In this article, we explain how you can position your personal brand in search engines through an SEO strategy that provides the visibility your business needs.
If you've come across this article, you likely have an interest in boosting the online presence of your personal brand and want to position yourself on the Internet so that your target audience clearly understands who you are, what you offer, and, at the same time, discovers the experience, professional trajectory, and knowledge that differentiate you from your competition.
To achieve this, you need an SEO strategy that helps you be found by the right audience on search engines.
You've come to the right place! In this blog post, our experts Blas Giffuni and Camilo Ramírez analyze the opportunities that arise for those who need to work on the organic positioning of their personal brand, contrasting it with what has already been explained in previous articles about structuring an SEO strategy for a traditional brand.
What is a personal brand?
We make a differentiation between two types of personal brands:
The first case is when a person's name becomes a recognizable and identifiable brand, and with it, they aim to manage the reputation and image of an individual, similar to how it's done with companies, corporations, and other entities, whether for profit or non-profit.
The second case is when the founders or executives of a company have a high level of influence over the brand and its businesses. For example, Elon Musk is a figure who greatly influences the Tesla brand.
Is doing SEO for a traditional company different from doing it for a personal brand?
Let's start with the fact that SEO is not a one-size-fits-all formula applied equally to all businesses or brands. Therefore, doing SEO, even for traditional brands, will always be different for each company because what is done depends largely on the business objectives, the audience the brand is targeting, the industry, etc.
The same goes for personal brands; each one is different, and therefore, the SEO done must be tailored to individual needs and objectives.
Moreover, even if a brand or business applies very similar SEO strategies, the results will never be exactly the same.
Particularly concerning personal branding, the process of doing SEO is a bit different. Why? Mainly because a company already has a consolidated brand that supports it, while an individual with a personal brand must demonstrate their level of authority more strongly in the subject they want to position themselves for.
Thus, having a website and populating it with valuable content is only a portion of what needs to be done in an SEO strategy for personal branding.
At the same time, if you are an individual with a personal brand, it is necessary to make yourself known to the public, both in the digital and physical environments, in order to gain visibility and demonstrate who you are.
Some activities that must be carried out continuously to position yourself as a personal brand and authority in your field of knowledge include:
Giving lectures, talks, presentations, webinars, among others, on the subject in which you are an expert.
Participating as a guest in blog posts of allied brands related to your field of knowledge and that are authorities in this area.
Writing as a guest columnist in different media outlets.
Sharing your valuable content through social networks.
Keep in mind that all activities you develop outside your website, whether in the online or offline world, should have an impact on your website.
For example, if you are a special guest at a conference, request that your website be linked to in the social media posts and on the website of the event organizer.
If you write a column for a digital media outlet, ask that your information be included as the author of the piece and that it have a link to your domain. The same goes for blog posts in which you participate as a guest writer.
This way, you will be building a digital and offline ecosystem that positions you as a personal brand and also impacts the SEO of your website.
Basically, what you need to achieve is to generate backlinks or external links that direct to your website and increase quality traffic to generate more business for your personal brand.
How to do SEO for a personal brand: step by step and recommendations to start doing it yourself
Before starting to work on your digital assets, it is necessary to do a self-awareness exercise.
To create a personal brand, you must identify your strengths, virtues, capabilities, knowledge, and professional experience to know what you want to achieve and what value you will give to your audience.
Similarly, it is necessary to identify your weaknesses and what you are not knowledgeable about or an expert in, so that you can be clear about what topics you will not get involved in because they are not part of your core business, and thus not deviate or lose focus.
This is how you will conceptualize a business vision. Having your identity and what you want to achieve very clear, you can then proceed to formulate your business objectives, since without them it is difficult to establish a strategy, and then define the audience you want to reach with your personal brand.
Many times, time is wasted and resources are squandered precisely because this self-awareness exercise is not done, and because one wants to reach all audiences with multiple topics.
So, define very well what your identity is, what your vision is, and with whom you want to work and with whom you don't. With these points clear, marketing for your personal brand will be simplified and facilitated.
2. Analyze your competition and create your unique value proposition:
To not go blindly, it is necessary and important to do a competitive analysis to see what other professionals in the sector are doing, what they offer, how they communicate with the audience, what type of content they publish on their website, etc.
The idea is not to copy what they do. On the contrary, the goal is to identify where they are failing and how you can improve it to differentiate yourself from them and better meet people's needs.
This way, from your authenticity, you can create your unique value proposition and offer others a differential touch and a unique perspective that they do not find where your competitors are.
3. Get a domain and publish your personal brand website:
To give visibility to your personal brand, it is necessary to have your own website. Keep in mind that this will be your most important digital asset and will serve as a direct point of contact between you and your audience.
Therefore, you must ensure that on your website you always provide quality content, optimize it for SEO, and provide a memorable user experience. Remember that this will be your presentation card to your target audience.
Some aspects to consider:
Own digital assets vs. Social networks:
Keep in mind that social networks are spaces mediated by an intermediary.
What does this mean? That you do not own your account or profile on a social medium. The owner of this digital space is the company to which it belongs, so you can lose it at any time.
For this reason, we recommend that social networks not be the only means by which you promote your personal brand, communicate with your audience, and develop your business.
Stop to think, what would happen if one day Facebook decides to block your Instagram account or delete it forever? Or if TikTok is blocked in the country where you are?
For this reason, it is important that you make your website the center of your content strategy and that the other tactics stem from there.
With your domain, which is your digital property, you have a certain type of shielding and you will be able to have access to your audience in a more direct way than with social networks.
Make clear what you offer and what makes you different:
Make sure to generate content on your website that explains who you are, what products or services you offer, what topic you are an expert in, and what makes you an authority in that field.
There are various ways to demonstrate your authority: highlight your achievements, share the awards you have received, publish the books or articles you have written, among others.
Additionally, take advantage of the potential of a blog to demonstrate your experience, authority, and reliability, following the E.A.T methodology, which we discussed in a previous post.
It is also very important that you demonstrate what makes you different from other professionals in the industry and how you can better meet the needs of users and make their lives easier.
Keep in mind that if your content contributes to people in one of the following ways, you are likely to stand out:
It is useful.
Saves time.
Saves money.
Promotes well-being.
Promote what is really aligned with your focus: during your professional journey and trajectory, you are likely to acquire knowledge that complements what you do.
However, it is important that you maintain focus and only promote on your website content related to the core of your business and that is aligned with the theme you want to position yourself for. Otherwise, you could easily deviate.
Talking only about what you want to work on with your personal brand will help you create an entity under your name, something that is directly related to SEO, and that will allow search engines to create strong connections and thematic associations related to your personal brand.
Venture into the offline world! Activities in physical environments contribute to your positioning, consolidate your authority, and impact the SEO of your website:
Being only on the Internet is not enough for your personal brand. It is essential to present your products, services, and your personality as a brand to audiences outside digital environments.
4. Attending as a guest speaker at events, talks, conferences, fairs, related to your profession, will make your personal brand known and give it visibility.
The best thing is that this participation in the offline world will also contribute to the SEO of your website if you make sure to share and promote the URL of your domain at each event you attend.
Conclusion:
If we wanted to highlight something about search engine positioning, it would be its "democratic" approach. Anyone interested in appearing in the search results pages could achieve it with a well-done SEO job. This includes, of course, those who want to make themselves known as a personal brand.
It is viable and feasible to do so without the need for large monetary investments but with time dedication to be able to develop a powerful business strategy and then an SEO strategy that gives your business the visibility it requires. It is not an easy job, but it is an effort that yields excellent results.
However, keep in mind that as your business grows, you will not be able to do everything alone and will need human talent and allies to help you develop the SEO strategy and marketing of your personal brand. This is how, if your business grows, your team must also grow.
We invite you to continue reading our blog to learn more about search engine positioning.
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