Jeffrey Blake

The Personal Branded Avatar

January 6, 2010

Its important to present a representative image of yourself in all of your social network profiles. People respond visually and make very quick decisions about you. If your avatar is a cartoon its hard to take you seriously. One caveat to that is - if you are not concerned about your brand then the avatar could be anything. Sometimes you want to be anonymous or be known as something other than what you really are - thats playful and fun - but its not a personal brand.

In branding its important to make a quick yet distinquished impression that conveys your value. Your avatar helps people start to establish trust with you.

All that being said - Peter Huboi has created for himself what I call the "best avatar on the web". It has a clear image of his face but also includes some other elements which make you want to find out more. Its brilliant and I never seem to tire of seeing it. While Peter doesnt use it everywhere - its a refreshing change of pace.

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

Advantages and Disadvantages fo URL Shorteners

January 6, 2010

URL shorteners are everywhere now. I cant keep up with them. Im talking about url shorteners and redirectors as tinyurl.com and bit.ly among many others. It doesnt take a lot of reflection to understand that controlling links is a money making venture. I think there are still opportunities in how the url shortener uses the links.

Some of the advantages of using one are:

Short URLs - duh. With the rise of Twitter and the need to keep tweets under 140 characters h...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : SEO

How to Add Twitter Feed to Facebook Fan Page

January 5, 2010

Many people wonder how to have your Twitter updates go to a Facebook Fan page. Its pretty easy. The basic strategy is to add a RSS feed to the Notes tab and let Facebook post naturally to your Page Wall.

1) Go to your Twitter page and click on your Profile so that you see only your updates. At the bottom of the right side you will see an RSS icon and "RSS Feed of <YourID> Tweets". You can right click and "Copy Link Location" or just click on it to view it and then copy the url...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Facebook

Jon Blake - Land Surveyor - Encinitas - San Diego

January 5, 2010

Authentic • Honest • Experienced

Over 30 Years of Experience in and around San Diego
Specializing in Boundary Disputes and Boundary Surveys
Expert at Boundary Line Determination
The Sherlock Holmes of finding lost markers
Unfailingly willing to go the extra mile to do things right
Always Delivers Exceptional Value
Expert Witness for Federal Court on Boundary Disputes
United States Mineral Surveyor
Accomplished Land Surveyor Instructor
Speaker and Storyteller of San Diego Land ...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

Personal Branding Is Made to Stick

January 5, 2010

Like any branding - its about marketing and the ability to be memorable. Its unfortunate that most of us are terrible at making impressions. The good news is that there is a simple recipe which you can use to improve. I simply cant recommend the book Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath enough. You gotta read the whole book to get the whole picture - or at least start reading their columns in Fast Company. These two brothers provide some simple guidelines that can be remembered by the acronym ...
Continue reading...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

Personal Branding is the New Black

January 4, 2010

A few years ago personal branding was more of a curiosity for individuals. Now we cant read a magazine without hearing about personal branding. I think in some ways branding yourself was considered vain. The "corporate man culture" had not died out. I think those days are gone. Just as women rely on having a black dress in the closet - professionals need to have some sort of personal branding going on - or they will seem out of it. Well I have to admit that many unemployed people I...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

Personal Branding - I am the Singularity

January 4, 2010

Click to view large

The number one rule of personal branding is to be unique - possibly the best in the world as Seth Godin suggests in his book The Dip. This is not as hard as it might seem - it just takes a bit of self reflection to find the things that differentiate yourself from the rest of the commodities out there in the world. Its a bit about finding your own personality and being ok with it - because being yourself and having a special point of view sometimes makes you at odds ...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

The Brand Called You - Tom Peters - Fast Company

January 2, 2010

It's a new brand world.

That cross-trainer you're wearing -- one look at the distinctive swoosh on the side tells everyone who's got you branded. That coffee travel mug you're carrying -- ah, you're a Starbucks woman! Your T-shirt with the distinctive Champion "C" on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent Levi's rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen with the maker's symbol crafted into the end ...

You're branded, branded, brand...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

Business Blogging Rules

January 2, 2010

Any time you write for your business - in a blog or on your website - the message must be easily understood. Here are a few rules you can use to stay on track. You can be your own copywriter.

BE ON TARGET - Your business message should have a target audience in mind. When you write for your business its not about you but about who you are attempting to reach. Knowing your audience for the message is the first step.
ADJUST YOUR READING LEVEL - Im not saying dumb down your message, but make ...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : business

Personal Branding Is A Lens

January 1, 2010

Personal Branding is a way of looking at things. It is a lens through which we can interpret and decide if actions and behaviors are good or not. Most of the things about personal branding we already know about – but we dont always know what to apply and when. A personal branding lens groups and guides our thoughts and actions. It’s actually very exciting because I can now prioritize what I do using this “branding” lens.

I was thinking about this today when I set up my first Squidoo p...

Posted by Jeffrey Blake. Posted In : Branding

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