If you are a writer and spend your days hacking out article after article for sale, what do you do that distinguishes you from others in your field?  Do you have a unique branding system?  Wear a funky fedora hat or a Hawaiian shirt that sets you out from the rest?  If so, good for you.  Remember one thing, though - no one can see that hat or shirt behind a computer monitor.

I read an interesting article on How to Brand Yourself this morning while considering what to write about.  In the article the author, Nate Ritter, gave me a little example on branding.  He said to write, in 15 words or less what you do that makes you unique from other writers in your field.  Give it a try.  I can guarantee many people will struggle with that.  I wrote “I’m a writer that excels in research.”  Does that make me unique?  Of course not!  There are a ton of writers out there that can research better than I do, even though I am highly skilled at it.  I am lucky to have at my disposal a lot of colleagues that often point me in the direction I need to go when researching an article.  I think that makes me a bit more unique.  In all the time I have spent online, I have gathered these people, stayed in touch, and call on them now and then when I get stuck.  Maybe that is my “unique” branding situation.

The more I look into social networking and my attempts to tie that in with my work, the more I realize that you must do everything in your power to make yourself highly visible.  I think a lot of writers (at least a lot of those I know, anyway) tend to live in their little ivory towers and not pay a whole lot of attention to what goes on around them.  It is pretty natural to do that - you are concerned about writing, not socializing.  Understand too, that a lot of the writers I know are fiction writers.  These people are a whole different breed from the writers who have to pump out articles for a living.

To increase visibility, it is important to focus on what you do best.  Because you are making a living writing, then focus on the craft, but also on your visibility.  Even though I spend most of my working hours writing for others, I try to find time to blog daily.  I make every effort to insure my blog is optimized for the search engines.  I use tools that make my life easier.  I try to work smarter, not harder.

I also spend a little time each day on other writer’s blogs.  I want to see what they are doing.  I want to learn any tips that they might have for me.  And in the process I try to comment on their blogs, which gives me a backlink to my writing blog.
I make good use of Twitter.  That has helped considerably in my search for visibility.  I do not advertise blatantly there.  I use “Tweet My Blog” for notifying the Twitter people I follow that I have updated my blog.  That’s about it.  I have met some very decent people there.  And I have found that the resources many Twitter people point to are very good resources indeed. Traffic to my writing blog has jumped tremendously since I have been using Twitter.  I think that in a few months time that it will also bring me work.

Whatever you do in regards to branding yourself, I think the most important thing for you is visibility.  People are not coming to you.  You need to make sure you are doing everything in your power to make the prospective clients you may gain see that you are indeed a good writer with competitive pricing.  Learn from those around you.  There is a ton of work out there, and more and more people come online every day to attempt to make a living through marketing.  Make it easy on them - provide the services that they need.

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