Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com

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Dawud Miracle
Dawud Miracle - Advice to grow your small business

Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments?

written on 14 March, 2007 by admin

Last week I had the priviledge of speaking with blog consultant Mike Sansone of Converstations.com and BlogTalkRadio. Mike is one of the organizers of, and a speaker at, SOBCon07 this May in Chicago.

Mike and I talked for quite some time, covering many topics. There certainly were highlights I took away from our conversation.

But one comment Mike made to me stood out. At one point, when we were talking about how we found each other’s blogs, Mike said, “I saw your name come up constantly in blogs I read and comment on. I had to find out who this ‘Dawud Miracle’ was.” (note, not a direct quote)

commentbrand.jpgThis moment in our talk really stood out for me. Why? Because that’s exactly how I sign all my comments - Dawud Miracle.

When I first began commenting on blogs I would just leave my name however I thought about typing it at that moment. So there’s comments floating around from Dawud, DawudM, DMiracle as well as Dawud Miracle. If you find any, they’re all me.

But after a few days of commenting I changed my strategy. I quickly realized that to get the most out of my commenting efforts, I needed to sign my comments in a consistent manner. I choose Dawud Miracle over other variations, and over Healthy WebDesign, for a number of reasons.

First I wanted to be identified as a person so I used my name instead of my business name. Second, I wanted to distinguish myself from other commenters so I decided to use my first AND last name. Even with a name like Dawud, I didn’t feel my first name a long gave me enough ‘oomph.’ Doesn’t hurt, too, that my last name is quite unique and often memorable. Third, I wanted to ‘brand myself’ as Dawud Miracle so that as I was more visible around the blogosphere, the recognition of my name would carry more and more weight. And fourth, I knew my commenting efforts would help open the door to relationships with other bloggers. So I wanted to be known for who I am and who I am is Dawud Miracle.

Whenever I leave comments, I pay attention to other commenters as well. I look for names I either know or have seen before. On my blog it’s the same - I look for familiar names. I immediately can recognize Ben Yoskovitz, Dave Starr, Drew McLellan, Doug Karr and Liz Strauss. But I have a harder time knowing who Tony, Sara, Maddy, Karin H., Chris M or Dave are.

Since they comment on my blog frequently, I know who Karin H. and Chris M are. And Dave is friend and mastermind partner. But is ‘Dave’ getting the best return on his commenting efforts? I think not. But if he he began signing his comments as Dave Schoof :: The Disquiet in Men - that would distinguish him. It would create some recognition and help him brand his himself and his blog more effectively.

So how do you brand yourself in the blog comments you leave?

Comments: 152 Comments › join the conversation
Topics for Discussion:

152 responses so far ↓

  • Liz Strauss Mar 14, 2007 at 6:32 am  

    I think your point is one that is well taken. I know in answering comments I often think that I know too many bloggers who have the same name. I want to be sure that I’m addressing the person who is talking. So it’s not only branding it’s making it easier for folks to converse with you intelligently. :)

  • David Airey Mar 14, 2007 at 6:58 am  

    Great post Dawud.

    This is something I’ve thought about in the past too. I don’t just want to be another David.

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 14, 2007 at 7:09 am  

    Liz,

    True. You often get lots of comments at Successful-Blog. I’ve always been impressed in how you engage your readers in conversation. Yet, among the ambiguous commenter handles, how do you keep everyone straight?

    David,

    Yeah, I know how generic David is. Since you leave your full name on my comments, I can immediately recognize who left the comment. Helps tons.

    I’ve been playing with the idea of how Wendy Piersall :: eMoms signs her comments. Even better, I think, if your blog name doesn’t match your own name. I would do ‘Dawud Miracle :: Healthy WebDesign’ if I wasn’t changing my site domain and rebranding my business very soon.

  • Anonymous Mar 14, 2007 at 7:26 am  

    Hi Dawud

    I believe you are right (and glad to see you know me - by now ;-))

    I think it might become even more important to ‘brand’ your identity as blogger-commentor when the blogosphere keeps growing at the pace it does and/or when you have a ‘common’ name. I knew only 1 Mike blogger two months ago, now I know about four and always ‘wonder’ which Mike is commenting on my blog (or other blogs)> I have to ‘hover’ over the name to find out which ‘blog’domain is behind this Mike.

    So indeed, if you bring this towards branding (getting to be known) it is becoming more and more important to distinguise yourself from other ’same-names’ identity.

    Side-note: taking this even further, perhaps too far, do we know have to start to worry about ‘claiming’ names? Hope not!

  • Stuart Baker, conscious cooperation Mar 14, 2007 at 7:38 am  

    Real good post, Dawud. I am starting my new signature here. Thanks.

    Stuart Baker
    consciouscooperation.com

  • Karin Karin H. Mar 14, 2007 at 7:39 am  

    Isn’t that just so typical!

    The minute you try to follow your own thoughts and ideas (as in branding your blog-comment identity) your new comments are awaiting approval!

    :-)
    Only kidding Dawud, know you’re on to it

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 14, 2007 at 7:41 am  

    Karin H.,

    Yeah, so you know what I’m talking about. If you ask any branding expert they’re going to tell you that brand is built by consistency. So having a consistent commenting name is part of that.

    Claiming names…boy, if my name was John Harper or Larry Smith, I might be concerned. But for Dawud Miracle…not so much. What do you think?

  • David Airey Mar 14, 2007 at 7:44 am  

    Surprisingly a Google search for David Airey finds 304,000 results.

    After six months of blogging mine’s up there at number one spot. :)

  • David Airey Mar 14, 2007 at 7:45 am  

    Your comment screenshot’s from my blog. Shucks.

  • Karin Karin H. Mar 14, 2007 at 7:46 am  

    ;-)
    Was first thinking of ‘changing’ it to ccp (as I was pretty well known as at my former job) but like you say: consistency is important, even when you are ‘rebranding’.

    What do you think about the H. addition? (first letter of surname)

  • Chris M Mar 14, 2007 at 8:09 am  

    When you have the equivalent of John Smith (like I do), branding your name is easier said than done.

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 14, 2007 at 9:34 am  

    Stuart,

    Glad to see you picking this up. You were one of the many people I was thinking of when I wrote this post.

    David,

    And yes, I use a screenshot from your site. Hope you don’t mind.

    Karin H.,

    Your initial works great. I would suggest using it everywhere now so that you begin to become known by it. But why not use your whole surname?

    Chris,

    Yes, I hear you. Though you might benefit greatly from Chris M, SearchAnyway.com. Just a thought. What do you?

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 14, 2007 at 9:50 am  

    I just got a phone call from

    Chris M Mar 14, 2007 at 1:31 pm  

    It’s so funny that Liz mentioned gender concerns. I actually blogged about someone else’s post recently, and assumed that their unisex name was that of a man. It was very embarrassing.

    And you’re right, Dawud, “Chris M” hasn’t been all that bad on me. It’s better than just “Chris” and if you Google my full name, the results are astrounding — 34,100,000 results that include pro-athletes of all walks, historians, authors, journalists, entertainers, and the list goes on…

  • Dave Schoof: The Disquiet in Men Mar 14, 2007 at 1:56 pm  

    Thanks brother - I am newly converted!

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 14, 2007 at 5:18 pm  

    Chris,

    Interesting about your gender story.

    As for the Google results…do you think there’s some way you can ’sign’ your blogging comments (and you blog posts) that would distinguish you from the huge Google results?

    Dave Schoof: The Disquiet in Men,

    I like. Congrats. I have a feeling this is going to make a difference for you.

  • Char Mar 15, 2007 at 3:08 am  

    You make some great points! I started out using “keystrokes” as my name (it is my company name after all), but switched to Char to add the personal element. Char is pretty unique so I haven’t felt the need to leave my full name (too long) yet.

    I do like Wendy’s strategy and I may consider signing Char :: Essential Keystrokes (or which ever blog I feel is the best match) in the future.

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 15, 2007 at 4:01 am  

    Char,

    Thanks Char. Using your name, instead of your business name, makes your comments more personal for me. I can relate to you more easily that way.

    I like Wendy’s approach too with listing name and blog name. It actually makes me curious about who you are and what you do.

  • Karin Karin H. Mar 15, 2007 at 4:12 am  

    Hi all

    Dawud, re using my surname, long story why I do not ;-).
    Thought Karin H. would stand-out sufficiently on its own in the English language where KarEn is more common than the Dutch writing style of the name, but then you still have others replying to me as ” Hi Karen” (grrrrr!, I’m rather sensitive about that).

    (funny side-note, well I found it funny: recently did a search on my full name on Google UK. There’s is another Dutch person with exactly the same name working and living in the UK - how small is the world?)

    As for ‘branding’ myself and our company on other forms of online conversations - forums etc - I use the ‘nickname’ WoodYouLike. That works great, but commenting/writing about business, marketing etc post I ‘write’ as myself, a business owner learning from others, so use my first name as ‘nickname’.

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 16, 2007 at 4:17 am  

    Karin H.,

    I get it. I think your name is distinctive - at least here in the States.

  • Adam Kayce Mar 16, 2007 at 12:05 pm  

    You and I had a conversation (an honest-to-goodness phone conversation, not just a pixellated one) about this today, but it was before I’d checked my feed reader and saw this post.

    Good one! :)

    It brings up a question for me, though…

    If you saw, “Adam Kayce : Monk At Work” instead of just “Adam Kayce”, would you think, “Oh, here’s some shameless self-promoter leaving a comment, trying to get some publicity…”?

    I really like the idea of branding, I’m just wondering how much is too much?

  • Adam Kayce Mar 16, 2007 at 12:59 pm  

    Maybe I’m answering my own question, here, but I notice that when I’ve seen Wendy’s posts, I’ve never thought anything but, “Oh, *that* Wendy,” and the bells of recognition go off in my head.

    So, this could be a good thing…!

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 16, 2007 at 1:31 pm  

    Adam,

    From what I’ve experienced in the blogosphere, my response - and other bloggers as well - would have to do more with the quality of your comments then on how you ‘present’ yourself as s commenter. I’m sure you could ask Wendy Piersall if she’s had any ‘negative’ feedback. I’m thinking not, though. I think it’s more like what you said in your second comment.

    Bottomline, bloggers tend to be much more content oriented - they love good content.

  • Adam Kayce Mar 16, 2007 at 4:17 pm  

    That makes sense. It’s also nice in my mind to see more than just “Joe Q. Schmo”, too. A name doesn’t tell me much, but “Joe Q. Schmo, SpeedyPlumbing” frames it so much better in my mind.

    In Wendy’s case (sorry to keep talking about you, Wendy! :) ), I liked seeing her ‘emom’ title, because it helped me feel more familiar with her, rather than seeing, “just another anonymous poster.”

    So, I’m jumping on the bandwagon, too (as you can see…).

    —
    side question… how did you link to Wendy in your reply? Are these things html-enabled?

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 16, 2007 at 4:32 pm  

    Adam,

    Exactly. That’s why I wrote this post.

    I liked to Wendy by using HTML. Just surround the text you want with the ‘< a >‘ tag, adding your href - just like you were coding HTML. I know this makes some sense to you. If you need more, just email/phone me.

  • Drew McLellan Mar 17, 2007 at 9:56 am  

    Dawud,

    Excellent post. All very valid points. The other way that you can brand your comments is the comment style and content itself. I think I feel a post coming on….

    Drew

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 17, 2007 at 4:27 pm  

    Drew,

    Thanks. Let me know when you write the post…I’ll be there to comment.

  • Dr Charles Parker Mar 18, 2007 at 3:09 pm  

    Dawud,
    Very good point, thanks for sharing it. Might as well say who we are, - and in this context branding is more subtle. Almost subliminal!
    Chuck

  • Norm T Mar 19, 2007 at 6:53 am  

    Absolutely, creating a recognizable brand is a great way to promote and sell your site. Great point Thanks.

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 19, 2007 at 8:09 am  

    Charles, Norm,

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  • Chris Brown Mar 23, 2007 at 5:31 am  

    Dawud:
    Wish I had a cool name like yours. Somehow I have ended up with a “generic” name, as well as a generic blog name: branding and marketing… and a generic business name: marketing resources & results.

    I didn’t have much to do with my name, but the other two were to describe my services and make it easy to find by searching for what you are looking for. It does feel pretty generic however when I’m signing posts.

    thanks for helping me get my thinking cap moving!
    Chris Brown

  • Dawud Miracle Mar 23, 2007 at 11:57 am  

    Chris,

    Have you seen Guy Kawasaki’s suggestion about creating a 2-3 word mantra in place of a mission statement? That could be a way for you to differentiate yourself. Just a thought.

  • Adam Kayce : Monk At Work Apr 4, 2007 at 11:10 am  

    [quote comment="2528"]Have you seen Guy Kawasaki’s suggestion about creating a 2-3 word mantra in place of a mission statement? That could be a way for you to differentiate yourself. Just a thought.[/quote]

    There’s also a great manifesto of Guy’s, which has the mantra concept explained very well, at Change This; search for “Art of the Start.”

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 6, 2007 at 12:45 pm  

    Adam,

    Very nice. I went and got the manifesto. It’s at ChangeThis

    Also, read the post I put today about Guy’s perspective on making meaning in your business.

  • Brett Evans Apr 15, 2007 at 5:12 pm  

    I totally agree with the Branding yourself in you comments by posting your full name. Hopefully I could start recognizing peoples name’s on my blog post!

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 16, 2007 at 6:04 am  

    Brett,

    Being recognized is exactly why I ‘branded’ my comment signature. And it’s worked. Let me know about your experience with it.

    Thanks.

  • Stuart Baker Apr 16, 2007 at 6:35 am  

    Dawud, I have not made an official study, but more people seem to be visiting my blog since I am using the full signature when commenting Thanks for the thought!

    Stuart Baker
    http://www.consciouscooperation.com

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 16, 2007 at 6:38 am  

    Stuart,

    That’s great news. Thanks for sharing it, Stuart. I didn’t do any official record keeping myself, but I did find more people coming from comments on other blogs once I ‘branded’ my comment signature.

  • Daniel Sitter Apr 16, 2007 at 2:45 pm  

    Dawud,

    I truly enjoyed this post! In a like manner, I too, being conscious of my own brand, have developed the technique of always using my full name on book covers, article writing, blogging and writing comments.

    I have taken it one step further, per great advice from Scott Ginsberg, and have now been adding my “branding” signature to each blog post. You never know exactly where your feed will transport your latest post!

    Keep up the great writing!

    Best regards,
    Daniel Sitter

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 16, 2007 at 3:12 pm  

    Daniel,

    Thanks. I’ve thought about putting my name as a signature as you have in the comment as well. Have yet to adopt that.

    Did you know, by the way, that you can control where the link you leave in a comment takes a commenter click-through? When you leave your web address, as you did when you filled in this comment, do so for a post you want people to see rather than your homepage. That way, they’ll end up reading a relevant post regardless of what’s on your blog’s homepage.

  • Kathie Thomas Apr 22, 2007 at 2:20 am  

    I’ve pretty much done the same wherever I’ve commented too and on most occasions linked back to the same blog as well, although sometimes it’s been suitable to link to a different one. I don’t think it’s any co-incidence though that the one I link to the most is also the one that made it in the Top 100 Aussie Blogs list recently. So I think the blog linking is also important.

    Thanks for this post - a good read and good thinking material!

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 22, 2007 at 2:44 pm  

    Kathie,

    Absolutely. The link is important too. Sometimes I link to my homepage, sometimes to a specific post. Depends on the post I’m commenting on. What’s important, though, is name recognition. Then to leave quality comments. I know that how I got a number of people interested in my blog when it first launched…they told me so.

  • Chris Abraham Apr 22, 2007 at 6:33 pm  

    Have you checked out PostieCon? Seems like it would be the kind of conference that would really appeal to folks who are into branding, linking, interacting, and engaging online. Lots of monetization techniques as well, be really more about just the kind of thing “Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments?” talks about. Here, I am branding my own site/blog, because that’s who I am but I am also linking to PostieCon because that’s where I want you to look. I think that’s the best way, right? Hmm

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 23, 2007 at 3:26 pm  

    Chris,

    I did take a look at PostieCon. Maybe. Not sure what later in the year is going to look like for me.

    For now, I’m going to SOBCon07. After that, who knows.

  • gilda su Apr 24, 2007 at 1:05 am  

    wow. well i’d only just started out my blog and have been commenting on some other blogs, but i never thought of it that way before… so i tried typing out my full name instead of just ‘gilda’. somehow, having a sirname like su just isn’t enough of a punch. HAHAHA.

    thanks for the tips. i’ll have to read up more.

    cheers,
    gilda, su su su~!

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 24, 2007 at 6:24 am  

    gilda su,

    Certainly. You could trying adding your blog/business name to your signature as well.

  • Opal: The Raw & The Cooked May 9, 2007 at 7:36 am  

    Great article!
    I used to use my first name Opal. Recently I started using my newly changed website title “The Raw & The Cooked” I liked it but it wasn’t personable but as of this article I started adding “Opal: The Raw & The Cooked”.

  • Fred :: panekfr.com May 24, 2007 at 12:28 pm  

    This makes a lot of sense!
    I realize now how impersonal is my signature… Usually Fred. But my full name is Frédéric Panek and I used to feel that it is a bit long and difficult to remember.

    However now, I think it distinguishes me from most and as such it could be a good signature.

    So now I will sign Frédéric Panek…

    Cheers,

    Frédéric Panek

  • Dawud Miracle May 24, 2007 at 2:50 pm  

    Fred,

    Yes. What I found was using my name - which is unique - in comments led people to my blog. Often because they’d see my comments on other blogs. and recognized me.

  • Frédéric Panek May 25, 2007 at 3:23 am  

    Yes indeed, your name truly is unique…
    I actually started to notice your name here and there on blogs I was surfing and I now know that it is you :-)

    Cheers

  • Dawud Miracle May 25, 2007 at 7:46 am  

    Frederic,

    Thanks. That’s exactly my point. You see a commenter leaving intelligent comments on a few sites and you’ll be interested enough to find out who they are.

  • Juggling Frogs May 31, 2007 at 3:55 pm  

    This is a great idea. I have been confused in the past, trying to follow long interwoven comment lists peppered by differnent “Jim”s, “Dave”s, and “Lisa”s.

  • Dawud Miracle May 31, 2007 at 6:32 pm  

    Juggling Frogs,

    Thanks. I had success with it so I thought I’d share the idea.

  • w3-edge Jun 1, 2007 at 1:34 pm  

    Branding is defiantly an important aspect of being a webmaster whether it is your personal blog or a corporate website. The right kind of solution can really increase your website traffic.

    Best of luck
    w3-edge

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 1, 2007 at 2:16 pm  

    w3-edge,

    True. You’re welcome to say a bit more about the ‘right kind of solution’ if you like.

  • Robert Irizarry Jun 1, 2007 at 7:09 pm  

    Interesting topic. I’ve been using my full name practically from my beginnings in the blogosphere. However, it wasn’t specifically as a means of branding. I merely thought that it made sense given that I had no interest in trying to hide my real name in my online blogging activities.

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 2, 2007 at 9:58 pm  

    Robert,

    Thanks. It does make sense. Which is why I find this idea so simple. Yet, I can’t believe how few people think about it when they leave comments. And truthfully, in the beginning, I didn’t.

  • w3 edge Jun 5, 2007 at 12:57 pm  

    [quote comment="4740"]w3-edge,

    True. You’re welcome to say a bit more about the ‘right kind of solution’ if you like.[/quote]
    [quote comment="4738"]Branding is defiantly an important aspect of being a webmaster whether it is your personal blog or a corporate website. The right kind of solution can really increase your website traffic.

    Best of luck
    w3-edge[/quote]

    It’s obviously quite a complex point. How a brand is positioned is determined by the audience being marketed to (or that you’d like to have a dialog with). So if the goal is to be seen and reckonized blog comments must be pivotal and thought provoking in order to be memorable. If the goal is simply to get involved in ongoing dialogue branding is secondary becuase still when people like what you have to say, they will click thru to find more. So in the end it seems it’s comes down to priorities. What do you want to do push the brand first or push relationships - two approaches that evenutally can provide similar results.

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 5, 2007 at 1:21 pm  

    w3-edge,

    But what if you ‘push’ the relationship and the brand together? Or what if building the relationship is the brand?

  • Sleeping Dude Jun 20, 2007 at 12:46 am  

    Hmm… Should I be changing my name I subscribe with?

    Sleeping Dude
    How to Wake Up Early

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 20, 2007 at 6:30 am  

    Sleeping Dude,

    I think not. Sleeping Dude has a branding to it.

  • Single Grain Jun 26, 2007 at 2:19 pm  

    Dawud, I used also comment using my name but i quickly realized that people were recognizing me as a person instead of my company’s Brand Name “Single Grain” Since no one searches for me as a person I changed to Single Grain.

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 26, 2007 at 2:26 pm  

    Single Grain,

    Exactly. I’m a little different in that my brand is Dawud Miracle. But really the same premise. What gets you seen, recognized and known.

  • catur pw Jul 20, 2007 at 7:07 am  

    yes i do.
    i realize that giving comment for other popular blog (with consistent manner) will bring a lot beneficial on our brand image.

  • Ponn Sabra Jul 20, 2007 at 3:23 pm  

    hee hee!

    Funny, when I see “Name” I type my name…go figure.

    Then, again; I know “Ponn” pronounced “Pawn” is extremely rare…but “Ponn Sabra” is more rare and fun :-)

    Kindof cool when we can see this kind of honor for our Names & Brand, here, Dawud! :-D

    Due to time…I have not read the comments above me, but obviously you hit a “conversational-cord” yet again ;-)

  • Dawud Miracle Jul 20, 2007 at 5:03 pm  

    catur pw,

    Thanks.

    Ponn,

    Pretty cool, huh?

  • AJ Vaynerchuk Jul 25, 2007 at 12:50 pm  

    Nice post and I totally agree with your main points. I recently wrote a post on my blog regarding this very same topic and even taking it a step further with the idea of blog comment signatures. Conveniently the link will be in my signature right below :)

    ——————————
    AJ Vaynerchuk
    Owner and Blogger
    http://www.ajvaynerchuk.com
    Read my article about blog comment signatures and how to make yours!

  • Dawud Miracle Jul 25, 2007 at 3:20 pm  

    AJ Vaynerchuk,

    Thanks for your comment - and the link to your post. I know this has really helped me grow awareness in my blog.

  • Sohbet Jul 29, 2007 at 5:06 am  

    I’d be interested in an updated GoogleAnalytics chart (may be two with about six weeks coverage), just to see if the effect did wear off after a while and also, did others link to your new name with the same link-text (allinurl:…).
    I hope you will publish a follow up.

  • ses5909 Aug 11, 2007 at 4:32 am  

    Hi, I would be the Sara mentioned above :). My question for you is, my full name is Sara Smith which obviously isn’t very unique. In most circles I run and in all of the communities I am involved in, I am known as ses5909. Yes, that is very unique but is it something a person should be known as? I’m open for suggestions :)

  • Dawud Miracle Aug 12, 2007 at 9:02 pm  

    Sohbet,
    I may write a follow up one of these days. Right now, I think what I’m suggesting is just common sense - especially if you’re someone who leaves good comments. Then the blog owners get to know you better.

    I don’t really care how measurable the results are overall. I’m more interested in the real-life results that have led to partnerships and relationships.

    ses5909,
    What do you do, Sara Smith?

  • Kathie Thomas, A Claytons Secretary Aug 13, 2007 at 3:06 am  

    I love that I can see in my stats that people have visited my blog through a comment I’ve made somewhere!

  • ses5909 Aug 13, 2007 at 3:43 am  

    I create websites for a living and have gone by the username ses5909 for actually 12 years (starting back in my Navy days) so if you google that, it will bring up quite a bit about me. But googling Sara Smith, will only bring up a limited amount of results that are relevant to me.

  • Dr Charles Parker: CorePsych Aug 13, 2007 at 6:50 am  

    Dawud,
    Thanks for staying with this tread, - may be silent but am watching, and do agree with all of you. Thanks so much for this thoughtful discussion!
    Chuck

  • Dawud Miracle Aug 14, 2007 at 8:51 am  

    Kathie,
    It’s pretty amazing, huh?

    ses5909,
    That makes sense. But do your clients and prospects recognize you as ses5909? They may, I don’t know.

    Charles,
    Nice branding - I know exactly who you are.

  • TRCoach Aug 21, 2007 at 1:08 am  

    [quote comment="9093"]Hi, I would be the Sara mentioned above :). My question for you is, my full name is Sara Smith which obviously isn’t very unique. In most circles I run and in all of the communities I am involved in, I am known as ses5909. Yes, that is very unique but is it something a person should be known as? I’m open for suggestions :)[/quote]

    I would suggest Sara (The Blog Experiment) Smith

    :)Tom (TRCoach)

  • Dawud Miracle Aug 22, 2007 at 8:35 am  

    TRCoach,
    I like the ring to it…

  • sohbet Aug 29, 2007 at 2:29 pm  

    tnx

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  • Sohbet Sep 8, 2007 at 1:48 pm  

    That’s a wonderful plugin. I’m sure there’s room for adding some additional features to it. Thanks.

  • Sohbet Sep 23, 2007 at 10:03 am  

    without exaggeration, that’s one of the most amazing comments I’ve ever read in the history of blogs. the ignorance and bigotry is astonishing.

  • Chat Sep 23, 2007 at 11:34 am  

    Sounds like a good show, hope Sebastian found his crankyness again. He`s been slipping off the scale lately so Johns had to pick up the pace,and we all know he can do that very well. Great work!!!!.

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    Well i not sure the reason most people start a blog … it seems to me there is a belief that if they have direct control over their content some how things will be more successful or they will be in control of it.

  • pearl Oct 13, 2007 at 1:38 am  

    this is really interesting because it’s been on my mind for quite some time now. Every time I sign my name as ‘pearl’ - I find myself debating if I should have typed ‘tyropearl’… or Pearl @ fresh perspectives

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    It´s a very interesting Blog and simple answer of many questions.
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  • Travel Guy Nov 25, 2007 at 7:49 pm  

    Dawud,
    Couldn’t agree more. I used to use only first name which is John. Needless to say it had no chance to stand out. So switched sometime back to tying it to my site.

  • muhabbet Nov 26, 2007 at 3:14 pm  

    thank you

  • Steve Dec 20, 2007 at 1:46 pm  

    Hey Dawud,

    I have a problem with branding my name.

    1. It’s as generic as you can get (Steve).

    2. My site is a weight loss site. So if I sign with anything to do with “weight loss” I’ve found that it gets looked at negatively. Especially when commenting on non-health/weight related blogs.

    Any suggestions for me? also how long is too long for a sig name?

    What do you think is better to promote in the comment section, a main static site or the blog attached to that site?

    Thanks in advance for your insight.

  • Andrew Dec 31, 2007 at 7:44 am  

    I don’t brand myself, i try to be honest and contribute. I just feel if im branding myself, everything gets a bit spammy and theres really no reason to. It could reveal our personalities though which would be a good thing.

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 2, 2008 at 10:09 am  

    Steve,
    I would simply distinguish yourself by using your full name, and maybe the name of your site (e.g. Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com). This way, people can more easily recognize you from your comments. And good comments, even on non-health sites, will peak people’s interest.

    Andrew,
    Remember what I’m suggesting here…it’s about being recognized. Are you not commenting on blogs, at least partly, to get people back to yours? Then why not use a ’signature’ that distinguishes you from other Andrews?

  • Scott Stiegemeyer Jan 13, 2008 at 12:30 am  

    I’d never thought of using my signature on comments as a way to brand myself. It’s so simple and obvious, yet . . . not.

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 13, 2008 at 10:06 am  

    Scott,
    I know. I really appreciate getting to know the people who comment on my site - and I know other bloggers are the same way. And when you see the same name of a commenter in many places, it makes you want to find out who they are. Is that what you do?

  • ensest hikayeler Jan 13, 2008 at 3:37 pm  

    Nice post and I totally agree with your main points. I recently wrote a post on my blog regarding this very same topic and even taking it a step further with the idea of blog comment signatures. thanks

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 13, 2008 at 9:58 pm  

    ensest,
    Sure. Feel free to leave a live link to the post.

  • lei Jan 21, 2008 at 9:43 am  

    In my opinion as long as you put a short and unique name it is still noticeable. It shouldnt be more than 8 syllable to be remembered easily. Its just like the principle of advertising.

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 21, 2008 at 11:30 am  

    lei,
    I would agree. Find a way to make yourself unique…and leave great comments.

  • web design company Jan 28, 2008 at 6:11 pm  

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  • Vaymuhabbet Jan 28, 2008 at 11:44 pm  

    Muhabbet, islami sohbet, dini sohbet

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 29, 2008 at 9:29 am  

    web design,
    I couldn’t agree more.

  • Michael Pratt Jan 30, 2008 at 3:08 pm  

    Dawud,
    I came across your thread by searching for articulate pieces on blogging content generation. You’re everywhere and that’s a kudo to your high quality pieces. It seems to me that it’s actually not that there’s a dearth of quality content out there but that there’s so much low quality stuff, it takes a lot of searching to find the good stuff. Thanks for being part of the quality.

  • Dawud Miracle Jan 31, 2008 at 9:56 am  

    Michael,
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m always doing what I can to create high quality content that can actually make a difference to business owners - bloggers or otherwise.

  • Rob McNealy Feb 6, 2008 at 9:54 pm  

    Ah, yet another detail to think about and remember. It makes sense though. You get a lot bigger bang for your buck if people can tell you’re the same person when they find your comments on different sites.

    I’ll have to work on a catchy new moniker…

    -Rob

  • Quality Link Directory Feb 7, 2008 at 2:03 am  

    Interesting thoughts. I also see an opportunity to do so in commenting in blogs. It does help in building a good PR from time to time.

  • Dawud Miracle Feb 7, 2008 at 9:24 am  

    Rob,
    Remember, most bloggers that you want to build relationships with want to also build them with you. So make yourself unique, yet remain obvious that you’re a person.

    Quality Link,
    It does. And in your case, when I see Quality Link Directory I don’t think of you as a person. I think of you as a business who wants traffic. So where’s the incentive for me to want to build a relationship with you?

  • VAN MAN REMOVALS EDINBURGH Feb 14, 2008 at 12:23 pm  

    i think most people would brand themselves on bloggs , arent they for just that purpose ,esp those who run bloggs and encourage it , well that the way i see it .

  • Rom @ PR4 Link Directory Feb 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm  

    @ Dawud : My apologies for the previous post but it is a reality in IM.

    However, I enjoy reading from most of your posts. Such insighful views are some of the things that I fail to wallow on. Upon reading most of your posts, I would certainly take time to think of such things I normally take for granted…

  • Dawud Miracle Feb 20, 2008 at 11:36 pm  

    VAN MAN,
    But what I’m talking about here is social branding in a way where you can become recognized by other bloggers and commenters for the way you sign your comments.

    Rom,
    No worries. I’m just pleased you’re gaining something from my mutterings. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

  • DocZayus Feb 21, 2008 at 4:09 am  

    I’ve been signing everything with DocZayus since the mid 90’s.

  • Malin Feb 21, 2008 at 4:07 pm  

    I have been thinking about that, if I should brand myself as “Malin Infektia” or just “Malin”. There aren’t many Malin’s in the english blogosphere, and “Malin Infektia” doesn’t really sound right. I’m not sure what to choose really.

  • Jenny Feb 23, 2008 at 3:37 pm  

    I actually don’t. Only because there is nothing on my site worth branding myself for. But I do comment as Jenny and then people usually just know who it is.

  • Kathleen Whalen : Mar 11, 2008 at 12:29 am  

    A comment string from our business community within ‘biz nik’ led me to your article.
    Although I do not have a Miracle name, I am still working on my branding name and tag. Your articulate comments have just confirmed the repeated need for Resonance within our businesses, lives and presence on the web.
    Branding is resonance.
    It allows our minds to settle for an encapsulated moment within this ever increasingly stimulating world.
    How’s that for a twist.

  • travel to bhutan Mar 11, 2008 at 12:39 am  

    What you say makes sense however,me, I change my name from time to time.

  • sohbet Mar 17, 2008 at 5:21 pm  

    thanks a lot i like it.

  • Live Crunch - Technology Blog Apr 5, 2008 at 1:53 am  

    I use either Live Crunch or the one above, depends on how I feel. That is my brand and that is the way people know my blog by. Like it?

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  • Rize Apr 20, 2008 at 11:04 am  

    Being recognized is exactly why I ‘branded’ my comment signature. And it’s worked. Let me know about your experience with it.

    Thanks.

  • Rize Apr 20, 2008 at 5:43 pm  

    I have been thinking about that, if I should brand myself as “Malin Infektia” or just “Malin”. There aren’t many Malin’s in the english blogosphere, and “Malin Infektia” doesn’t really sound right. I’m not sure what to choose really.

  • Rize Apr 21, 2008 at 3:43 pm  

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  • Dawud Miracle Apr 21, 2008 at 9:29 pm  

    Anyone,
    The key to branding in your comments is to create an easily recognizable, rememberable and telling signature to your blog comments.

  • seks Apr 29, 2008 at 11:14 am  

    But what if you ‘push’ the relationship and the brand together

  • Jordans May 11, 2008 at 2:17 pm  

    Thanks a lot brother it really help me

  • That Sneaker Wearing Entrepreneurial Cartoonist Internet Guy May 30, 2008 at 11:12 am  

    Great stuff Dawud. I’ve been trying to build my own brand and this post turned on a great big light bulb. Thanks!!

  • laptop Jun 1, 2008 at 9:57 pm  

    There are actually a few different ones out there. I have been giving this software a go and see how it pans out.

    You have a great site and i return to it ever now and then as i find the time.

  • Pali Madra Jun 2, 2008 at 1:59 pm  

    Does branding mean having an exclusive name. If that is the case “Pali Madra” is exclusive or should it be Pali Madra at afterthedotnet?

    I had another question. I see a lot of comments on your blog which have links to different websites or blogs. I thought that would be classified as spam particularly the comments left by Stuart Baker and Sleeping Dude.

    On the whole I think a great post and interesting reading.

  • Dawud Miracle Jun 2, 2008 at 2:54 pm  

    Sneaker,
    What has you light bulb illuminated about your business?

    laptop,
    Great. Let me know what you think.

    Pali,
    Either would be fine. Just that’s it’s consistent.

    As for comments - my site is about the conversation. So I work a bit of overtime to find comments in spam and pull them out. Links in comments shouldn’t be spam unless, well, they are.

  • muhabbet Jun 5, 2008 at 8:39 am  

    No joke! What a great, energetic group - very outgoing. Other than the fact that they kicked Arizona’s ass 6-1 I could hang with these ladies and learn a little something about focus and team spirit. nice

  • self storage Jun 13, 2008 at 3:54 am  

    You have a great site and i return to it ever now and then as i find the time.

  • new myspace layouts Jun 17, 2008 at 11:07 am  

    Great article and ideas, thank you very much.

  • Santa Barbara SEO Jun 20, 2008 at 3:34 am  

    You do have a point there. It does however always depend on what it is that you want to accomplish. I comment equally with all keywords and also name. This gives the best results is what I think…

  • acer Jul 1, 2008 at 2:01 am  

    You do have a point there. It does however always depend on what it is that you want to accomplish. I comment equally with all keywords and also name. This gives the best results is what I think…

  • school supplies Jul 2, 2008 at 3:12 pm  

    its important to blog yourself to keep your thoughts on paper and not just cooped up in your head. it allows your spirit to release and set itself free!

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