Dani.Space: Building a credible personal brand

Gone are the days when creating a personal brand meant having a bunch of business cards and a personal logo. With the development of social media and an increasingly individualized society, the brand you build around yourself is one of the strongest ways you can showcase your talent and stand out in your spheres of influence. We spoke to Danielle McGaw who is building her own personal brand on Dani.Space.

What inspired you to start Dani.space? Tell us the story.

I bought the domain dani.space when the extension .space first came out. It seemed like a suitable place to host a personal brand that reflected who I was. I wanted it to have my name and I wanted it to be simple and fun. Dani.space was exactly what I’d been looking for.

What mistakes do new writers often make in their writing? How can they avoid them?

I think the biggest mistake that new writers often make is writing strictly for themselves. It’s important to remember that there’s an audience and new writers should figure out who that audience is.

Figure out what they want to read and what other interests they have. How old are they? Where are they present online (Pinterest? Facebook? Instagram?). Once you know these things you can write blog posts that are meant for them and you can get your blog in front of them.

Share your top 5 tips with beginners and newbie writers. What should they keep in mind before starting off?

1. Make writing a habit. Try to write something every day (even if you don’t publish it).
2. Set up a publishing schedule for your blog. It could be once a week or twice a week. Doesn’t matter. Just try to publish on the same days and around the same time. Your readers will come to expect it.
3. Be yourself. Don’t try to be someone else.
4. When you can’t think of anything to write about just open your journal and write, “I want to write about….” and then keep writing whatever comes to mind. It will give you space to throw out ideas.
5. Edit before you publish.

What are the top 3 steps in starting a new blog/website or blog page?

1. Create a memorable title for your blog.
2. Decide who your blog is for. Know your audience.
3. Set up navigation so that people can find what they are looking for.

Why did you choose a .SPACE domain? How is it helping you develop a unique online brand?

I wanted my site to be reflective of who I am and everything I do online. I had it set up as a regular blog in the past but recently I’ve upgraded it to a sort of hub so that people can follow or subscribe to the parts of me that they are interested in.

So, I have a section for my freelance writing, a section for my indie author posts, a personal blog that is for whatever I feel like writing about, and a section that covers everything else. I like the way that it is several sites within one site and the .space domain seems to work really well with what I have set up.