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5 Highly Effective Strategies For Branding YOU In Internet Forums

by Rebekah Nahai

Products and services come and go, but your name will always remain intact. If you're ready to gain the trust, respect, and recognition in your niche that leads to opportunities, traffic, and sales, grab onto this powerful branding secret that YOU can use to make a name for yourself online.

1. Always, ALWAYS include your full name. Whether you include it at the end of your post or just in the "Post By..." field, get it in there somewhere. I was born lucky—a name like Rebekah Nahai isn't one you see every day. The branding effect is almost natural.

But if you go by 'Mary', 'Joe', 'Tim' etc., or some other common-place name, who's going to remember this Joe from that Joe? They won't.

"Joe Loewenthal", on the other hand, is more memorable.

2. Use your photo. After I began using my picture in my forum posts, my click-throughs to my website jumped by 600% and my newsletter subscription rate knocked my socks off at an 800% increase. Photos are now an "online business staple" for me. Next time someone hears my name, they'll associate it with my face. Powerful.

3. If your name is perceived as a "normal name", like Bob Smith or John Miller, consider using your middle initial in your posts. An example is Jimmy D. Brown...

4. Forget the "screen name mentality". Those names you used to use in chat rooms and message boards, like NeatGuy and FunGirl45? Only fun communities may remember. Trash 'em for business.

No one will know who you are, regardless of how many times you post. Not to mention it comes across as amateur and less-than-serious in a business sense.

5. You have your own flavor, so fire it up. Are you sarcastic by nature? Great! Tactfully show it in your posts. Are you gushing with generosity? Let it shine through.

The worst posts are those dry, drab paragraphs that make you think, "Sheesh, was there a person on the other side of that?" People love personality. They love opinions. Eventually your 'flavor' will stick in their heads.

Go ahead. Take action on this information while it's still fresh in your mind. Dig up some active discussion forums related to your Internet business and start branding yourself now—without spending a cent!

Rebekah Nahai is one marketer who has built her online business from ground zero via forums! She is a moderator of 2 popular forums, one by Phil Wiley and one by Mike Merz.

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