# Using WordPress to Craft Your Personal Brand

**TL;DR:** Takeaways from my brief talk at March's joint WordPress DC and Hacks/Hackers DC meetup on using WordPress to craft your personal brand.

Published 2011-03-09 · [View on Ben Balter's site](https://ben.balter.com/2011/03/09/craft-your-personal-brand/)

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I gave a brief talk at March's joint [WordPress DC and Hacks/Hackers DC MeetUp](https://www.meetup.com/wordpressdc/events/16178194/) on using WordPress to craft your personal brand.

## In short, the main takeaways were

<img src="https://ben.balter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/branding-300x224.png" alt="Why Brand?" title="Why Brand?" class="float-right ml-3" />

- In the olden days, people used to be scared to put personal information online; they felt the need to be pseudonymous (*see* handles like @SparklePrincess87); life online was distinct from life offline.
- As more of our analog lives became digital, the need for a second identity diminished; we no longer represent ourselves with anonymous screen names, but rather as ourselves.
- Social networking and mobile computing contributed to this shift by interfacing the online and offline worlds. Today's radical transparency (*for example,* lifecasters posting pictures of their lunch) shows we have come a full 180.
- We shift from corporate brand associations in the '50s (*for example,* "I work for IBM") to personal brands today (*for example,* "I'm an independent contractor").
- Today we all have the chance to plant a flag on our corner of the internet, take control of our online identity, and declare to the world who we are by crafting a thought-out narrative.
- Unlike in the real world where you are the only one in control of what you say, online, content has a life of its own, so you must be proactive.
- WordPress makes it ridiculously easy to tell the world your story.

## My five big steps to launching your brand

1. Grab a domain
2. Define your personal brand
3. Start a blog
4. Socialize your content
5. Upgrade your résumé

## For those interested in the plugins mentioned

- [Resume Plugin for WordPress](https://ben.balter.com/2010/09/12/wordpress-resume-plugin/ "WordPress Resume Plugin")
- [Emphasis Plugin for WordPress](https://ben.balter.com/2011/01/11/wordpress-emphasis-plugin/ "WordPress Emphasis Plugin: Highlight and Permalink Text")
- [All in One SEO](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/)
- [Google Analytics for WordPress](http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics/)
- [Simple Facebook Connect](http://ottopress.com/wordpress-plugins/simple-facebook-connect/)
- [Simple Twitter Connect](http://ottopress.com/wordpress-plugins/simple-twitter-connect/)
- [Subscribe to Comments](https://wordpress.org/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/)
- [Syntax Highlighter Evolved](https://wordpress.org/plugins/syntaxhighlighter/)

## Additional Resources

- [Rapportive](http://rapportive.com/)
- [How to generate a QR code](http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/10/13/bit-ly-now-lets-you-add-qr-codes-to-links-in-seconds/)

Thanks to everyone who was able to come out or follow along on the livestream.