You can’t be awake and all over the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But your online brand is.

Your website doesn’t have an off switch, and neither does your brand. Here are ten different ways you can develop and make your online brand more global!

1. Put some serious thought into your design.

Don’t take your design for granted! Carefully think all this through choose the best brand for you. It’s very important to really think about what you want your brand image to say about you – because it speaks volumes. While larger corporations hire Brand Specialists, this isn’t necessary if you’re an Entrepreneur or Small Business Owner. There are more resources out there than ever before, and most of them cost very little, if anything at all. There are many free themes out there, here are 100, or if you want to take your design to the next level I recommend going with WooThemes since they are very high quality and offer two free themes with the purchase of one.

2. Keep compelling content on your radar.

It is good ideas to subscribe to the blogs you find the most interesting and helpful. One word of caution: it’s very easy to get carried away with the amount of blogs you follow. Keeping the number of blogs you follow to a manageable number will help eliminate information overload.

3. Take advantage of free Google services.

A site that organizes and centralizes all the blogs you follow into one place is called an “aggregator”. One of the best known aggregators is Google Reader. Since new blogs appear daily, it might be a good idea to set up a Google alert for your blog and other blogs in your areas of interest. This is a great way to stay current with information, brainstorm new post ideas, and to learn new things.

4. Get the word out.

One of the easiest things that you can do is to customize your email signature. We see it all the time, but many people forget to do this for themselves. For example, you could add your full name (first and last), your website URL, and any related profiles, such as LinkedIn. Whatever you put in your custom signature, keep it related to your brand. This will also subtly say “I’m a professional”. For more constant and interactive promotion of your brand, it’s highly recommended that you roll up your sleeves and get into Social Media. It’s not as scary as it may seem. Setting up a Twitter profile and engaging with the people out there is as easy as saying hello or asking a question. Staying plugged in and keeping the Twitter conversations going will help you build a community of clients, prospects, and colleagues that will reach further than an ad in the classifieds. To take this a step further, you can build a Facebook business page and fan page. Invite the people from Twitter to these pages. Be sure to leave the Facebook pages and your Twitter page public so that you are easy to find. Facebook and Twitter are instant and endless sources of global connections.

5. Keep your writing style simple.

That is, avoid using complicated sentence structures and over elaborate words. The goal is to attract the most diverse audience as possible. You don’t have to over simplify things, but make sure that your writings are easy to read. For example, if you are writing in English, you’ll want the people just learning the language to understand everything as well as the native speaker.

6. Sometimes you have to meet face-to-face.

With software like Skype, you can talk to someone face-to-face for free, no matter where they are in the world (there are some restrictions, but a general guideline is: as long as both people have Skype accounts the video calls are free. In some countries Skype can be connected to a number and called as if it were a regular phone.) Global travel can’t get any more cost effective than that! You no longer have to reschedule appointments when you are traveling for business. Simply connect with whomever you need to online. Skype is only one example of many. Review your choices and pick the one that suits your needs the best. Another way is to actually get out and about where you work or live and shake some hands. Talk to people in the line at the grocery store. Go to networking events, or other gatherings of people who might be ideal clients and colleagues. Make conversation with other parents before or after your child’s event. There are so many possibilities. The point is not just to get to know the person in front of you. It’s to get to know who they know too. And don’t worry about being nervous. We are all nervous at some point. Once the conversation gets going, you’ll be fine.

7. Be consistent.

Be certain to use the same fonts, colors, writing style and other brand specific characteristics consistent throughout every piece of written material. The reasons are that you want all of your materials to be visually appealing, and maintaining consistency is a definite plus. When you are consistent you are setting a high standard of quality, and that’s a win-win for everyone.

8. Be creative.

People love new, fresh, great ideas. Sometimes the best route is the simplest one. One of the best traits in a businessperson is to find new ways of doing what everyone else is doing. Sure, most businesses have a website now. But what can you do, in a creative way, which makes you different? Is your business card a standard size and shape like everyone else that passed out cards in the room? Does your logo make someone stop in their tracks and take notice?

9. Be memorable.

It’s no secret the endless names of companies that have achieved memorability. The key is to be memorable for the right reasons. Word of mouth can be a blessing or a curse. Once you achieve a positive global image your brand will soar all on its own. This is where all your Social Media connections come in very handy. There comes a point when you will still have to advertise, but the most effective form of marketing is the word of mouth spread by your colleagues, clients, and prospects.

10. Be supportive of others.

This doesn’t necessarily mean for business either. This does not just mean writing a check. It’s far more meaningful that you stopped what you were doing to help someone. Mentor someone who could use sound business advice. Tap into your global connections and see how they are doing. Can you give them feedback on a project they’re working on? Can you retweet their latest post on Twitter? It’s important to remember that we all began at the starting gate. And when you help and support others, we all get to the finish line.

All of the suggestions in this post let you know that it’s ok to think out of the box. Color outside the lines. Zig, zag, twist and shout. Build yourself a great global brand, and you’ll be building yourself one great future.

About the Author: Kelly Ann Carpentier is the author of the Blog: Global thinking, networking, and information all in one place. She is also a Social Media Strategist, an Open Networker and an Entrepreneur. You should follow her on Twitter: @kcarpentier77

Mozilla’s Firefox, is an open source web browser, and the second most widely used web browser in the world. Initially Mozilla’s browser was named phoenix, then firebird, and then after heated trademark dispute Mozilla settled on the name Firefox. The Firefox logo has evolved during these naming disputes, in step with the convergence of traditional and web 2.0 design.

The Browser Wars

Firefox faces intense competition in the browser space from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Safari.  Despite the competition Firefox has been able to build an unmistakable brand, and claw away 25% of the web browser market share.
Mozilla recently celebrated their one billionth download of Firefox and this achievement owes thanks not only to Mozilla technology, but also to the appealing design of the Firefox brand. Firefox has an innovative edge over competitors due to the open source nature of their platform. Anyone with the skills to do so can contribute to the Firefox platform by creating an add-on to the add-on directory, or by adding a visual design to the Mozilla creative collective.

The Mozilla Creative Collective

Mozilla takes their brand design very seriously, since it has been one of the secrets to their success. Firefox even has it’s own font. The design of the Firefox brand, much like the development of the browser itself, has been a collective effort. A key reason for the success of Firefox design development, has been Mozilla’s ability to foster a thriving creative community. The Mozilla creative collective is a community where designers from around the world are encouraged to share their Firefox design creations.

By joining the creative collective designers are able to become fans of other designers, write encouraging comments on designs, and achieve badges for successful designs they submit. Below are some of the best designs from recent design challenges the creative collective has held. The following 55 images are hand picked from over 778 designs that have been submitted so far, and more firefox designs are being added all the time. Some of these designs are really fantastic and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Feedback: What is your favorite design above?

Twitter is a Powerful Platform for communication.  Part of the reason that Twitter has been so successful is because there is a developer friendly API that helps developers build powerful Twitter apps, fast.  Below I list the most powerful ways to engage with Twitter that I am aware of.  If you find these tips helpful your comments are appreciated below!

1. Befriend the Giants

Unless you are @aplusk, someone else has a bigger network than you. The great thing about Twitter is the ability to talk to people who have bigger networks than you do.  I am friends with Jason Pollock who has brought a significant amount of traffic my way when he Retweeted me several times.  Although Jason Pollock does not have a network of 3 million+ people, when Ashton Kutcher Retweets Jason (and he has several times) then Jason potentially has the attention of millions.  Befriending Jason, Scobleizer, Rob McNealy, Tom Maduri, and others on Facebook and Twitter has helped me net some serious big name retweets.  One night when I went to Robert Scoble’s house and drank wine with Scoble and my cousin Luke. Scoble made a friendfeed post with my name in it that received over 800 comments.   Spark the right kind of interest and you could get the attention of someone like Ashton, or Ellen.

2. TweetDeck is Powerful

The latest version of TweetDeck is the most powerful yet and offers auto link shortening and bit.ly account integration. I just produced a Tutorial covering the new features. Here it is:

With TweetDeck you can manage multiple accounts, and it now also features Facebook & Myspace posting capabilities. TweetDeck works on a PC or a MAC and you can download TweetDeck for free.

3. Shorten & Track your Links

The link shortening service bit.ly is the default link shortening service for Twitter.  Shorten your links with an alternative system and it has been proven that you will lose out on clicks. Bit.ly is the best link shortening system to use since it has a robust link tracking system built right in.  One reason bit.ly was brought in to replace tinyurl.com was because the short url makes shorter links.  With a limit of 140 characters space is at a premium.  If you need to go another 2 characters shorter than bit.ly then look no farther than the worlds smallest link shortening service 3.ly.

4. Integrate Twitter into your Blog

One cool way to integrate Twitter conversation and flickr photos into your Blog is by using TwitterFountain. Twitter Fountain is a visually cool way to watch a stream of tweets about a specific topic.

5. Add a bit.ly ReTweet Button to your Blog Posts!

eJohn, the inventor of jquery, created a wicked Twitter Retweet Button based on bit.ly link clicks, instead of just ReTweets. This gives a better indicator of how much of an impact any post has had by tracking the total number of times the link to the post has been used. This is the style of Twitter ReTweet button I use on Interawesome.com.

6. Give Twitter some Oomph!

A free account with Social Oomph will give you get everything you will need to automatically schedule messages, stop following people who unfollow you, auto-follow people who do follow you, and more! Social Oomph offers automatic Direct Messaging services also, but I do not recommend you use them.  Most people I have met hate DMs because too many are Spam.  Another valuable service SocialOomph provides is a DM Inbox purging feature that will help you unload all messages from a flooded direct message inbox.

7. Join the Wefollow Twitter Directory

Wefollow was developed by a team that was led by Kevin Rose, founder of Digg. The site now automates the process of adding yourself to the directory, but it used to be facilitated entirely via Twitter tweets.  Follow the process on wefollow.com with the form shown below to add yourself to the directory: To add yourself to different topic categories in the directory simply mark your category choices as I did above.  This takes only a minute and allows you to list yourself under relevant categories with likeminded people.

8. Check out Twitter Widgets & Goodies

There is a Widgets Section of Twitter.com that makes it easy to customize and grab the embed code for different types of Widgets. The first style they offer is a traditional Flash based Status Widget:

9. Use #Hashtags

#Hashtags are a great way to organize tweets into common trending threads.  They are powerful because they linkify the text string they are attached to and connect conversations based on a keyword. If #Hashtags are used excessively they become a Trending Topic and all of Twitter can jump in on the conversation.  If a #Hashtag sparks a readers interest the person reading it can click the #Hashtag and view all recent tweets by other people who have used the same #Hashtag.

10. Make your followers Mutual

Mutualityis a free service that works by automatically un-following anyone you follow that does not follow you back. Mutuality also gives you the option to unfollow everyone if you so choose, a service that other sites charge upwards of $20 for. Personally, I do not recommend unfollowing everyone.  By unfollowing everyone you will miss out on valuable connections you have made since you joined Twitter, and you may never get them back.  At the same time I understand why people might want to use this service, because there are way too many spammers on Twitter.  My Direct Message Inbox is constantly flooded, which is why I recommend against using Auto-DMs!

11. Tweet Everywhere

Many people openly admit that their favorite place to Tweet is from the toilet. iJustine and Shaq are two self-admitted toilet twitterers, and they are not alone.  Toilet tweeting would be more difficult without mobile phones, and there are many different Twitter apps for many different types of phones. For a Blackberry I recommend Twitterberry.  On my iPhone I continue my TweetDeck fixation and use the free TweetDeck for iPhone App. By using one of these Apps, or simply by updating to Twitter via SMS, you have the power to get your message out to the world whenever and wherever the inspiration to tweet strikes you!

Feedback

Where is your favorite place to Tweet from?  What is your favorite Twitter App?  Heck, say anything you want about Twitter or your take on the Tips above!