Get your mind out of the gutter… I don’t mean like THAT. What I’m talking about is putting yourself out there, making yourself a bit vulnerable, and allowing your readers a glimpse into who you are. Whether you’re handing out advice, discussing your favorite hobby, or simply sharing your latest personal escapade, who you are is important. If I sat here and tried to tell you how to make a million dollars online, you’d probably only listen to me if I’d actually made a million bucks online right? Now hold on, hold on, I can already hear you saying “But I’m not a well known expert yet.” While that might be true, if you’re successful with your blog, you will be eventually right? Not to mention the first thing people set out to do with their blog is to “create a name for themselves.”

So how do you go about exposing yourself? The easiest way is of course the “About” page. Most WordPress templates come with an About page already created. Customizing it only takes a few minutes and it is time well spent. Not only will the about page give your blog a personal touch, but it will also make your site seem more legitimate. With the number of spam blogs (splogs) constantly increasing, people are more and more hesitant to trust new blogs, much less link to them. Time and consistency will eventually eliminate that problem but putting your name and reputation behind your site can speed up that time frame. As if that weren’t enough, you’ll also be creating a brand (both your URL and your name) as you work on your site. For example, do you know who Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, John Chow, or Jeremy Shoemaker are? All have extremely popular blogs and all could start a new project and have instant exposure for it by simply tying their name to it. In fact, Guy Kawasaki recently did just that, and has talked about the benefits his new Trumors project gained because of his personal fame.

Basically, there’s no good reason NOT to expose yourself because in this day and age of nearly infinite online information, it’s going to happen one way or the other. You might as well get some benefit from it right?

For more information on exposing yourself erm I mean branding your blog check out these resources:

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