“Your personal brand is a promise to your clients... a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”

- Author Jason Hartman, Become The Brand of Choice

In Part I of this two-part blog series you'll learn what a personal brand is, why it's important, and the ways that you can leverage it to build your business. Click here to read Part 2.

For years, I’ve been looking at my clients’ website analytics as well as our own. And I’ve found a consistent axiom that holds true from company to company:

One of the most visited pages on any website is the ‘About’ page.

Your ‘About’ page is typically the second place new visitors will go after landing on your homepage. Check your own web stats – it’s probably true for your site. And you’ve probably done it yourself! The question is “why?”

The fact is, when people search for services they don’t just want to know about your core offerings – they want to know about the leaders of your team. People don’t just want to hire a business that does X, Y, Z. They want to hire authorities.

Need an example?

Here are a several fantastic ‘About’ pages that promote the personal brands of their leaders:

Paravel showcases 3 key individuals right away, with links to their personal websites and Twitter URLs. You also see a list of their Recent and Upcoming Appearances. Talk about showcasing authority!

MailChimp prioritizes their culture and co-founders, along with testimonials and a link to CEO Ben Chestnut’s Creative Mornings videos. Watch one of Ben’s videos to see how he leverages his personal brand to elevate his company.

37signals integrates photos of their top leaders with a chronological history of the company. Learn more about the Leadership team and find links to all of the company’s social media channels at the bottom of the page.

Zappos’ ‘About’ page is brilliant. It features links to the company’s culture and blogs. You can also learn more about CEO Tony Hsieh, who has mastered the art of the personal brand.

Virgin is a group of companies that are synonymous with Richard Branson, and that shows on their ‘About’ page. “I’ve used myself to build the brand,” he reflects. As a result of Branson’s CEO Brand, all stakeholders and potential stakeholders for the company are aware of what Virgin offers and its reputation.

But it doesn’t stop at your website.

To find out about your expertise, your prospects will also look at your LinkedIn page, Tweets, blog posts, and other publications and videos. If they like what they see, they are much more likely to buy from your company.

It also doesn’t stop with your prospects. Everyone from your staff, potential hires, colleagues, clients, suppliers, investors, potential business partners, recruiters, referrers, and business connections are all looking at your personal brand as well. They are already making judgments about your business based on what they find online.

This is why it’s essential for owners and other leaders in your organization to engage in personal branding as part of your overall marketing efforts. If you do it correctly, you can spread your company’s influence rapidly and exponentially.

Be sure to read Part 2 on the Kinesis strategy for building your business through personal brands.