The importance of personal branding in today's digital world and how to leverage WordPress to better tell your story. Cliff’s notes and a recording of the presentation available at: http://ben.balter.com/2011/03/09/craft-your-personal-brand/

1. Using WordPress to Craft Your Personal Brand Benjamin J. Balter webBen.Balter.com emailBen@Balter.com twitter @BenBalter

2. “ Ben Balter ”

8. Benjamin J. Balter J.D./M.B.A. New Media Fanatic First WP login: 2005

9. Why Brand?

10. A Brand is Not a Logo

11. A Brand is a Metaphor for Perception

22. You’re Hired!

23. Search result management Networking Personal Professional Potential Clients / Employers You have something to say Why Brand?

24. Old and Busted

25. zOMG56k!

26. Analog vs. Digital Brand vs. WordPressGuy123 Andrew Nacin

28. There is noSuch Thingas Online.

29. New Hotness People as a product (PaaP) Plant a flag on your corner of the Internet Take control of your online identity

30. For the Developers, that’s: //establish brand elements $brand = array( ‘name’ => ’Benjamin J. Balter’, ‘photo’ => ’http://cdn.benbalter.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2010/09/suit.jpg’, ‘bio’ => ‘J.D./M.B.A. Candidate, New Media Fanatic, Documentary Junkie’, ); //loop and add user meta foreach( $brandas $key => value ) add_user_meta( $id, $key, $value, true );

31. What’s Your Brand?

34. Who Sees Your Brand?

35. Who’s Looking at Your Brand?

36. WordPress Makes itDumb Simpleto Tell Your Storyto the World.

37. How To Grab your Domain Describe Yourself Start a Blog Be Social Give Your Resume an Upgrade

38. Grab Your Domain The .Org Route Grab some shared hosting space DownloadWordPress from WordPress.org2 Install and Configure Cost: ~$75 / year The .Com Route Register for WordPress.com and create a site1 In your Dashboard, navigate to Upgrades -> Domains Register your Domain Cost: $17 / year Free as in beer. Free as in speech.

39. Describe Yourself What makes you different? Find the big things that define you Mind map Word cloud Work backwards Ask your friends Just sit down and write

41. Social Networks Site Tagline

42. Social Networks Site Tagline

43. Author Bio

44. Author Bio

45. Bio Page

46. Examples

47. Examples Journalist Geek Human

48. Examples

49. Examples

55. Add an About Me Widget

56. Customize Your Menu

57. Give Your Visitors Background

58. Give Your Site a VisualIdentity

59. Start a Blog Express yourself Add value to the blogosphere Find topics you are passionate about Have a strong opinion Engage others in your network Share your work

60. Blogging Basics Pretty Permalinks! Prune your slugs Tag, Tag, Tag (and categories) Hand craft excerpts

61. The Nuts and Bolts All in one SEO Pack (Torbert) Google XML Sitemaps (Brachhold) Google Analytics for WordPress (Joost) Simple Facebook Connect (Otto) Simple Twitter Connect (Otto) Subscribe to Comments (Jaquith) For Geeks: Syntax Highlighter For Journos: Emphasis

63. Be Social Be consistent Be on message Be tactful in your self-promotion Be linking to your fancy new site Be contactable

64. Upgrade Your Resume Grab a plugin or throw it into a page Link to relevant content Same rules apply to resumes online Concise, easily skimable Situation, action, result Use the keywords employers will be looking for Make sure your site is featured prominently on your resume

65. Next Steps Calling cards with QR code Networking (online and off) Digitize your portfolio Evaluate and refine Site’s Look and Feel Advertise Vanity URL Shortener Establish a Board of Directors

66. Advanced Branding Crafting Your Personal Marketing Plan

67. The Four P’s ProductYou, your ideas, your unique skillset PlaceYour site, your social networks Price What is the cost of following you? PromotionHow do you promote yourself?

68. SWOT Analysis Strength DC’s best WordPress coder Weakness DC’s worst graphic designer Opportunity Going to SXSW next week Threat Drupal.

69. Other Considerations Targeting Who visits? Brand Loyalty Do they care? Brand Extensions Do I have Partners? Promotion Stickiness Am I Catchy?

70. Additional Resources The Brand Called You, Tom Peters, Fast Company, Aug. 31, 1997 The Brand You 50, Tom Peters Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi The WordPressCodex The Internet

71. Photo Credits Product logos courtesy captcreatehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/27845211@N02/2616906744/ WordPressGuy123 courtesy d_vdmhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/d_vdm/520785351/ Generic coffee courtesy librarymanhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/libraryman/109470649/ Starbucks cup courtesy patrick_qhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick_q/250746594/ Tap water courtesy joeshlabotnikhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/2881872151/ Bottled water courtesy sskennehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/sskennel/4818299373/ Coca-Cola can courtesy s0mphohttp://www.flickr.com/photos/s0mpho/2005550103/ All photos used under a Creative Commons License

72. Photo Credits Geek Squad courtesy leonarchienhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardchien/3385270752/ Disneyworld courtesy expressmonorailhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/expressmonorail/4538390020/ Biebercortesydanagonazleshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/danagonzales/5480900854/ Obama poster courtesy anthonybakerhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonybaker/2228158870/ Modem courtesy markusramhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/markusram/3479962160/ Anonymous user courtesy stianeikelandhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/stianeikeland/3696386615/ Mullet courtesy kennyfergusonhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/kennyferguson/12404708/ All photos used under a Creative Commons License

73. Benjamin J. Balter webBen.Balter.com emailBen@Balter.com twitter @BenBalter