"Branding Yourself" is application of certain techniques which will help you gain popularity on Internet by making yourself well known, maybe as an Expert in your field. When people recognize you as an expert you will gain popularity by means of more free publicity than you can imagine. Picture seeing an article written mentioning your name as an authority on Marketing or mentioning you for nothing more than quoting something you said. The point I'm trying to make is that you are seen as an Authority or better put, a "Personality". Now, try to fathom thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people seeing you in same light. This is what successful Self-Branding is all about. You don't need to necessarily be an expert. You just need to be seen, heard and talked about.

How do you Brand Yourself? There are many techniques and methods, but it can be as simple as a hidden personality trait, a nickname (maybe something like "Wild Bill"), or helping others by consultation or assistance. You must look for ways to literally become a Celebrity in eyes of world or at least a small, select part of it. It could be by getting your name known as "guy/gal who had answer or made comment". Is that all there is to it? Of course not.

I had what alcoholics would refer to as a "moment of clarity". And at risk of sound enthralling, my "Internet Business Enlightenment" hit me like a brick.

What had happened?

My business buddies had come and gone in their bucket loads. My trusted friends who once spoke with raving ambition in their voices had died from scene and left me with nothing more than memories of hopes and ambitions that had once powered their aura.

Metaphorically, Internet appeared in my mind like a ghost town. The houses, that once provided shelter for world's most motivated ambitions, had now been boarded up and a "For Sale" sign hangs outside.

In literal terms, I'd seen my "best net friends" drop from my ICQ contact list like flies. I was suddenly noticing returned mail errors when I tried to contact my business mates by email, and worst feelings came when I received notifications of their intent to quit.

============================================== WHAT WAS GOING ON? Why Did I Feel So Strongly? ==============================================

To put it bluntly, ambitions that once were, died. My most regular contacts online had quit this Internet marketing 'lark'. Quite simply, they realized hype.

They were sick and tired of spending endless amounts of cash on worthless marketing techniques, wasting hours of their life on pointless promotional junk, and getting ripped off by "get rich quick" nature of 'net.

They had given Internet marketing "the finger", and in return it had given them a bad taste that would plague their mouth every time phrase "make money online" was mentioned. The worst thing is, tens of thousands of folks that I don't even know go through same thing EVERY year.

* And honestly, is it at all surprising? *