Meet Daniel Tay, Successful Content Marketer and Digital Nomad

Being an independent content writer brings numerous benefits to the table.

It gives you the opportunity to manage your time and obligations effectively.

You can tailor your work environment to your liking, be it working from your bedroom in your pajamas or traveling around.

Most importantly, it’s more exciting than a mundane 9-5 job. Instead of creating content for just one company, you can work on a multitude of different projects, for clients from all across the globe. This makes your returns stable, given the fact that you will always have more than one source of income.

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If you’re planning to enter the freelancing waters, you’re not the only one. People have started recognizing the benefits of this way of working and it’s expected that freelancing will soon outpace the traditional 9-5 working arrangements in the U.S.

But, what do these stats really tell you?

Well, for a layman, they may sound impressive.

On the other hand, for anyone pursuing a freelancing career, these stats make their blood run cold.

They’re actually showing you that the competition is fierce out there. And, if you don’t find a way to differentiate yourself, the chances are you’ll fail.

One of the most important steps you need to take to rise above the noise is to brand yourself.

This is exactly what Danial Tay had in mind when he started off as an independent content writer and strategist.

This is a story of his journey through the oversaturated content marketing industry towards building an authoritative personal brand that stands out.

From Traveling the World to Creating Outstanding Content for Top Startups

If you love reading about exotic destinations and seeing the world through other people’s camera lenses, then the chances are you’ll come across jayndee.com. Once you start browsing through it, you will see that it’s a travel site, run by Daniel and Jan, a couple from Singapore that translates their adventures into beautiful photos and blog posts.

But, once you hit their “Portfolio” section, you will find out that, apart from managing their travel site, Daniel Tay is also a renowned content writer, helping tech businesses grow. He was a lead content strategist at numerous reputable companies in the IT sector, including Piktochart, ReferralCandy, Zopim.

But, why limit himself to working with just one company on building and implementing their content marketing strategies?

Since 2012, Tay has been working as an independent content developer and strategist, helping numerous businesses develop in-depth content strategies and grow their business organically. He has recently decided to level the playing ground, launching a content marketing agency called With Content (https://withcontent.co/).

Building Solid Online Presence is Key to Success

Just like anyone else in the content marketing industry, Daniel Tay pursued his career in this field as a freelance writer. What set him apart from millions of other freelance content writers was not only his unique writing style but also his ability to build and promote his personal brand from early on.

Of course, one of the most effective ways to get yourself noticed is to start publishing high-quality content on authoritative sites in your niche. And, this is exactly what Tay did. Over time, he has become a regular contributor to numerous highly authoritative sites like Search Engine Journal, HubSpot, TechInAsia, and Crazy Egg.

Now, guest blogging allows you to position yourself as someone who is knowledgeable and credible, but to harness all its power, you need to promote yourself actively.

Of course, this is where social networks, especially LinkedIn, come to shine.

In one of our previous articles, we mentioned all the perks of having a LinkedIn account. It gives you numerous learning and career opportunities makes you visible to the top players in your industry, as well as helps you promote your skills and content. In short, it serves as an extremely powerful online portfolio.

But, to boost your freelancing career and promote your personal brand, you need to have a personal site, too. Namely, even though it is highly customizable, LinkedIn lacks something a personal site can give you- the chance to tailor it to your needs and preferences.

This is exactly how and why danieltay.me was born.

A Personal Website as the Key to Building a Strong Personal Brand

Your website is the visual representation of everything your personal brand stands for. It reflects your uniqueness, helping you stand out from a sea of freelancers. It allows you to unleash your creativity, control how your potential clients will see your pages, and choose what information to highlight and how.

Above all, it tells your visitors that you know how to do your job, helping you build relationships based on trust and loyalty.

Clean website design

Just like any other content writer, Daniel Tay doesn’t focus on driving massive traffic to his site, but on delivering value to his readers and inspiring them to read his content and engage with it. This is why he has gone the extra mile in making his site incredibly user-friendly and engaging, which can be seen through his:

• Clean, minimalistic design
• Simple and logical navigation
• Easy-to-spot CTA buttons
• Fast-loading website pages
• User-friendly contact forms
• Transparent social media buttons
• Visually appealing and neatly formatted blog posts

A personalized domain name

The key to building a personal brand is, as its mere name says, to brand yourself. And, one of the most powerful ways to do so is to use your own name in your domain name. This was the idea behind creating danieltay.me. When a searcher googles Tay’s name, his website will be the first thing they see on Google.

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Once you think of a perfect domain name, you need to choose the right domain extension, as well. And, we’re proud that Daniel Tay has chosen the .ME extension for his website. We like to say that .ME is about you, helping you express your creativity and stand out from your competitors.

Establishing a Transparent Personal Brand

We’re living in a hyperconnected era, which gives you the chance to promote your brand to the right people, through the right channels. The only problem with this approach is that your rivals are using it, too. Your clients are bombarded with hundreds of similar brands on a daily basis and, to make sure they choose the right ones, they cannot rely on branded, self-serving content. And, before they decide to hire you, they will want to see who you’ve been working with and how experienced you are.

This is why you need to work on your brand’s transparency. Here is how Daniel Tay did that.

First, he added a list of all his past and present collaborators, including:

• Zendesk
• Nomad List
• Mashable
• Piktochart
• Search Engine Journal
• Unbounce
• HubSpot
• SocialMediaToday
• CoSchedule
• Constant Content

The mere fact that he published content on highly authoritative sites and that he worked with leading tech companies is enough to prove the value of his content.

Second, he shares the testimonials written by his major clients to boost his relevancy and improve people’s trust in his work.

Finally, on both his personal site and his business’ site, he explains what content marketing services he offers, as well as emphasizes how his clients can benefit from hiring him.

Blogging as a Validation of Quality

We have already talked about the stuff like the links to the content published on reputable sites, sharing testimonials, describing your services, etc.

However, when it comes to boosting people’s trust and engagement, nothing is as powerful as blogging.

Especially if you are a content writer.

Daniel Tay uses blogging to build his online portfolio and highlight his writing skills and proficiency.

When you click on any article he has published so far, you’ll see that these are high-quality, well-researched pieces of content.

His content is based on a simple principle- it should engage his target audience and provide them with the data-backed information and actionable tips that really make sense to them. This is exactly how he managed to set his blog apart as a reliable source of information people like, share, link to regularly.

Conclusions

Daniel Tay is a definition of a well-versed content marketer. He proves that, even in today’s overcrowded digital marketing landscape, making a difference is still possible. All you have to do is start branding yourself gradually, and building a personal website is an awesome starting point.

Here at Domain.me, we would be glad to support you. So, check if your desired domain name is available and start building your personal brand today!