Your personal website is one of the most beneficial assets you can have as a growing thought leader. A personal brand website is an essential component of your audience discoverability and engagement strategy as it helps you secure your place in the search engines. In today’s digital age, Google is the first place your audience goes to when they want to learn more about you—or simply the topics you cover.
Your website allows you greater control over what your audience learns about you and how your name comes up in Google search. By providing a curated collection of your experience on your site, you’re also displaying your expertise and building something extremely valuable—credibility with your readers.
Personal Website Case Study
Su Bridgman is just one example of a business leader who effectively leveraged her personal brand website to elevate her visibility and credibility. Su Bridgman is a communication industry specialist and the founder of Speakfluence Global.
Her website highlights her recent book and work in various media outlets, as well as awards and certifications she holds. Viewers can discover valuable information about her story and how she got to where she is today. This method creates visibility into her overall goals and messages in her personal brand.
These key features on Su Bridgman’s website are essential elements of an effective personal brand website that you can emulate to support your Authority in your industry.
Why Do You Need a Personal Brand Website?
Building your personal brand website is integral to building your Authority. Developing a personal brand website allows you to control your public image, helping you distinguish yourself from your competition and control your narrative with your audience.
Building Your Brand Beyond Social Media
Maybe start it off saying that social media can be a great way to interact and reach various audiences, but to truly grow your influence and brand, it’s vital you have your own branded website.
A social media following can be easier to develop in certain ways, but social media is rented media whereas a personal website is owned media. Rented media refers to channels where you control the content you produce, but you don’t own or control the platform itself. Social media platforms are prime examples of this. Owned media refers to platforms that you own both the content and the platform.
While both are beneficial to your overarching branding efforts, you own the connection between your brand and your audience on your own website—you don’t on social media platforms.
On social media platforms, you’re obliged to comply with their terms of use. You’re also vulnerable if they choose to change their policies—or even suspend your account.
With a personal brand website, you can interact with your audience directly, without relying on social media as a third party. Your website also serves as your hub for establishing your services, telling your story, and even sharing your work or portfolio with others.
Content Is King
As you design your personal brand website it is essential to structure your navigation to ensure a convenient user experience for your audience.
A few of these essential elements include:
- About Me
- Services/Expertise
- Portfolio/Work Samples
- Testimonials
- Blog
Each of the sections serve a different purpose to the overall goal of building a personal brand through a website. The “About Me” page gives a closer look at your experience and career, as well as the option to give more personal information about yourself to the viewer.
This element creates more of a connection between you and your audience and allows them to get more insight into your life and professional brand and expertise.
The website gives you the option to promote your expertise or any services you provide. A website is a great option to promote your speaking experience. It is also a place where viewers can get in touch with you or “book you” for speaking engagements.
However, content can be tricky as it can also present the wrong perspective of your brand if you are choosing the wrong images etc. Unprofessional content, outdated information, and irrelevant details can be one of the quickest ways to deter page visits and turn people off from wanting to invest more time in your personal brand and learning more about it.
Building a Stand-Out Website
When building a personal brand website, you must start with your overall vision for your website and determine what elements can communicate your personal vision and brand identity.
The content placed on your website is key to attracting an audience and keeping them engaged so they return, leading to site growth. However, don’t underestimate the power of images and visuals on your site to enhance audience engagement and even grow traffic more with SEO.
Quality, original images speak volumes, giving your brand a polished, professional feel while encouraging your audience to dive deeper into your site. Video content is another high-impact method for engaging your audience and helping them learn more about you and your brand.
Blogs, testimonials, and case studies also serve to elevate your website, allowing your audience to see your thought leadership firsthand. The more “stand-out” details added, the more impressive and Authority building your website can become.
Stand-out details include:
- Thought Leadership Articles
- Links to PR Features
- Case Studies
- Testimonials
- Interactive Assessments
- Podcasts
Additional Considerations
In building Authority, you want your name at the forefront of your brand. You want it to be what people think of when they think of your personal brand. It becomes a representation of your message, your expertise, and why people should care about you and what you offer. Your name blends into the content you are producing and representing as well.
Content is what your personal brand website is built uses to connect with your audience so it is important to provide actionable tips within your thought leadership content. Your high-quality content should resonate with your target audience and encourage them to return to your site for more.
While content is important, there’s another element that is also essential in drawing in your audience—design.
It is important to consider how elements such as colors, text, font, etc. can reflect you and your brand, as minor as this may seem. These are appearance details that can make the difference between a viewer finding your website compelling and engaging with it, or leaving it. Attention to your brand vision and identity is important.
Conclusion
Establishing yourself online can be a hard and time consuming endeavor, but with the right team and the right tools, it is more than worth it. Websites provide the ability to own your brand and the connection with your audience, building credibility and visibility. Learn how you can build your credibility with a done-for-you personal brand website from Advantage Media!