In today’s episode of the ProBlogger podcast, I want to talk to you about blog branding, and how it shapes the relationship between you and your reader.
It’s something I think everybody should take seriously, and put thought into, rather than just muddle along and see what happens – it really makes such a difference not only to how you are perceived, but also in growing your presence.
Today’s episode is super-practical, and includes lifestyle blogger Claire Hillier from Checks and Spots giving her top tips for building a brand. She spoke at the recent ProBlogger event about blogging for beginners and mentioned these incredibly important points about personal branding, your blog mission, and how these things tie together. These ultimately have a flow-on effect for other parts of your blog and presence online.
Grab a notepad and jot down the notes as they come – also feel free to stop the podcast and answer the questions she raises – and really engage with the content and concept of building your own blog brand, whether it’s commercial or as a hobby.
Claire discusses:
- What is a brand?
- What is the essence of a blog?
- What is the audience?
- Where is my blog useful?
- Brand values
Further Reading:
- 7 Ways To Build Your Brand In The Blogosphere
- Top Tips for Getting the Most out of Monetizing Brand/Blog Relationships
- 5 Ways to Nail Social Media BrandingBuilding a Blog Brand, Posting Frequency and Choosing a Niche [Speed Q&A]
- The Ultimate Guide to Online Branding: Kissmetrics
- How to Build a Brand in 5 Days: Canva
We can make a small business to a brand through Content Marketing. Thanks for sharing your useful views with us.
Blogging and blog branding is good because it places an imprint in the reader’s mind about how that particular blogger uniquely stands out from average bloggers.
Hi Darren,
Just about the biggest mistake I made as an early blogger was not branding my blog. Or not blogging with a brand in mind. I felt big money companies should worry about branding, not me. Boy was I ever wrong. I quickly learned that people respond pretty darn quickly to smartly branded blogs because branded blogs are memorable.
I also learned that most folks ignore the unremarkable, non branded blog.
When I did turn things around I became hyper aware of my blog and branding. Meaning, if ANYTHING would appear on my blog you better believe that it had to be 100% relevant to blogging from paradise. No exceptions. It takes clarity and more importantly, a full alignment for anything to appear on my blog because is has to be my brand. I am a stickler because I’ve seen how smart, intelligent, focused branding does wonders for your blog, first hand.
Brand intelligently. Brand persistently. Let authenticity shine through your brand.
5 minutes ago I snapped a picture of myself sitting on a rocking chair – like the locals do – here in Granada, Nicaragua, typing away on the lap top. This is my brand all the way. It’s also something that’s me, too. Adding some humor to the equation. That image will wind up on my blog soon because it aligns with my brand, and because it’s a fun, genuine way to become memorable. Good branding is super memorable, impactful, branding.
As for new bloggers…guys, please build a brand from day 1. Even if you build the brand before you build the blog. Put in the time to create something memorable, something aligned, and something that will make you stand out in a good way. It’s genuinely easy to do if you do all that you do, blogging-wise and social media-wise, with branding in mind. Stick with your brand and you’ll define it effectively. Take that line literally and it will make a bunch more sense, because you’ll be checking everything you do before you post it online, running your updates through a branded filter.
Thanks for sharing the podcast Darren.
Ryan
good work
Branding is something that I believe should be the focus of every Blogger from Day 1, I have been at that point in my blogging journey where I felt I was blogging alone on an island. Then I came out of my shell and interacted with other people, when I realized that building a brand is what sets the pros apart from starters then I did giveaways, contests and almost anything in order to make sure my site became memorable for my readers!
Thanks a lot for sharing this informative post, always reminds me of some of my initial struggle! :)
Nice things shared we should determine that.
Good Day to You Darren,
This speaks so much to the realization that “we are our blog”.
We need to define who we are in life in order to be the person we always wanted to be growing up.
The same holds true of our blog.
We define it as we do ourselves. Only, we share those goals publicly, our journey achieving them and even what we learn from our mistakes, and it helps define our brand.
Now, we need to take Action, by following your example, and share as we learn and grow.
I’m new to ProBlogger, but have struggled for years, trying to define my focus.
Learning to define and share what matters most to ourselves, helps us focus on what is also important to our audience. Then we can truly be helpful and begin to define our Brand and ourselves, as we find like minded people.
Very insightful!
Arth