If you earn a reputation for being an authority and expert of your niche, people will typically want to be around you more. It's a good way to get more forum members, loyal blog readers, and email subscribers.
Are you working on developing your personal brand and reputation in your niche online?
It's not like I explicitly do actions to build out my personal brand / personality. But I usually try to make content that is relevant. I try not to get mixed up with heated debates, or drama like I did in the past. I only share personal stuff to those I really trust. And they matter to me more than anyone else online. I'm not going to act differently in order for someone to like me.
I place a lot of emphasis on branding but I also like to keep a fair degree of separation between my Internet presence and the so called real world.
As an example I use the avatar that I had professionally designed everywhere on the Internet but it can't easily be linked to my activities in that other world. Personally I find it really disconcerting when people change their avatars because in my mind it represents them as much or perhaps more than their user name.
For me good branding is defined by consistency as much as by design e.g.
Everyone knows this company logo even when it doesn't display a name.
