When Sprittibee and I spoke at the Heart of the Matter Virtual Online Homeschool Conference this summer about blogging, one of the topics we addressed was branding your blog. What is branding?
Let’s look at branding in a commercial sense. Wikipedia says:
“A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer. A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols and sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. The key objective is to create a relationship of trust.”
How can you brand your blog? In a word, consistency.
Consistency in Name
Ideally, your blog title and URL (blog address) should match. When you leave comments, use a name that ties to your blog name. For instance, my personal blog is My Home Sweet Home; my URL is myhomesweethomeonline.net (couldn’t get it without the “online”); when I leave comments, I leave them as “Dawn @ My Home Sweet Home.” I abbreviate to DawnMHSH if I need a shorter user ID.
[At the moment, this site is breaking that rule because we just renamed it The Homeschool Post and our new domain name hasn't redirected yet (don't worry, you'll still be able to access us at the current URL, too). Renaming a blog is a big move and one that shouldn't be done without serious thought. The decision was made to rename this site to better reflect our purpose as both a daily homeschool hub and the home of the yearly Homeschool Blog Awards.]
Consistency in Design
This is an area where blogs have a lot more freedom than corporate sites or businesses, in my opinion. I think everyone likes to put a fresh coat of paint on their blog every now and then, but it’s good to have some level of consistency to avoid reader confusion. Design branding involves logos, colors, fonts, graphics, images.
This site has had three different designs, but each has used an apple in the theme:
Consistency in Content
Consistency in content originates from having a clear answer to the question “Why do I blog?” (Read this post for more about blogging with purpose and come back here when you’re finished.)
If you can answer that question your content will most likely reflect it and readers will know what to expect when they visit your blog, which will attract readers who are interested in the topics that you address. [This is a "hear what I say, not what I do" area for me, so don't feel bad if you're thinking, "Yikes! My blog is all over the place!"]
Is your blog branded? Why or why not? Feel free to discuss it in comments!
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Mine is slightly branded I guess. I always like to have green in somewhere whenever I freshen the background decor.
there are some people that know me as Kiter from my email or other blogs so I always sign Kiter@Kabersblog as my blogger is kabersblog.blogspot.com and I do not want ot change the kaber (it has special meaning for me)
My reason for blogging it because I like to keep record of what we do and I like to write out my thoughts.
so sometimes my entries are lists/charts and sometimes they are whatever random thoughts I have.
- Kiter@Kabersblog
Hmm.. Hadn’t thought about using my site name as part of my name! Just tried it here!
I do agree with you re branding, but I also think it sometimes takes a while to find your voice – the thing that you want to blog about. And it would be a pity not to blog whilst you are unsure about it. I find it interesting to go back in the archives of popular blogs – you can often see them slowly getting a feel for what they want to say.
Interesting post. Thank you. Julie.
well, my take is “rules are made to be broken.” lol. My URL is my name and I did that on purpose – I knew at some point I would tire of my blog’s name, Paper Bridges, and would be tempted to change the address/name. I can’t change my name as easily, so I went with that as the URL.
and since I have an interest in publication beyond the ‘net, that made the most sense to me.
so all that to say: if your URL is your name and not your blog title, it’s okay. I know quite a few writers do that same as I’ve done with their blogs.
and I do agree with consistently in your blog’s subject matter. I think if you try to cover too many subjects, folks get lost not knowing what to expect.
Just my .02 of course. your mileage may vary.
Julie:
Yes, I certainly understand about finding your voice, and that it often takes time. I was a very “by the rules” student, and at first I thought my blog writing had to adhere to the same rules as my “writing for a grade” writing.
It was very liberating when I finally decided to write like I talk, which means lots of “y’alls,” dangling prepositions, contractions, and sentences which start with conjunctions. I would never have done those things in school! The horror!
Monica:
You pointed out something I failed to address: using your name as your blog URL. Yes, this is perfectly acceptable, especially if you are promoting yourself as an author, etc.
Thanks for your comment!
When I originally created my blog it was seemingly complete mayhem – trying to find a name that “fit” our family – and then matching the url to it. The two ended up not matching (although our homeschool name and blog url do match…oh, well). At this point I am very hesitant to create a new url or name for myself because I do have people following me. My biggest thing is trying to create a page/blog design that fits me and “brands” me in a way – you see the design and you know it’s me. Does that make sense?
I think our network is branded but not pigeon holed!
I hope we’ve found a happy medium…