Today, every successful blog thrives on the brand image online. Many bloggers have the perception that only blogs with good money to spend on amazing designs and featured authors can create a brand image. It is completely untrue. The best things about a blog is that helps a person become a one-man army – depending on how well he/she expresses their opinions on a topic or issue. Creating a brand image is all about influencing your reader in such a way that it leaves a lasting impression on their minds about your blog.
And considering the sea of blogs on the internet today, having a brand around your blog is the only way to survive the competition by bagging advertisers and comments. So the question arises,
How to create a Great Brand Image for your Blog
Creating a brand image for your blog is all about presentation. About how well you bring for the same subject that perhaps thousands of other blogs are trying show to the readers. And the beautiful thing about branding is that it helps you create a unique identity in the blogosphere. And there is another valuable advantage of building your brand image, even if blogs lose popularity and people start getting less interested in the idea of blogging – a blog with a brand will always stand a chance to make money.
Maintain a specific niche
This is the fundamental tip which you all need to follow before we go full fledged into building a brand. All brands are made when they are recognized to be good at one particular topic and not jack of all trades, master of none. For example, Pete Cashmore's Mashable talks about Social media, Darren Rowse's Twitip is all about Twitter tips, Dharesh Shah's OnStartup is all about startups etc. I can go on and on about well branded blogs which have focused on a specific niche. Similarly, you should also follow this practice otherwise your blog readers will be unable to associate your blog with a particular niche in their minds.
Create a Kick a$$ About page to portray your brand image
The About page is a brand managers heaven. It is the one place in the blog where you can speak all about your blog. You can include all sorts of recognition or accomplishments you have made. No doubt, it is not the most visited web page in most websites, but it is a page which is indispensable. An about page is the first place a visitor goes if they get curious about a blog.
Many bloggers underestimate the power of a good about page to deliver a strong message a develop an awesome brand identity. The about page can have the details of the founder of the website and if you work in a group, you can write about your team. Moreover, I have noticed that including a small history about the story behind the starting of a blog is always interesting for readers. Add a picture of yourself and little bit of personal details such as work experience, education, your location etc.
Use a consistent color scheme
While you may be using a free or premium theme when using WordPress platform, another important branding tactic is to have a consistent color scheme for your blog. Aesthetics are quite important to building your brand as well. Your blog can be blue, green or pink color for that matter. Just make sure that it is consistent throughout your home page, other pages and posts. It should not feel like the visitor has landed on a different website when they click on your Contact page.
It has often happened to me, and it has always put me off. This sort of carelessness just creates a bad impression in my mind and I am sure that as a reader you would feel the same. So use a color scheme which matches the theme of your blog and keep it consistent.
Create a Unique Writing style
According to me, the number one reason why most blogs lack flavor is that their author does not have a sense of style when it comes to writing. The articles are so impersonal and make the reader feeling cold with no sense of connection with any of what the author just said. I am sorry, if you signed up to be a blogger, you just have to be a good writer – if not an amazing one.
Look at any of the top bloggers, they have a strong brand image because of their style of writing. Darren Rowse writes in a very personal manner, as if he is talking to you, Guy Kawasaki will write in a more nutty fashion with wise cracks, similarly, Tim Ferris from Fourhourworkweek has his own style too. To create a strong brand image, come up and maintain your personal writing style that readers would enjoy.
I hope you guys found this post useful. I am looking forward to a good discussion on this below, I would be happy to answer you all!
Good reading but I think Pat’s strategy “Be everywhere” pretty sums it all.
Be everywhere, is not really in the scope of building a strong brand. However, “how” you be everywhere is branding.
Thanks for your comment on this Jason.
Hey Vivek Impressive Brand Image really plays a vital role for any blog. Specially By Design and Wring Quality. You are right that a blog with a brand will always stand a chance to make money and it helps to increase reader also :).
Great Post Vivek. Thank for sharing.
Amit Shaw
Yes, an increase in the number of readers can definitely be expected. I have seen blogs with strong branding tactics also get popular by word of mouth. Nice to see your comment for another one of my guest posts Amit!
Much impressed with your sense of style. Yes it is true that personal tone in writing is more convincing and able to convert traffic into customers. Glad you care the design and consistency.
Hey Suresh, great to know you liked the style. Nice to see your comment on this post!
You welcome Vivek. Hope we will get more article from your side.
Thanks.
Branding is huge. Just look at Pat Flynn’s blog Smart Passive Income. He gives some great tips on branding.
Hey Vivek,
Indeed brand image is a must for blogs that want to stand out and live in this competitive business world. For we all know that their are almost million blogsite in the net right now and staying alive is not an easy job. Thanks for this tips. It is a great help for us.
Well Megan, first off, thanks for your comment. It is true that branding is the only thing which can make you money even when the business is slow. So brand image is a take-away for everyone looking to make a mark in the blogging world.
According to me to create a brand in any niche is to having a unique writing style.
I agree with that point 🙂
Coming to About page.. Many bloggers are writing their About Me page as third persons though they are writing themeselves. What do you say about this? I’ve written a post about this in my blog (stop writing your About Me page as a 3rd person).
I want to know what’s the reason many are writing as 3rd person in their own About Me pages…
Haha…I love your comment Rahul. I am with you in this case. I feel really put off by someone writing about themselves in the third-person on their About page. The main reason why most people do this is because (according to them), it can give off an impression that they are someone really important.
And moreover, if they want to boast about themselves – the third-person voice just seems too attractive. 🙂
Personally, never write an about page in third person. Stick to your own voice and connect with your readers well.
Thanks for your comment Rahul!
Wow.. I really love your reply too. We both have similar mentality about creating About Me page here 🙂
Thanks for elaborating it more.. So that I can support my opinion on this regard in a better way.
Probably it is also because of traditional impression. Like in books, the publisher writes ‘About the Author’ and it is written in third person. In blogging too, if it is the continuity of same tradition. I support the deviation. A blog is truly one man army!
We are bloggers. We should not be traditional always, we should be innovative. Moreover it wont take you anywhere if you follow those old terms..
I like your point – Blogging is one men army 🙂 great quote bro…..
Traditional or not, if a blog has only one author – it is best to avoid third person. Even pro-bloggers like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark are people who write in first-person.
Thanks for your views Rahul and Suresh!
Nice tips for the newbies who start blogging out of fun. Many of them will be quite grateful to you for the tips 🙂
Thanks for your comments Bishwajeet!
I agree. However as a small business owner, it’s hard to keep another ball in the air. Another ball as is writing well enough in your blog posts to create a brand. But if I start on creating a kickass About page and then try to blog a kickass post once a week as well. Maybe. But I think your ideas will work if I put them in place, so thanks.
Well, if the business needs you to have another ball in the air to make money. Why would you not have another ball in the air? 😉
Thanks for commenting Cathie.
Thanks for sharing, Vivek! My about page is definitely one of those pages that gets a lot of hits.
That is really good for you. Then makes sense for you to make it like a squeeze page to get social likes or guide them to your best content.
Thanks for your comment Damond.
Hey, I like that….send them to your “best content.” Didn’t think about that.
Thanks for the good idea!
I really love your tip about making a kick@$$ about page, because that section seems to be ignored a lot of the time. I think if we had better About pages then more people wouldn’t be so reluctant to look at them and truly get something about ’em.
Great tips all around!
In my experience, the About page is something many bloggers or readers would visit. However, internet marketers are very callous when it comes to writing their About page as well as reading the About page of the bloggers they approach.
Nice tip about having an About page. I currently don’t include one but i guess I’m going to have to go back and fix that haha! Thanks
You definitely should!
Thanks for sharing some tips and advice regarding to branding. I think that it is very important that our own blog has a unique brand for other internet user to be more attracted and visit your site.
Rightly said Kate, a unique brand is a strong magnet. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for agreeing with me, so true that brand can be consider as a magnet that will attract many visitors.
Great resources you share with us . Its very helpful for blogging thank you so much for sharing wonderful post.
You are welcome Abhinav, thanks for taking time out to comment!
Hello Vivek,
First of all thanks for this incredible post. Making a brand image idea is really great, if we have a good resource people will find us first.
Glad you found the post useful Ajmal, thank you for your comment.
Hi Vivek,
I’d just like to say thanks a lot for all the help! As someone is contemplating on creating a blog, it’s great to hear from someone who is in that position…But i completely agree with you when you say that you need to choose a niche and stick to it, tie that in with unique, interesting link worthy content then that equals successful blogging! 😉
I am really happy that the post was helpful to you. Hopefully this article was helpful for you when you are starting your blog. Thank you for your comment Mark.
Yeah, I need to create an About page… I’ve basically neglected it up to this point.
That is a wise decision Josh.
Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for the reminder.
I need to go into each of my blogs and take a look at my About Page again. I use one image across all of my blogs that I really like – the point of the image is to show people that I’m down to earth and approachable. I hope it’s coming across.
Thanks for the suggestions. They’ll come in handy.
I would like to highlight the part about ‘writing personal posts.’ some people think articles written formally is the best way to get more people to adore your page. But no, people don’t care about this. but when they feel of having some sort of connection to people do come back to your site. Great points listed here!
Spatch Merlin
How to Blog Guide
Hi Vivek,
Nice article bro..
Creating a brand image for any blog is must if we want to survive in blogosphere. And you shares some cool ways to do that. By the way the 2 way that stands out for me in your whole post is “Be Specific If You Want To Target Huge Audience And Want To Mark Your Presence” and “Have Your Own Unique Writing Style, Don’t Go for fluff and The Normal Way Of Writing….”
Thanks for such a nice article bro…..
Hi Vivek,
You have given a good information on how to create impressive brand image around blog.You have shared very simple and useful points and no doubt good presentation is very important to create an impressive brand image.
Hi Pete,
Yes, that is right. If you are presenting the same sort of value with a better and unique presentation style, it definitely helps your blog’s brand image.
Be creative and unique in everything you do,that’s what makes you a brand which others want to follow.
Hi Sampath, you got that right, branding is all about being unique and stand apart from the crowd. Become a leader instead of a follower in any industry.
Hi Vivek,
I am happy that I visit your post and this post gives a good idea of how to create impressive brand image.The ideas and point that you have shared in very useful and we should keep these points in our mind.Thanks for sharing this post.
Hi Elena, I am very glad that this post was useful. Thank you for your comments.
Thank you for your comments Septem.
having a well layed out page reflects well upon the content and host
you don’t have to go as far as seeking professional help, but simple tricks such as keeping things simple and in order makes the page look tidier
Good to read this post. Impressive brand image plays a vital role for any blog. Very helpful information. Thanks for sharing this information about impressive brand image.
This an awesome post packed with valuable tips! I really do need to visit my about me page and get it updated.
I totally agree with you about sticking to one niche as I’ve visited some blogs and couldn’t quite figure out what the niche is as the contents are all about everything and anything!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Remi
yes, creating a professional impression is everything, also maintaining and updating your site is important also,thanks
Right, one niche per site, got it! Finally someone who says it! Thank you. Tell you the truth, I have two niches. What should I do? Got it, build another site, oh wait did that.
Okay so now I am on the right track(apologies if this sounds sarcastic, it is, but not towards anyone)to branding my name, site and niche.
People will write about anything and get pulled away from the topics of their site, if traffic is down or readership is lost. Be YOU and time will tell if this is for you. You can always start over.
Thank your for your posting, and thank you for TELLING it VIVEK!
Hi Bryan,
Thanks for your views on this. I agree that people are tempted to go off topic when readership is low. But they may also deviate if they find it dull to just stick to one topic and have post ideas from other niches as well.
A site can ideally have a good mix of two niches, but then that is for another post to talk about. 😉
Establishing an impressive brand image is very important to have a successful blog and you can only do that if you are able to capture the attention of your target audience. And this can only be possible if you provide them vital information or unique content.
Vital information is indeed very important to get an audience to notice you. Thanks for dropping by Danica!
Hi Vivek,
I like your suggestion about using your ‘About Me’ page. People really underestimate the power of what a good ‘About’ page can do for you, there’s so much potential there.
The thing to be careful of is not to include too much information. For example, I’ve seen ‘About Me’ pages where the authors really get carried away with their personal lives. Adding personal information is good as long as it’s relevant to your business. Too much information in that area can get off track and your reader will find it uninteresting.
Liz 🙂
I think it is a very valid point that I haven’t thought about, an About page should not go overboard with personal information and can usually only be restricted to information which is relevant to the blog or business.
Great pointer, thanks for commenting Liz.
Wow! Thank you so much for the info. I never thought there was so potential into the “About Me” section. I will certainly need to get into this quickly.
Thanks again!
Luc
Hey Luc, thanks for reading the post. Glad you liked it!
Hey Vivek,
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Indeed having consistent color scheme and unique writing style are important factors. You have to be unique to get your brand out there. Thanks again.
$onny
Great info,I am new on blogging site so thanks for sharing , you given me some insight.
Building a brand around yourself or your business is more like being successful. Take Darren from Problogger, he has built such a brand around himself and his business that he is considered as the ultimate problogger out there. Even though there are many other bloggers who are blogging professionally and are making more money than Darren.
I believe that a good, simple and clean design will add a bit more interest to your blog. If a page looks too busy it could be hard to find things for a visitor. I have a nice urban theme from zeeSynergie for my blog about easy scholarships. It makes it stand out from among all the other websites targeting the same keywords. Good post!
Yes, an increase in the number of readers can definitely be expected. I have seen blogs with strong branding tactics also get popular by word of mouth. Nice to see your comment for another one of my guest posts Amit!