Does online personal branding really work?

I had a conversation with a friend the other day who is a self-proclaimed “entrepreneur”, but doesn’t seem to believe in the need to do any personal branding. I was shocked, as I think the two go hand in hand. I believe everyone has a personal brand, whether you like it or not. And it can work for you if you take care of it and build it, or against you if you don’t. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an entrepreneur, stay-at-home-mom (or dad) or full-time employee, or something in between. But, as I learned this week, not everyone is as convinced that personal branding is as important as I believe it to be.

Some business owners believe branding is a simple matter of pasting a logo and vision statement on a website and related promotional items. For others it is some ethereal method of bringing consumers to your website. One of the things I teach in my Write a Book in a Week program as well as my Social Media Masterclass is that idea of personal branding starts with a better understanding…