Branding Yourself on Social Media: Web Presence 102

[Robare M. Novou]

"I'm gonna be a big star and you're gonna stay where you are.
I'll have lots of fans and you'll be washing pots and pans."

Lyrics to some lesser known country song...maybe you've heard of it.... Or maybe not.

For this next installment of Web Presence 102, Larry White has agree to keep an eye on the fire that he started earlier today and tend to the "Branding" Irons that he placed into it. By the end of this article, those irons will be red hot and ready for "Branding" you. Yes you! Branded with red hot naming conventions that will help you get noticed by search engines, when used on the new social media sites.

Trying to figure out which naming convention you will be going with or not going with...consider the following.

Our mutual friend, Mr. David Smith, has a rather common name, does he not? A Google search for "David Smith" or "Dave Smith" yields everything and everyone but the guy we know.

Now, type in "David Smith Glass Artist" or "David Smith Glass". And the results are staggering! Even doing an image search...his pics are everywhere. His participation or presence on other sites, forums, and blogs other than his own fill several Google Search Pages and they all lead back to his website: davidadriansmith.com

"Danny Baronian" and his "Baronian Mfg. Co." have even more page hits than "David Smith Glass Artist" does.

Danny and David are two very talented individuals. Of which I am going to make examples of for this article.

Remember those big thick telephone yellow page books? How did you find the person or company you were looking for in that big book? I assume you did it the way everyone else did it. By looking at the title headings which were in alphabetical order. You were categorized. You were labeled. You were Branded! According to that book you were known as a sign painter, a sign maker, or a sign company. Most of you were listed under "Signs". That's what differentiated you from the rest of those titles in that huge book.

Now think about the internet and the world wide web as being one huge phone book. How is anyone gonna find you? In addition to your name you have to give yourself a title to go with it. And not just any title. But a title that customers are familiar with and relates to what you do.

Dave Smith is one of the worlds most common names. By adding the title "Glass Artist" to his name, he cancels out all those other Dave Smiths. He may well have other titles he goes by in conjunction with his name. But the one most people know him by is "Glass Artist".

Danny Baronian? Baronian Mfg.? Other people might ask who is he and what does that company do? We know who he is. He's a wizard with a CNC machine. But the world doesn't know that. He has a ton more listings on other social and business media sites than Dave Smith does. I agree the more listings the better. But if you find yourself listing on a few or on a ton of other social media sites and not getting any business, it's because you may have branded yourself with a search title that is not broad enough.

*Note to Danny. This was not an attempt to villa fie you and what you are doing. I was just using your impressive 20+ pages of search results as an example of possible improper titling. Only because I do not know what broad title to do a search of you on; other than your name and the name of your company. Which in my opinion is too specific. People usually start searching using more broader terms. And then narrow it down to a specific person or company.

I was gonna use Mike Jackson's search results, but his were less than I expected. But he's not promoting himself as a "Glass Artist" or "Sign Painter". And those are some of the title examples I wanted to illustrate this article with. Danny, I hope you comment on some of your social media experience and how it has impacted your work load. Even if you have to set me straight on what it is you do and the results you are getting using all that new social media. It must be working for you, otherwise you would not be doing so much of it. But we won't know until you comment on it.

Larry White has a website: walljewelry.com I got on Larry about this earlier, and on second thought Larry...go ahead and name your website anything you want. Because this article is not about what you name your website. Its about how you identify yourself or your company on all those social media sites that link back to your website. By Branding yourself using broad search terms like: Sign Painter, Sign Painting, Sign Maker, Glass Sign Artist, Reverse Glass Signs, Glass Artist, Hand Lettering, Hand Letterer, etc. You give searchers and search engines a better chance of finding you. The more social sites you sign up for, the more hits you get and the higher your ranking in the search results. And by being near the top, people see you and your website or command center first.

All this Branding is not just good for national or global recognition, but also local exposure. More and more people are using the internet to find local companies and individuals, instead of having to finger through that big clunky phone book. Tech savvy people are using smart phones that fit in their shirt pockets. No need to carry around some huge book that's out of date the moment it's printed. No need to pay a kings ransom to those pirates at the phone book company. Social media Sites are FREE. Sure you have to give up some personal info, but look what you are getting in return. And as I stated in Web Presence 101, your personal information is already out there, even if you personally are not on the web. My Uncle, God bless his soul, is in a nursing home and is not on the internet. But because he worked for the State back in the 50's and 60's and penned some Deer population reports and a book. He shows up more than I do on Google searches. Even Frank Atkinson has more hits than me, and he's dead!

Another important aspect of search results it that you show up along side of the other sign painters and glass artists.
Some of you show up quite a bit. Why do they you ask? Because they are on all sorts of social media sites branding themselves with one of those Red Hot Branding Irons. So step up to the fire and let Larry put a brand on you that's recognizable by the masses. You want work don't you? Well then step on up.

If you are new to all this and you want to build up your name recognition, start slowly with one or two sites and then add one or two a week and keep going till you get to about 25 or 50. So it takes you a year or two, that's about how long it took Mr. Smith. And he's still going at it as we speak. And remember, you're in control of what you want to present.

Mr Smith understands the new media. And it doesn't hurt that he also does top quality work. And has top quality presentation. Which brings me to another point...of which I am sure you all are aware of. Even if you have all the social media in the world covered in the right way...if your product stinks...you'll be washing pots and pans.

[Mike Jackson]

Robare,
The sign business hasn't been my primary focus in a long time, so I don't put much effort into the . for it.

But, if you search Google for Tetons Images or Mike Jackson Photography, I come up either first or second.

Mike Jackson Photographer comes up #1 under the paid ad for a wedding photographer from Jackson.

Golden Era Studios comes up #1 on Google, too.

Mike Jackson