[Disclaimer: this is Part I of Ponn's Internet Branding series edited & updated from her interview with Jan of Femalepreneur.com She is still recovering and coming to full-health for an anticipated return, God willing.]

There still seems to be some confustion as to the difference between Personal Branding and Internet (online, web, e-) Branding. 

Hopefully, I can clarify it for you more simply as this:

• Branding, as many of you know, are the images, logos, taglines or key messages that your business may have associated with these figures, tones, lights, colors and words.

• Personal branding is taking you as a person, an entrepreneur, a small business owner and an author/coach/consultant to brand your business with your personality, personal flair and business entity.

Once you know what your unique selling proposition or USP is you’ve basically got the essence of what your Personal         Brand is.

• Internet branding, however, is taking that USP and bringing it online. We take the images, logos and taglines, your USP, and your offline business ==> online to the internet. It’s your ability to create the real-time user-generated community as an alternative method of offline marketing or advertising. Internet branding is another (and I believe the most-powerful) marketing technique any entrepreneur or small business owner can utilize.

In many cases, internet/online businesses are strictly built, developed, and actually created in real-time as it evolves through its own community input and involvement. In these cases, one company’s internet brand is actually an entrepreneur’s personal brand too…but, that’s another topic in and of itself.We’ll talk in more detail in this series when we discuss what Web 2.0 is and why it’s made ideally for an interactive, risk-taking, forward-thinking, thought-leading entrepreneur.

Research plays a big-role of building your Internet Brand, such as knowing your keywords and phrases and figuring out how your target market can find you.

What’s unique about your creating & sustaining your internet brand is that by taking your images and what people associate with you as a business owner/entrepreneur, and You get to blend your personality and begin or better yet; lead a dialogue between you and your client or customer in real-time.

Most people who know me online, associates Ponn Sabra as “The Women’s Empowerment Queen” or a Networking Expert.

When you come to my blog or ezine, there are ways to communicate directly with me in real-time. You can comment on my blog, and I always comment back (when I’m healthy and actually online).

You could “speak” with me by asking questions, and I’ll answer them in podcasts. It’s using the internet’s resources and internet marketing techniques available to me to bring future my brand online.

Undoubtedly, bringing your business online will give you greater visibility and more profitability, if done right, you can target your ideal client/customer and they’ll find you…fortunately, not from your own local community but literally throughout the world.

So, entrepreneurs and small biz owners of typical brick-and-mortar businesses, crafts home businesses, or authors, coaches & consultants who are targeting only local sales and leads, can benefit greatly from getting online now and developing their internet brand.

We hear it almost every day, “the internet is booming”; and it is, because it’s a great mechanism/tool to capitalize on your unique selling proposition and finding target market.

Another exciting thing about internet branding is by using the many different techniques for building your internet brand is that you are building a community.

By having a dialogue with people in constantly being in communication; you’re building forum around and within your target market.

This dialogue is what has been missing for most forms of marketing, such as advertising through ads, newsletters, postcards, etc.

Typical offline marketing or advertising techniques generates a one-ways sales conversation from the business to the consumer.

I’ve always believed that (and benefited from) the more two-way conversations occur around and about you & your products or services, the more opportunity the business owner can get to know their clients/customers, and the more they can know, trust and respect you–the person behind the products and services you’re promoting.

Therefore we have happier people, better relationships…ultimately a Great, Personalized Business Brand (both offline and online)!

I’ll share the five main ways I’ve successfully developed my internet brand in this series, so stay posted.

1. Article Submission. Positioning you as an expert even before you have your own website/blog up & running.

2. Blogging. Bringing conversations to your expert voice, tone & personality

3. Social Media/Networking/Bookmarking. Web 2.0 was made for Woman!

4. Online Press Releases. What are they? Why are the important? How easy you can do it yourself!

5. Joint Venture Partnerships. Generating & Capitalizing on word of mouth marketing & viral buzz!

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Posted on April 28th, 2008 by Ponn Sabra
Filed under: Internet Branding