I’m often asked this question, and my answer is pretty consistent: for an individual, a blog is almost always better, and for a company it is frequently better as well.

I have both, but that’s really an artifact (website, blog). While I can fool around with HTML and other web technologies, I’m not a web developer. My HTML learning pretty well halted in 1995, so what I know is largely useless. Nevertheless, I built a personal website that is Flash-based, using technology from an Israeli startup that makes this pretty easy.

Later, when I felt more confident about going public on the Internet, I started my own blog. I wrote pretty consistently for about a year, but I haven’t written much there recently. (I’ve gotten involved with a startup company, which is very time-consuming, so I’ve been restricting my writing to this site.) It’s OK to give yourself permission to write or abstain – unless your blog is your job. And once you’ve got enough posts – and assuming they’re good – you really don’t have to write frequently.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun with your blog – just don’t write about religion or politics.

So, I have both a website and a blog. But I still recommend a blog for you, and here’s why:

1. You can write, edit, and post articles without any real technical knowledge. In fact, I write my posts in Word, which allows me to publish them on my blog site in draft or final form (this requires Word 2007).
2. Your blog can be infinitely adjustable – by you, without requiring technical assistance. WordPress, which is the platform I recommend, is designed to be a publishing system (also known as a content management system). Its main purpose is to enable you to post articles and create discussions as a content manager rather than as a technocrat.
3. Your blog will actually get higher Google ratings than most websites – and if you’re out there promoting yourself, this should be all you need to hear! My blog typically gets indexed by Google within 15 minutes of posting an article. I know because I immediately get a Google Alert about the article. I’m also easily found by topic (look up “personal branding statement” on Google and you’ll usually see my article within the first few results (and interestingly, you’ll see the version here on blog.Brand-Yourself.com rather than the version on my own, more humble, blog). Google may actually favor blogs because their content is more frequently updated than static websites.
4. You can make your blog just as appealing as a website. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of templates available for WordPress, and most are free.
5. You get useful statistics on readership. Not only do I know how many people read my blog, but I know how they get to it – including the search terms that are most often used. That, in turn, enables me to write more directed posts to get greater readership.
6. Blogs encourage conversations, and that’s hard to do on a website.

Keeping these ideas in mind, there are still great benefits to be had from a website that cannot be garnered from a standalone blog.  The biggest plus is the ability to provide a lot of information about yourself which doesn’t fit in a brief blog bio or LinkedIn profile. 

Things like an extended biography, an annotated resume, detailed academic and extra-curricular information (for students and recent grads), and pretty much whatever else you want the world to know about you can all find a place on a website.  Brand-Yourself.com offers a great platform for website creation which is usable by pretty much anyone, regardless of technical ability.  Check it out!   

Also remember, if your blog or website is on your own domain, and your domain is your name, it will help in your Google ranking. This is an advantage of hosting your own website or blog on your own domain.

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Gary Vaynerchuk has one of the strongest and most well-defined personal brands you will ever come across.  His message, style, and ability to connect with people truly make him one of a kind.  If you aren’t familiar with Gary or his internet TV show Wine Library TV, check out his infamous and inspiring Web 2.0 keynote speech.  Enjoy the interview!

Q:  You are widely considered the poster boy for personal branding success.  Yet, personal branding is not without detractors – some think it is a waste of time, others think it is  shameless self-promotion.  How would you respond?

Gary V: In response to whether it’s a waste of time, I’d ask one of the millions of unemployed workers if they didn’t wish they had spent time building a personal brand.  People just don’t stay in jobs as long as they used to, it just makes sense to let people know who you are beyond your job title.

As for the self-promotion argument, if you’re providing value to people, they’ll listen.  If not, they’ll tune you out.  The people who are just going out and promoting and treating all these new platforms like traditional media aren’t winning and they’re not going to win.  It’s about engagement now, and so the people who are only about feeding their own ego and dictating the conversation are going to lose, period, end of story.

Q: While building your personal brand, what has been the one quality that has fueled your success, and set you apart from the pack: personality, passion, or perseverance?

Gary V: It’s hard to choose between those three because I know that all of them have been important in getting me to where I am today.  If I had to choose one though, it would have to be passion.  I don’t think I’d have been able to be as patient or as personable if I was involved in something that I didn’t love with every ounce of my heart.

As for personality, I want to make a quick point. I always talk about embracing your DNA.  Some people think because they’re not ridiculously extroverted that what I talk about doesn’t apply to them.  People need to focus on their personality and determine what it is that they’re best at.  There are plenty of things I’m horrible at, I just concentrate on what I’m good at and have people pick up the slack on my weaknesses.  If more people did that, instead of focusing so much on their weaknesses, more people would be living happier lives.

Q: You have over a million connections across social networks, yet you still encourage people to e-mail you directly, and respond to every single one.  Some would call this bordering on “crazy”.  Why do you do it?

Gary V: I really really like people.  I feel like if someone takes the time to send me an email then they deserve a personal response.  It may not be the most scalable thing in the world and I’m still backlogged into the summer, but I think it’s important.  I’m just extremely grateful for everyone who takes the time to connect with me; I don’t take it for granted.

Q: You’ve typically been ahead of the curve with tech and social trends (video blogging, social media, etc).  What do you see as the “next big thing” – a technology or trend that will change the game yet again?

Gary V: I love this new site Daily Booth.  Actually, I love it so much that I became an investor in it recently.  You know the saying a picture’s worth a thousand words, and I believe that storytelling is probably the most important tool we have in building businesses.  Daily Booth makes it easy to interact using pictures.

It also has an incredible community already and Vaynermedia, the consulting company I just started with my brother AJ, has been having a lot of fun using it to help develop the Vaynermedia brand.

Q: What single piece of advice would you give to people who say they are doing everything you advocate, and aren’t seeing any results?

Gary V: They need to be patient.  People saw me on Conan and assumed that I just started Wine Library TV and all of a sudden I was on national TV.  There were a lot of days where I was grinding in the trenches, interacting with wine lovers for 16 hours a day and only getting 30 viewers on Wine Library TV.  If you’ve got the chops and you put in the work, you’re going to see results, but they don’t come overnight.

I’m hoping this interview inspired you and made you think differently about your personal brand.  If so, check out these 10 Ways to Crush It Like Gary V.  Or, if you are in the mood for a few hundred pages just like this, buy Gary’s book, I guarantee you will love it.

Thanks a million to Gary for taking the time to provide these 5 brilliant answers.

Ryan Rancatore can also be found attempting to Crush It at his own site, Personal Branding 101, discussing the tools and tactics that will help you build a killer personal brand in 2010 and beyond.

Ryan would love nothing more than to connect with you on Twitter at @RyanRancatore, or on Linkedin, Facebook, or Brazen Careerist.

Create a Remarkable Web Presence at Brand-Yourself.com

Once you’ve developed your personal brand, it’s time to create a visible web presence around it. Did you know that more than half of employers are more likely to hire you if you’ve spent time developing your personal brand across social networks? To help you do this, we built a platform to manage your online reputation from one central hub. Create your Brand-Yourself account today and see how our tools can help you build, optimize and promote a remarkable web presence that gets you hired.

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Nine out of ten of people admit to failing to achieve a previous New Year’s resolution. We all start January with high hopes for our own resolutions.  Want to know how you can be in the elite group of 8% that nails their resolutions?  Do it by crafting the perfect resolution – one that is so detailed and inspiring that you simply must see it to completion.

In my experience, the way to write a detailed and motivational resolution for your personal brand in 2010 is to follow the “C.A.N.T. System”, my ironically titled take on the traditional S.M.A.R.T. approach.  A well crafted resolution will touch on all four C-A-N-T characteristics, it will be: calculable, actionable, noted, and timed.

The C.A.N.T. System

1. Calculable. Numbers don’t lie. Including specific numbers in your resolution will help define it and make it measurable.
2. Actionable. Your resolution should include a mini-blueprint for how you are going to achieve it.  Be as specific as possible.
3. Noted. Publish your resolution everywhere you can think of.  The fact that others know you are aiming for something will provide you extra motivation to accomplish the task.  Write a blog post about it, tweet about it, scribble it above your computer screen, put it in a Facebook status update, anything.
4. Timed. Procrastination is the #1 killer of resolutions year in and year out.  Set an absolute deadline, and make it as near-term as possible.

Let’s examine a few common personal branding resolutions, and how we might improve upon them using the C.A.N.T. system.

• Old: “I will be a better blogger.”

• New: “I will increase my blog readership from 400 daily readers to 600 daily readers by June 30, 2010.  To accomplish this, I will publish 4 new blog posts per week, comment on 5 relevant blogs per day, and e-mail respected bloggers in my niche 3 times a week in order to learn from them and form lasting relationships.”

The success blueprint for this blogging resolution is very clearly outlined, leaving little room to deviate from the necessary steps.

• Old: “I will expand my network.”

• New: “I will increase my number of LinkedIn connections from 25 to 100 by March 15, 2010.  To accomplish this, I will attend one relevant conference per month and reach out to those I meet, include a Linkedin profile link in my e-mail signature, and answer one LinkedIn question from my groups every day.”

Above, multiple actions all lead to the same goal – far better than the original aimless, wishful resolution.

• Old: “I will have a better online presence.”

• New: “I will secure the domain name for my full name and create a personal bio page by January 15, 2010, in order to rank on the first page of Google search results for my name.  I will write one guest blog per week for established blogs in my niche between now and March 1, in order to establish my authority and connect with those I might not have otherwise. “

Here, notice the very near-term deadline for creating a bio page.  Give yourself a week, you’ll be done in a week.  Give yourself a year, you’ll finish on the 364th day.  The sooner, the better!

To fulfill the “Noted” portion of the C.A.N.T. approach, publish your resolution, and set reminders for yourself so that you never lose sight of your end goal.

What do you think?  Do you have a resolution for 2010 that you’d like to share in the comments section? Here is my promise:  Share your calculable and actionable resolution with us, and I will check in on you before your stated deadline to make sure you are on track!  I look forward to your responses – best of luck in 2010.

Ryan Rancatore can also be found on his own website, Personal Branding 101, discussing the tools and tactics that will help you build a killer personal brand in 2010 and beyond.

Ryan would love nothing more than to connect with you on Twitter at @RyanRancatore, or on Linkedin, Facebook, or Brazen Careerist.

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To build your personal brand, you should proactively comment on blogs related to your field and interact with bloggers in your industry.

To help you get started, we developed a Blog Recommendation Engine that suggests what blogs you should be reading based on your field. It taps into a variety of authoritative blog sources including Technorati, AllTop, and user generated and expert-reviewed suggestions.

Leaving thoughtful comments on blogs posts establishes yourself as contributing member of your industry. Besides demonstrating your insight, it also connects you to top bloggers in your field and other blog commenters in your niche who can potentially advance your career. Follow our guidelines for leaving effective blog comments to maximize your time spent commenting.

The Blog Recommendation Engine is one part of our Hireability Dashboard, which breaks down the components of your personal brand online and grades the strength of each. It is part of the Niche Involvement section, which tracks your blog comments, blog comments mentioning you, recommended blogs and Twitter. The Visibility section tracks your Google search results, professional profiles, social networks, directories, web 2.0 services to protect your username on, and media related to your name.  The Credibility section tracks your blog, other blogs mentioning you, social bookmarks mentioning you, and news mentioning you. Each section shows you what you should do to create a strong personal brand online, and tracks your progress along the way:

The Next Step

Now it’s time to find out: which blogs should you be commenting on? Create a free Brand-Yourself.com account now and start managing your online reputation with our Hireability Dashboard. See you there, and let us know what you think here.

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