Hi everyone, have you thought about how you sign off on emails, blog comments, articles, and anything else you do?

I nearly always sign off anyway as Kathie M. Thomas. Perhaps it's the writer in me but I had thought of it as being a 'unique' identifier for me.

Recently I read a comment on a blog forum and also on a blog about the importance of signing off the same way all the time when leaving comments on blogs. It helps develop your 'brand' for yourself so that as web links build over time, you can actually do a search on your 'sign-off' and find all these references leading back to you.

What does that mean to your clients or prospective clients? If someone has seen you sign off somewhere and they've enjoyed what you wrote and felt an alignment with your thinking they may be led to do a search for you to find out more about you. It's a back door into your business but people have found me that way and it can happen to you too.

I recently did a search on Google to see what would come up and found that there were well over 20 pages worth of links leading to articles, comments, testimonials and all sorts of other things I'd written in the past - and most of them led back to my business.

Great points Kathie! It's true that every single thing we put our names to contributes to building our brand.

(P.S. just noticed your blog post - Happy 14th Business Anniversary!! )

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Originally Posted by Tess

Great points Kathie! It's true that every single thing we put our names to contributes to building our brand. (P.S. just noticed your blog post - Happy 14th Business Anniversary!! )

Thanks Tess on both counts - and if members visit my blogpost they may find themselves eligible for a gift from me!

My goodness, Kathie, you just keep on giving! Thanks for all your great advice.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

Happy Anniversary Kathie

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Deb Frawley
Gem's Virtual Office

WOW .... great advice! Thanks Kathie and Happy Anniversary!

By the way ..... your blog was the first real site I found that represented the VA industry. I somehow stumbled onto your post about your new desk/office which eventually led me to this forum. So I send a special thank you as well!

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Kim Alvis, Managing Director
Cardinal Point Business Associates

Happy Anniversary! Wow, 14 years. Thats so great.

I like your tip about signing off your name. I'll do that.

Great tip Kathie. That makes a lot of sense and isn't something that I normally do. I'll keep that in mind next time I make a comment somewhere.

Happy Anniversary!

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

Originally Posted by Kim2008

WOW .... great advice! Thanks Kathie and Happy Anniversary! By the way ..... your blog was the first real site I found that represented the VA industry. I somehow stumbled onto your post about your new desk/office which eventually led me to this forum. So I send a special thank you as well!

Hi Kim, how about that? Glad you found my blog. I designed it to be a resource for the industry and so enjoy writing it.

Great tip! Have to say, though, it could be a double-edged sword -- just beware of what your posts actually say! I think I'll keep the one name I use for personal and another separate one for business--otherwise, how would we all vent!