Comments on: SEO and your personal brand http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/ personal blog about all things Agile, SEO, Web Development, Scrum, Usability, Photography and whatever else I blurt out Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:05:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jono Lewis http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-224 Jono Lewis Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:54:23 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-224 I read your post Tim. Thoughtful. The RJ case I'm sure has become a case study in personal branding 101. I have to admit, in my limited and humble opinion "personal branding," is problematic and misused. As the son of a very experienced strategic marketer I understand better than most what a "brand," is and is not. As a Gen Y about to graduate from UCT I get the logic of course. I just designed and launched my site. A very wise guy who coined "lifestyle design," said its easier to create a brand once you have created value. Who would argue? If only people would spend less time proclaiming to be social media experts or brands and focus on smarter and more creative ways to create meaningful and productive portrayals. Calling yourself a "passionista" or "code monkey," seems silly and superficial. My approach is to start to share things I have actually done in the forms of causes, products, communities and conversations. They need to be compelling enough to speak for themself or I've done something wrong and need to regroup. Graduates have no excuse. There are a long list of signalling devices which you can attach to your online identity to entice recruiters. I have heard from the horse's mouth, that in the fields of work I want to enter resumes/cv's don't matter. Show me what you've done they always say or show me how you think. People hire people not pieces of paper. So to reiterate, my early approach is to avoid witty one-line self descriptions or insincere bull-shit speak. Stay honest. Stay humble. Maintain integrity and you'll outshine and outlast the "passionistas," and their passing fads. I read your post Tim. Thoughtful. The RJ case I’m sure has become a case study in personal branding 101. I have to admit, in my limited and humble opinion “personal branding,” is problematic and misused. As the son of a very experienced strategic marketer I understand better than most what a “brand,” is and is not. As a Gen Y about to graduate from UCT I get the logic of course. I just designed and launched my site. A very wise guy who coined “lifestyle design,” said its easier to create a brand once you have created value. Who would argue? If only people would spend less time proclaiming to be social media experts or brands and focus on smarter and more creative ways to create meaningful and productive portrayals. Calling yourself a “passionista” or “code monkey,” seems silly and superficial. My approach is to start to share things I have actually done in the forms of causes, products, communities and conversations. They need to be compelling enough to speak for themself or I’ve done something wrong and need to regroup. Graduates have no excuse. There are a long list of signalling devices which you can attach to your online identity to entice recruiters. I have heard from the horse’s mouth, that in the fields of work I want to enter resumes/cv’s don’t matter. Show me what you’ve done they always say or show me how you think. People hire people not pieces of paper. So to reiterate, my early approach is to avoid witty one-line self descriptions or insincere bull-shit speak. Stay honest. Stay humble. Maintain integrity and you’ll outshine and outlast the “passionistas,” and their passing fads.

]]> By: André van Rooyen http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-8 André van Rooyen Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:54:51 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-8 Interesting post, Tim. Thanks for the link to the post I wrote for The Mac Blog. Prompted me to do a vanity search for the first time in ages. Shocked, I was. 5/10 on first page and highest #2, down from 8/10 and #1,2 &3. I know pretty much nothing about SEO (apart from the obvious) so I'm guessing my recent drop-off in commenting on other blogs is to blame. I'll have to fix that. Starting here :) Thanks again. Interesting post, Tim. Thanks for the link to the post I wrote for The Mac Blog.

Prompted me to do a vanity search for the first time in ages.
Shocked, I was. 5/10 on first page and highest #2, down from 8/10 and #1,2 &3.

I know pretty much nothing about SEO (apart from the obvious) so I’m guessing my recent drop-off in commenting on other blogs is to blame. I’ll have to fix that. Starting here :)

Thanks again.

]]> By: komel http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-7 komel Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:49:30 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-7 Nice work! Well done! Nice work! Well done!

]]> By: Rich http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Rich Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:18:03 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-6 Hey, nice work - you've already made it to positions #8 and #10 on the top 10 Google results for your name. Hey, nice work – you’ve already made it to positions #8 and #10 on the top 10 Google results for your name.

]]> By: Tim http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Tim Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:59:09 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-5 Thanks Brendan... hadn't seen your post on the topic, should be paying more attention! Are the bit.ly links spidered properly? Thanks Brendan… hadn’t seen your post on the topic, should be paying more attention! Are the bit.ly links spidered properly?

]]> By: brendan mcnulty http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/seo-and-your-personal-brand/comment-page-1/#comment-4 brendan mcnulty Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:19:55 +0000 http://tim-gregory.com/?p=28#comment-4 hey Tim, Thanks for the plug :). using some of your own advice I'll reference a post that i wrote on personal branding; http://bit.ly/1aw7nd one of the first things that i'd recommend is ensuring that you know what your personal brand is all about (i need to amend mine to include more about games), so that you're referencing the right blogs in your commenting and writing. another easy tip is to get yourself a vanity google alert set up on your name. then you can get an idea of how well google is spidering you and what you're doing out there. good luck with it, keep us updated hey Tim,
Thanks for the plug :) . using some of your own advice I’ll reference a post that i wrote on personal branding;
http://bit.ly/1aw7nd
one of the first things that i’d recommend is ensuring that you know what your personal brand is all about (i need to amend mine to include more about games), so that you’re referencing the right blogs in your commenting and writing. another easy tip is to get yourself a vanity google alert set up on your name. then you can get an idea of how well google is spidering you and what you’re doing out there.
good luck with it, keep us updated

]]>