This post is republished from the Genius Network Podcast

Episode Summary

Do you ever feel like the word “branding” is overused? Curious about the real value of an influencer site? The right personal brand website can massively boost your authority and create deeper connections.

Dmitriy Kozlov of Influex.com explains all.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn from Dmitriy in this episode:

• Dmitriy describes the results his company (Influex) delivers and the value of having an influencer site
• How a personal brand website can position you more effectively and help you more easily sell yourself
• One of the most important things you can do to increase your speaking engagements, PR and positive media exposure
• The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when trying to build their reputation (and what to do instead)
• 3 key questions you should be asking BEFORE you create your personal brand site
• The Anatomy of a Working Website: What a great result-getting website should look like and do
• How to use a personal brand website to massively boost your authority and create deeper connections
• Dmitriy shares his perspective on his passion for fusing art, entrepreneurship, and marketing

Show Notes

• There is a lot of ego-based information sold to entrepreneurs around how to build a brand.
• Influence is what makes people make a business decision. Expression is more like brand essence.
• People make a decision to buy, based as much on the essence of a brand as the marketing message.
• The difference between a $1 bill and a $100 bill is the message on the paper.
• For coaches selling their personal skill set, their website is essentially the center of their universe. Even a separate business is connected to your personal brand and can be damaged by a poor reputation.
• A good personal brand is authentically expressed and is congruent with your true self. Incongruence becomes painful.
• Brand is the personality of the product or service.
• No true achievement-minded entrepreneur is interested in retirement. Most of them are artists and creators, and their business is an expression of what they are creating.
• Position your personal brand alongside whatever it is you’re making, sooner rather than later.
• If you have a great personal brand presence, you will have a lot of opportunities for speaking and presenting.
• There are three lenses to look through when developing your personal brand site: purpose, perception, and personality.
• Ask what is the primary and secondary purpose of each page of the website. For most people, the purpose is to build their list or get more speaking engagements.
• Perception is what experience you want your visitors to have.
• Your website should be a representation of your person. Most of the time, people’s sites are incongruent to where they are at.
• Most sites follow a very similar structure while being customized for your individual message.
• The more connected your opt-in is to your core statement of value, the more you will attract the kinds of leads you want.
• Most people don’t buy what it is you’re selling by visiting your website. They visit initially to explore, which is why you capture their information and continue the conversation.
• Your story is one of the first steps of building the relationship via your personal brand site. Start with your story before trying to build credibility.
• The purpose of your story is to build connection. You build credibility through testimonials.
• The footer on your website is often a throw-away item, but you should be very intentional with the content you put there.
• When you start your business, you get paid for what you do. Once you establish a great reputation, you start getting paid for who you are.
• Your home page should contain content that gives value up front. There are three ways to show people you can help them; you can tell them, you can show them, or you can help them.
• Take your wisdom and make it free to access. Your content is the container for the value you bring to the table.
• You are not the hero of your journey, you are the guide to the hero. You are the Yoda to the Luke Skywalker.
• The important thing to ask for every perception piece on your site is ‘how can I be a guide to the people I am trying to serve?’
• You don’t have to market the same way as some of the most popular marketers. Those people know their audience. Figure out what outcome your audience wants and approach them appropriately.
• Consistency is how you develop mastery, confidence and a reputation for solid work.
• For most people, a speaking page is a good idea even if speaking is not your main focus.
• A personal brand site is like a personal conversation over coffee. You are building the relationship that may result in a sale later on.
• Your contact page should include your social media links and be a catch all for any kind of inquiry to your site.
• The first ever site that Dmitriy bought was dmitriykozlov.com, which led to him developing sites for other people and building an agency.
• The process of creating an influencer site starts with essence, expression, and execution.
• The key questions you should ask when interviewing potential designers is ‘what platform do you build on?’ and ‘what happens if we no longer work together?’
• Most entrepreneurs are artists, they are just artists in business. Ask yourself how you can fuse your artistic talents with your business acumen.
• Stepping into your artist identity will accelerate your business.