Cpd23 - Thing 3 - Branding

I've been thinking about being a brand for the next bit of Cpd23. I don't like the idea of being a brand; I rarely even buy branded food. A blog which sums it up perfectly is Library Wanderer's. I guess I don't want to be put in a box with a label neatly placed on me, however, I also understand that everyone else seems to like boxes and labels and brands so I have to be part of the game.

So the first thing I did was check my tags on the CPD Delicious account and immediately realised they didn't match me. I work in Further Education but mainly focus on students studying Higher Education courses. This immediately puts me into two separate and sometimes opposing categories as I need to find out what is going in both sectors and how they impact on each other.I'd also like relevant people to my profession to be able to find me easily too.

Secondly, I thought about my blog name. It was 'Stroumpette's musings' which I like but no-one is going to remember it. If anyone types it into Google they are going to be inundated by Smurfs - which may be quite unexpected!  So my blog name is now The Wolfenden Report as my surname is Wolfenden, it's easy to remember because of the real Wolfenden Report, which is in my family, and I'm reporting on some of my profesional activities.

Thirdly reader, I googled myself. I found my Facebook link (my settings are tight so I'm okay - phew! - not that there's anything too embarrasing - just my red face after doing the Race for Life). My Linkedin profile and another Sarah Wolfenden who is a bridal makeup artist. There were also a couple of posts I'd created in reply to event organisers for the London Library Teachmeet and the CoFHELASEC CPD event. So all in all I don't have a huge Google presence which I don't think is the end of the world - it will make me more careful when replying to other's posts though!

The next thing I need to do is learn how to use my blog more effectively, tidy it up and make it look more professional. This should give off the image I want people to have of me. Professional, hardworking but still with a personality; 'profersonal' as it's described on the CPD23 site. I haven't decided on what to do about my photos as yet - close up so I'm recognisable, a bit of mystery so people don't form an opinion before they've met me? I guess that's what all this branding is all about - forming other people's opinions before they get the chance to do it themselves. How commercial.