Hey guys! We’re excited to have Kory Woodard sharing her ideas today. If you’re using the summer months to focus on your blog’s growth, it’s a good time to think about branding. Check out Kory’s tips below to learn how to take things to the next level. You can also find more in her latest ebook Craft Your Brand, which she created to help bloggers hone in on their brand. Here she is…
Think back to January for a second; did you make any goals for your blog? If you’re like most people in the blogosphere, you probably did. It might have been something like grow your blog’s readership, start collaborating with brands, or maybe it was to start earning money through your blog. Okay, now let’s take a look at what you’ve done for your goals. Are you struggling to make things happen? If your goals were anything like what I mentioned above, your blog’s brand may be holding you back from accomplishing them. That means no matter how much time or hard work you put into getting these things done, it just won’t happen because your current branding is standing in the way.
Here are a few things to do for your blog’s brand this summer to help you accomplish those goals you wrote in January:
COMPARE YOUR CURRENT CONTENT TO YOUR TARGET NICHE
When we’re busy with other things in life (say: school, job, family, etc) and trying to crank out a certain number of posts per week, a super easy thing to do is just start writing about popular topics that others are or have covered. Every now and then it’s important to compare what you’re writing to who you want to be writing for. If you’ve got an editorial calendar full of posts that your target niche wouldn’t care about, scrap it and create a new one!
Why: Writing unique content for your target niche helps you become an expert in your field, which will help you when it comes to growing your readership and exploring ways to make money.
COMPARE YOUR BRAND ELEMENTS TO YOUR GRAPHICS
One key way to building recognition within your brand is to create consistency within the designs that you’re putting in your posts and on social media. When you’re just getting started with your blog, it’s pretty normal to want to explore different fonts and other elements within your post graphics – I know because I did it a lot when I was getting started. However, as you start to grow your blog and pay to have a logo and / or blog design created, it’s important to start sticking to your brand elements.
Why: By creating blog and social media graphics that are “on brand” you’re creating a look for your blog, which people will instantly start to recognize when they see the graphic on sites other than your own.
START TAKING YOUR OWN PHOTOS FOR POSTS
The popular thing most bloggers do for their post graphics is to grab an image from the internet, most often Pinterest. Because often times it’s hard to find the original source for the image let alone if it’s licensed to be used, it’s better to stick with your own photos or stock photos. Taking your own photos may seem daunting, but with practice you may eventually find yourself only using your own photos and rarely if ever using someone else’s! Plus, you’ll be proud of yourself for having 100% unique images while everyone else is left using the same ol’ photo that’s already been used a million times.
Why: This can be a super quick way to create a graphic for your post, but it can cause heaps of trouble if the original creator of the image didn’t publish it online with the correct creative license.
WRITE AS MUCH AS YOU READ
I absolutely love the post Angela wrote on why you should read as much as you blog, but it’s equally important to write – for your blog or for yourself – as much as you’re reading. One important factor that plays into your blog’s brand is your voice – the way you write in your posts and on social media. While reading as much as you blog ensures that you won’t just be reading one blog whose voice you may accidentally start to pick up, writing as much as you read not only helps you create more (think of all the posts you would write!), but it’ll also help you define your own voice.
Why: It can be tricky for people who aren’t used to writing in a more casual setting than papers for school to find their voice, but by writing even just things for yourself, you’re crafting the voice that your blog becomes known for.
CONSIDER INVESTING IN YOUR BLOG
Depending on where you’re at in your blogging journey, investing money into your blog can be a scary thought. Blog designs can cost hundreds to even thousands (yes, thousands) of dollars. Ebooks and ecourses typically aren’t covered by just the few bucks you have in your pocket, either. You don’t have to start out with the most expensive thing, though. Investing in your blog can look like getting a new camera to take your own photos, getting a Wacom tablet to use your own handwriting, or even getting a new logo to up-level your hobby blog.
Why: Regardless of what you get, investing in your blog will help you start to take things to the next level. Once you spend a few bucks on something, you’ll likely want to spend more time on your blog, which will help you achieve the goals you set out to do! If you want to invest in branding specifically, my ebook Craft Your Brand is a self study guide to branding your blog from the inside so that you really know why you’re blogging, your purpose, and your overall goal with it. You can pre-order it for $29.
Achieving your blog’s goals and your big blogging dreams don’t have to be as hard as they may seem, and you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars hiring a branding expert to help you figure out how to start up-leveling your brand. Regardless of where you are in your journey, crafting your brand is the key to getting where you want to go.
Thanks to Kory for sharing her secrets! What’s your biggest blog goal for the summer? At TBM, we’re doing a little rebranding ourselves.
Corina Nika says
The write as much as you read is the best advice ever! Great post Kory!
Sarah | The Safari Collective says
Such great tips! Thanks for having Kory!
Pam Baker says
I totally agree with brand consistency, Kory. Some people don’t think this is important but it makes a huge difference.
Amber says
I struggle a lot with branding, especially when it comes to the overall design of my blog. I have several years of experience in video editing with Sony Vegas, but I can’t use Photoshop to save my life (I no longer even have Photoshop). I’ve been using PicMonkey for editing, and I’ve seen people do great things with it, but I feel like I’m falling short. I have trouble, in particular, with matching fonts. I don’t know how anyone can create such beautiful lettering and fontwork when I’m sitting over here taking half an hour to decide what font one word should be.
Jennifer says
I totally know what you mean! It takes forever for me to make decisions regarding typography. It definitely comes natural to some people, but it takes a lot of practice for me. ;)
marlene says
Great tips, especially the one about making your graphics look consistent. I totally experimented with fonts and different graphics for awhile but am sticking to a more consistent look now. So this summer, my homework is going back into my old posts and updating them so it’s not so all over the board!
Monique says
I spent everyday half an hour to read this website’s articles daily along with a cup of coffee. Nice blog and cool post!
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Vashti says
I found your blog via Pinterest (yay!) and I love it. It is super cute, I love the simplicity of it all, I love the name and logo. The one thing I struggle with is planning out post, because sometimes I write what I feel like for the day so planning that out is hard, but I feel like if I could it would be much more beneficial for me that way. I guess I could start doing a weekly post then work my way up to a monthly/yearly editorial calendar. ANYWHO! LOVE ALL OF THIS!
Vashti
Jennifer says
Yay!! So glad you like the blog, Vashti! Thanks so much for the compliments. :) I totally agree that planning out posts can be difficult. Sometimes I try to plan out the general topics and then write what I’m feeling in the moment.
Rachel says
Agree with all of these things! Although on the first topic I made the mistake of going too far into doing what others were. My style, my words everything seemed foreign to me because I was trying to write like the big name blogs out there. Once I figured out I could cover similar hot topics but in my own voice, my blogging started to come naturally to me!
Angela says
That’s a good point and I think a lot of bloggers struggle with that. There’s so much out there you can easily fall into what people are doing. For me, it causes my writing to fall flat because I don’t emulate others nor find my own voice. When I just let go a little it helps me be more “me”.
Jasmine says
Love this post! Thanks for the great tips! SO glad I discovered this blog! Heaven sent for new bloggers.