Brett Borders ~ Online Reputation Edge

Brett Borders is our latest featured blogger of the week here on DenverSpark.com. Check out Brett’s profile below and visit his blogs for more about Brett and his Online Reputation Edge.

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do…

Name: My name is Brett Borders.

Your company: Online Reputation Edge

Blog URL: http://onlinereputationedge.com

Where you live: I live in the Belmar area of Lakewood, CO. I moved here from Boulder this year and I am throughly enjoying the abundance of fun activities and diversity that Denver has to offer.

How long have you been blogging?

I have been blogging since 2005, when Tribe.net (an early Bay Area social networking site) rolled out blogging functionality. I blogged for fun, to entertain my friends and explore topics that fascinated me.  I set up my first self-hosted blog (as an experiment to make AdSense revenue) in 2006 and when my first blog post got ripped off and repackaged by a famous copywriter, I was hooked.  Getting some of my early posts onto the homepage of Digg, Delicious and Reddit was exhilarating – some of the greatest “digital buzz” I’ve ever experienced.

By 2007, blogging became a major part of my lifestyle and a way of generating business. I was working at a corporate job that didn’t enjoy very much, but after a year of blogging I was safely able to get enough leads and clients for my internet marketing consultancy, each month, to go out on my own.

What blogging platform do you use?

I got started with WordPress and I haven’t seen any reason to switch. It it is open source, has a great community of developers and third-party products, and it is very customizable. I’ve used TypePad for client projects, and it’s fine, but there are far fewer bells and whistles available – and it costs a bit to use it.

Do you blog for business? for pleasure?

I view creating new blog content as the most important part of making a living and getting my name out there. The internet is a very fast-paced, temporal place… and if you don’t have a digital “pulse” (by speaking, updating social media or blogging), then you are soon forgotten about. For me, blogging is all about my readers. I try to not waste time by blogging and writing about random things… I do research with Google’s External Keyword Tool about what topics people are searching for in my niche… and then I write the content that it looks like the internet is generally lacking in. I try to think of each post as “building equity” – something another blogger will want to link to (which will improve my site’s rankings), something that will earn me an RSS subscriber.. or something that will be of value to someone and draw in a future client, customer or partner.

How does your blog help the local blogging community?

You would be amazed at how many people and companies have online reputation problems and issues suddenly pop up out of nowhere. I want my blog to be the “light at the end of the tunnel” that gives them clarity and hope if they are having a problem or being attacked or impersonated online. I really hope Denver PR pros will find some valuable information. I also want to eventually show local bloggers and show them that if create good content people are really needing – they can quit their day job, or get their message all over the internet. Blogging is a great equalizer – you don’t have to know anyone, or be friends with anyone, or have any kind of credential – you just have to be creative and write stuff that interests people.

I have a side blog called Social Media Rockstar that has a lot of information on how to communicate better online and use social media more effectively. About a quarter of the posts I’ve written on there have gone viral – so hopefully Denver bloggers can get some ideas on how to create better quality web content that will be more popular on social media channels.

What are your hobbies and interests?

I love the outdoors. I dream about visiting remote and beautiful places. For me, the ‘holy trinity’ of sports are: snowboarding, mountain biking and surfing. I am grateful to live in Colorado be able to ride amazing bike trails — and even ride fresh powder — before sitting down at my desk to work.

What do you do when you are not writing online?

I’m an Asian cooking fanatic. I lived in Asia for 4 years and I had some incredible adventures there, and the food is the only part of the experience that I can fully recreate back here in the USA. I spend a lot of time growing herbs, driving to the ends of Denver Metro and shopping on eBay for obscure ingredients, roasting curry powders and grinding spice pastes by hand. Thai food is some of my favorite to cook… but I also highly recommend Sri Lankan and Malaysian cuisine as being just as exotic and tasty in their own unique ways.  There’s a truly great Sri Lankan restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs called “The Curry Leaf” if you ever want to try it.

I also like to travel, see live music and dance – and go to festivals. Recently, I went to the Burning Man art + fire festival in the Black Rock desert of Northern Nevada last month, and it gave me a lot of creative inspiration I intend to channel into my blogging work.

We invite you to browse our portfolio of featured bloggers, their profiles and blogs.  Contact us should you like to nominate your favorite Denver Metro blogs and bloggers and thank you for stopping by.  Remember to bookmark DenverSpark.com in your web browsers Favorites and stop by regularly so view our latest featured blogs.  You never know, we could be contacting you next…