on your website to tell people who you are. Include your credentials, degrees, and other qualifications.
• Add an author byline in your posts that includes a profile image.
• Add a contact page to your website where people can reach out to you.

11. Use Keywords

SEO is an important element of digital marketing, and that is very much the case with blogs as well. So, make sure to use relevant keywords.

By researching keywords, you can discover popular topics that are easy to rank for on Google or other search engines. This helps you drive more organic traffic to your article, and your blog.

To start doing keyword research:

• Write a list of topics relevant to your personal brand.
• Enter those topics into a keyword research tool to find related keywords.
• Look for keywords that have a high volume of searches but a low difficulty rating. This means that a lot of people are searching, but there isn’t enough content to satisfy the search.
• Keep a list of target keywords and include them in your blog posts.

12. Clarify Your Brand

One of the ways that you can use your blog is to clarify your personal brand. In other words, it can help you be clearer about what you have to offer.

To define your personal brand, you need to know your:

• Core strengths
• Passions
• Goals and values
• Anything that makes you unique
• Your target audience

Understanding these will help guide you in your content writing. Make sure your brand is consistent across your website and social media platforms.

13. Engage in Guest Blogging 

Guest posting on other websites helps spread your personal brand to a wider audience.You get to build relationships with other bloggers in your field, enhance SEO, and drive organic traffic to your site.

Consider reaching out to people, organizations and brands you know personally or are familiar with to start. Guest post on sites that are relevant to your personal brand. The idea is that their audience will be receptive to your content and visit your website. 

14. Promote an Email Sign-Up

Get people to sign up for an email list on your blog. That way they can stay in the loop on most recent blog articles when they go live. Other benefits of creating an email newsletter include:

• Drive traffic to your website and grow your audience.
• Build trust with your readers through a direct line of communication.
• If you want to monetize your blog, emails are a great way to market products and services.

15. Share On Social Media

You wrote and posted your blog, but you still have more to do! Social media marketing is one of the best ways to promote your blog.

By sharing your blogs on social media, your network can always stay updated. Plus, it helps build a community around your blog. Readers can leave their comments and reactions to your article, as well as share it with their own followers.

Related: What to do when the username you want is already taken. (Plus, tips for choosing a handle that aligns with your personal brand.)

Closing Out: Using Blogging to Boost Your Personal Brand

In today’s digital world, personal branding is a necessity. Blogging is an authentic way to grow your brand and show the world who you are. Use these tips to create an effective, personally branded blog.

Need help building your personal brand? You could benefit from our personal reputation management services. Our expert team uses cutting edge strategies to make you look good online. Contact us for a free consultation.

About The Author

William DiAntonio

William DiAntonio is the Founder & CEO of Reputation911, a reputation management firm he founded in 2010 that has earned the trust of its clients for over a decade by helping individuals, businesses and brands control their online search results.