When people talk about building a successful online business, they often focus on products, traffic and revenue.
But one of the most valuable assets I built alongside my SaaS business was a personal brand.
I grew StandOut CV into a business that attracted more than 18 million organic visitors, generated over £1 million in subscription revenue, and served more than 23,000 paying customers.
Along the way, my name started appearing across major news publications, job sites and career resources as a careers expert.
That exposure didn’t just boost my profile – it helped build trust with potential customers, opened up valuable marketing opportunities, and contributed significantly to the growth of the business.
Here’s how I built that personal brand and how it helped drive results.
Starting small with guest posting
The first step was contributing content to other websites.
In the early days, I wasn’t writing for major publications. Instead, I focused on smaller career blogs, job boards and industry websites that were willing to accept useful content from external contributors.
These opportunities helped in several ways.
They allowed me to build credibility within the careers industry, gave me valuable backlinks that improved the SEO strategy performance of StandOut CV, and helped me establish relationships with site owners and editors.
Most importantly, they created a track record.
Every article published under my name became another piece of evidence that I knew what I was talking about. Over time, those smaller opportunities led to larger ones.
Many founders overlook these early opportunities because the websites seem insignificant. However, those initial contributions often provide the foundation for much bigger opportunities later.
Putting a face behind the content
One of the simplest but most effective things I did was make myself visible throughout the website.
Every article was published under my name, accompanied by a professional photo and author biography. Visitors could clearly see who was providing the advice and guidance.
I also invested time into creating a detailed About page that explained my background, experience and mission.
This might sound like a small detail, but it made a significant difference.
Many websites publish content anonymously or hide behind a company logo. By attaching a real person to the content, users could build familiarity and trust.
When visitors are making important career decisions, trust matters. Seeing the same person consistently providing helpful advice creates confidence that anonymous content often struggles to achieve.
That trust didn’t just improve engagement, it also helped guide more users towards becoming customers.
Growing a YouTube channel from zero to 140,000 subscribers
While written content formed the foundation of the business, video content took the personal brand to another level.
I started a YouTube channel focused on CV writing, job searching and career advice. In the beginning, I filmed, edited and published everything myself.
The channel eventually grew to more than 140,000 subscribers and became one of the most recognised career-focused channels in the UK.
Video creates a level of connection that written content simply can’t match.
Viewers can see your personality, hear your voice and spend extended periods of time learning from you. By the time many viewers visited the website, they already felt familiar with me and trusted my advice.
This dramatically reduced friction when introducing products and services.
The channel also became a powerful acquisition channel, introducing new audiences to the StandOut CV brand and driving visitors back to the website.
Even today, some of those videos continue to generate significant traffic. My “How to Write a CV” video has surpassed four million views and remains one of the most popular resources in the CV-writing space.
The combination of evergreen content and strong personal branding created a long-term marketing asset that continues to deliver value years after publication.
Contributing to major publications
As my reputation grew, opportunities to contribute to larger publications began to appear.
Over the years, I contributed articles, insights and expert commentary to publications and organisations including Forbes, The Guardian, CV-Library and Fast Company.
These opportunities delivered benefits far beyond referral traffic.
Being featured on respected publications acts as a powerful trust signal. When potential customers see your name associated with recognised brands, it reinforces your credibility and expertise.
It also expands your reach considerably.
People who may never have discovered your website can encounter your content through publications they already trust.
However, these opportunities didn’t appear overnight.
The reason editors and publishers were willing to work with me was because years of earlier brand-building work had already established a foundation of expertise, content and credibility.
The smaller opportunities came first. The larger opportunities followed.
Appearing on interviews and podcasts
Another important part of building the brand was saying yes to interviews and podcast appearances.
I regularly spoke with career blogs, recruitment websites and industry publications about CV writing, job searching and hiring trends.
These appearances allowed me to reach audiences that already trusted the host or publication.
They also helped strengthen my positioning as an industry expert.
Many people underestimate the value of interviews because they don’t always produce immediate traffic or sales. However, they help build familiarity and authority over time.
Every interview became another piece of evidence that reinforced my expertise within the careers industry.
When someone encountered my name multiple times across different websites, podcasts and publications, trust naturally increased.
Using digital PR to scale reach and authority
Perhaps the most powerful strategy of all was digital PR.
As the business grew, we began investing heavily in original research, industry studies and large-scale reports.
We created data-driven content that journalists wanted to reference and used outreach campaigns to secure media coverage around the world.
Alongside original research, I regularly provided expert commentary and quotes on employment, careers and recruitment topics.
The impact was enormous.
Coverage from major publications increased brand awareness, generated authoritative backlinks, improved our domain authority and significantly increased organic traffic.
Digital PR helped elevate both the personal brand and the company brand to a level that would have been difficult to achieve through content marketing alone.
However, it’s important to note that digital PR often requires significant investment of both time and money.
The reason it worked so effectively was because it was built on top of years of existing authority, credibility and audience growth. Without that foundation, the results would have been much harder to achieve.
Personal branding drives business growth
Building a personal brand wasn’t something I set out to do from day one.
It developed naturally as I consistently shared useful advice, published content, appeared in industry publications and put myself at the centre of the brand.
Over time, that personal brand became a powerful business asset.
It helped build trust, improve conversion rates, attract links, open doors to major publications, generate media coverage and create new opportunities that accelerated growth.
For founders building online businesses today, products and traffic still matter.
But don’t underestimate the value of putting a real person behind your company.
People buy from businesses, but they trust people first.