Ascend 101

Lessons about building a one-person business, writing, and self-improvement

I was writing a module on positioning for my Abundant-Client System when I realized I hadn’t ever written an article about one of the most foundational aspects of personal branding. Namely, the branding itself.

So this is where today’s article will come into play.

We’ll take a closer look at each and every aspect of your Twitter profile. And how to design it as well as possible for the outcome you desire.

Because after all, you can’t grow and reach your goals if you can’t make a great first impression. Which is what profile optimization is all about.

There are 5 core elements when it comes to optimizing your Twitter profile:

Your profile picture
Your banner
Your bio
Your CTA
Your content

Let’s not waste any more time and jump straight into the first one.

Step 1) Your profile picture

Your profile picture is how you grab attention on the timeline.

It’s what people see when scrolling before they even see your tweet/comment. So you’ll want it to be both attention-grabbing and recognizable.

And while both those aspects are important. They’re not the most important aspect for me.

Even more important than grabbing attention is the profile picture being in line with who you are. Which makes sense after all. It’s the first chance you get to introduce yourself.

And what would be a better introduction? Having a black-and-white picture of you looking to the right in a serious manner, photoshopped on a white background—and looking like a Dan Koe wannabe? Or showcasing your own personality by looking unique, maybe even a bit quirky or weird, but doing it your own way and not copying everyone you see on your timeline.

Conclusion: Uniqueness and showing your personality will get you further than copying others and following whatever trend is currently going on.

Step 2) Your banner

Banners are easily my favorite part of building a problem.

But so many people overcomplicate them and have absolutely no idea how to approach creating or deciding what kind of banner they should get.

See, your banner is your biggest piece of digital real estate once people click on your profile (above the fold). And because of that, it’s also the best way to show who you are and what you care about.

While your profile picture can only give a glimpse of who you are, your banner can give an almost complete picture—or as complete as you can get from a first impression.

Contrary to what many people believe, getting the perfect banner is less about what’s actually on the banner and more about the feeling the banner gives off. It’s all about the vibes.

If you’re a serious person, then get a serious, maybe even professional banner.
If you’re laid back and like to travel, then get a relaxing picture of a sunset at the beach.
If your greatest achievement in life is that time you won a chili pepper eating contest, then use a picture of you at that chili pepper eating contest as your banner.
If you’re a boring copycat who doesn’t plan on ever adding true original content and value to people’s lives, then get the same banner everyone gets which is a plain colored background with a simple message/slogan telling people what you do, and add an arrow that points to your follow button so people know you’re desperate to get more followers

If I made one thing clear, I hope it’s the fact that there’s a lot more freedom in the choice of your banner.

Like it or not, we’re in the attention economy. And the fastest way to lose is to do the same thing as every other person and follow templates that limit your personal creativity and expressiveness.

Step 3) Your bio

Your bio is where it gets a bit more ‘serious’.

With a character limit of 160, there’s not a lot of room for personality and feeling. And you’ll want to make sure everyone who visits your profile knows WHAT you do as well.

That’s what we’ll use the bio for.

You’ll want to include a few elements to craft a compelling & value-adding (to your profile) bio:

What do you offer?
Why should people care? (authority/credibility)

Let’s clarify this with an example. Take a look at my bio:

Left uni to create · Learn to monetize your audience while working less than 3 hours a day · Helped 23 clients monetize their creator business

It starts with a small image of what I’m about/who I am. To show people a transformation and the fact that there’s a story behind the brand.

Then it immediately talks about what I help people with. And finally, it ends with the last part that adds credibility to my previous claim of helping people monetize.

Your bio doesn’t have to follow the same exact structure. But I highly recommend including all of those elements in one way or another.

Step 4) Your CTA

Twitter gives you the option to add your location while editing your profile.

Don’t do this. I repeat, don’t add your location. That’s a waste of space.

You’re better off using that as a call to action to drive people to your website/link.

My ‘location’ is set to “Learn how to get paid 👉”.

Which brings me to another point.

You want to have a link, somewhere to drive traffic towards. Twitter is great for generating traffic. But that traffic is useless if you’re not driving it towards a place where you own your traffic and/or get paid.

This could be your email list, as is the case for me. Or it could be a landing page for a product or an offer of yours.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a link and a CTA as location.

Step 5) Your content

This is the most significant part of your brand. But for some reason, most people tend to dismiss it when talking about optimizing your profile or personal branding.

At the end of the day, no matter how your banner looks, what your bio says, or where you drive your traffic towards. It’s the long-term culmination of your content that defines—even creates—your brand.

From an outside view, your brand is the accumulation of all your content pieces over a time frame of 6–12 months.

If your bio says “I talk about horses.” and you have a banner of a horse, but your content is all about how to create music. Then you’ll be known as the music guy. That’s how things work.

You’ll want to write content that entertains, educates, and inspires.

Those are the 3 main pillars, miss any of those and you’ll find it extremely difficult to grow—almost impossible at times.

But above all: show what you do. Be yourself in your content.

Don’t talk about stuff you don’t want to be known for or don’t care about. Don’t hop on trends just because you see other people getting followers with certain posts.

Share your story and yours alone.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready. Here’s how I can help you:

Hop on a Clarity Call with me: Remove all of your uncertainty. Get clear on what you have to do, when you have to do it, and how. Let’s get you on the right track to achieving the freedom you deserve.
Work 1-on-1 with me: We’ll determine where you stand and where you want to go. Then we’ll devise a roadmap to get you from A to B. And we’ll work on getting you there in the next 60–90 days.
Check out my products (free & paid): Ranging from every resource I ever read to everything I know about content creation. It’s all waiting for you to claim it. Start your journey to financial freedom the right way.