Tip #2: Get Yourself a Gimmick (aka, Write a Good Bio)

This may be the single most important piece of advice I could impart to you: if you’re creating online content to promote something—or to promote yourself—you need an angle.

For example, if you’re a pediatrician who’s written a book about getting infants to sleep through the night—every aspect of your blog and site, from the visuals through to the website copy, should express this one blurbable fact: “I am a pediatrician and an expert on infants and sleep.”

Your angle should be visible everywhere, but is best described in a brief bio on the landing page where your content lives. For bloggers, this is usually the header or the sidebar of their blog.

This way, when people click through to your site from another source (be it a blog, a Wall Street Journal article, or somebody’s Tweet), they’ll know immediately who you are, what you’re about, and what you’re promoting.

Over the years and because of my prior blog, I’ve been phone interviewed by the Associated Press and MSNBC.com and excerpted by Slate. The topics were totally unconnected: working from home, higher education, and whether it’s unhealthy for women to vent their problems to their friends.

Why were the queries so random? Because my blog was a “personal blog”—a public work space for practicing my writing. I wasn’t selling anything and I wasn’t creating content for any specific reason, except that I loved to write. I wrote well enough to get media attention, but I didn’t have an easy-to-describe persona behind my content, so the leads never went anywhere.

Do This: Develop a short bio of yourself, no longer than 10 words. Practice reciting this bio aloud until it sounds right—polished, concise, authoritative. Then put it on your blog.

Content is a disposable item. Your over-arching voice and expertise is your real product. Don’t blog without purpose. Use your bio as your Mission Statement, and you’ll quickly find yourself creating a valuable information product that builds your brand and makes you a go-to source for mainstream media—and for your customers.

Next week… get ready for your close-up!