Personal branding, or self packaging as it is known in more traditional circles, is simply described as the process by which an individual is treated as a brand. Although it’s a concept that has its critics, a situation made worse by the plethora of dubious self help books that have flooded the market in recent years, personal branding is important for bloggers. Especially those bloggers who want to be successful.

Thankfully, personal branding for bloggers isn’t difficult. All you have to do is answer a three part question and apply that answer to your blogging and social networking.

Ready for that three part question? Great, here it comes.

Who are you, what do you do and what do you stand for?

This is a question that needs to be answered honestly, concisely and with relevance to your blog and your own personal aims.

If you find it tricky to come up with an answer just imagine what answer you would like to be forthcoming if someone else was asked to describe who you are, what you do and what you stand for.

Now, make sure that your answer is used in the content of your about page, on every blog you write and any social networking site you use. Keep it simple and keep it accurate. It needs to be memorable and true otherwise it will fail.

Don’t be shy about letting people know your answer. People aren’t telepathic. Tell them who you are, what you do and what you stand for.

Next we need to understand how blogging reinforces your personal brand. All blogs attract links from other blogs. If you are to reinforce your personal brand accurately and effectively you need to make sure that other people will describe you in the way in which you want to be described.

The only way to do this is to accurately portray yourself, be true to yourself in your blog, tell your own story and generally be straight and genuine. For instance, if you want to be known as an original photographer you need to start taking original photographs and posting them on your blog. If you want to be known as an expert on social media you need to write insightfully about social media on your blog.

In this respect, you are what you blog. Your blog will become, and maybe even define, your personal brand.

The blogosphere won’t always be kind but it will, almost always, be accurate. If you are a poet and you blog all day long about your collection of fine wine you will become known as a fine wine enthusiast, even if in reality you are the most wonderful poet in the world.

Same rule again. People aren’t telepathic. And the ones that haven’t met you can only form an opinion of you based on what they read on your blog or the things that other people write about you on their blogs, which they will have almost certainly based on what they read originally on your blog.

Your personal brand, and the publicity it both attracts and generates, will snowball as your blog grows and as other people write about you. As long as you are consistent, honest and accurate you will succeed in getting your brand across.

You start the snowball and push it down the hill. Once it gets enough momentum it won’t be stopped and it can’t be changed. It’s important, therefore, to make sure that you get the message right to begin with, as soon as you can.

Consistency, honesty and accuracy are the keys to successful personal branding. Get it wrong and it will hard to stop the snowball. Get it right and your blog will enable you to develop a virtually unstoppable reputation in your chosen field.