The Number One Way to Craft Your Brand
I read a lot of mom blogs. It’s inevitable. Owning a site where thousands of mom bloggers converge gives me a keen look at the digital mom space and who’s in it. Most mom bloggers, I’ve noticed, really aren’t blogging for the cold hard cash. Rather, they are newer bloggers with small children who might review products on occasion, but who mainly tell stories about their everyday lives. Many of these blogs remind me of how the mom blogging community was seven years ago when all we did was talk about our families and daily lives.
That said, what I have also noticed is when these same bloggers who start out to write as a hobby want to turn their blog into a business there are problems that arise. The main problem I see is they lack the vision to craft a viable brand. That’s not a bad thing. If you don’t come from a business background you can definitely stumble along the way. I know I have.
If you are a blogger who wants to hone your brand and turn your blog into a business you have to do certain things for brands and PR firms to take you seriously and really recognize you for the brand you have created. The number one way to craft your brand is by using brand consistency.
- Own your domain. I cannot express this enough. If you have a .wordpress or .blogspot blog you won’t go as far as those bloggers who have bought and registered their domain name. It’s really that simple.
- Create your blog’s email address. For example, make sure that your email address is you@yourdomain.com instead of you@yahoo.com. This helps to further solidify your brand.
- Make sure your blog’s title and URL are consistent. Believe it or not, it is difficult for brands and their PR reps to wrap their head around your blog’s brand if you have a URL, but the title of your blog is something completely different. That’s like me owning www.momblogmagazine.com and naming my blog “Top Kitchen Recipes”. It doesn’t work and is confusing, so make sure your URL and blog title are the same or virtually the same. It helps to wipe out confusion.
- Make sure your social media presence is also consistent with your brand’s name. If you are serious about building your blog’s brand you also have to make sure your presence is consistent across the Net. That means your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Tumblr, and Google+ accounts should all be the same or have slight differences only if you cannot secure the name of your brand on a certain site. Make every effort, however, to grab your brand’s name the moment a new service comes along that you use for your blog.
- Keep your branding consistent off-line as well. If you get business cards made make sure you have all of the aforementioned done so your branding is consistent on the business cards you will be passing out as you network with brands, PR reps, and fellow bloggers.
While this advice has been churned out by me and others over the years it definitely bears repeating as I see the same mistakes over and over and over again. When I work with bloggers on large brand campaigns through our sister site, Mom Bloggers Club, I can only work with those who understand that branding is important to their blog and I know I am not alone. Be sure to implement these tips if you want to turn your blog into a business.
Great advice, though–thank you!
I am guilty of not having my domain email. I like to use Outlook and I don’t think I can with my domain name email.
Hi all:
This is probably a dumb question .. but why is Word Press considered so much better than Blogger? Is it just a more sophisticated platform? I’m just wondering because I’ve heard so so many complaints about it being hard to use … I’m a little intimidated about switching over!!
Thanks!
Diane
You can do so much more with WordPress. It’s just a better platform and you can add plugins and tons of great themes to WordPress as opposed to Blogger.
how do you own your own domain?
All you have to do is go to your blog’s dashboard and you will see something like buy your domain. You can buy your .com or .net for about 14.00 a year. Your domain is such a must-have!
I’m on the right path I guess, check mark for all of the above. My only fear is about going from Blogger to WordPress, which I think is a good idea, I don’t think I can handle it!
I took all of your advice that I knew how to do. I don’t know how to create an email address with my web page name at the back?? I am also still very lost on how to get my http://www.facebook.com/tidbitsofexperience page off the ground??
I agree with your post and would love to add my two cents. I think making the switch to from Blogger to WordPress is a necessity if the goal is to be taken seriously as a blogger.
What about when you have more than one blog. My twitter is @callista83 because it was used with both blogs originally. So I can’t call it @callistaramblings or @callramb or @smsbook because it’s for more than one blog. What do you suggest?
I made the mistake of using different url and different name for my blog.. I started blogging like joke, before i could know it, everything turned out into something big. By then i have gone so far, changing my url became impossible. My next step is to get my own domain. But to my greatest surprise i get opps all the time from companies not even minding my silly blog mistakes..
Sometimes i wonder if they don’t see all this mistakes i made..
Thank you so much for this tips, i hope others will learn from it..
Great advice! Thanks, Jennifer.
Great advice as always Jennifer!
I need to get working on changing my e-mail address!
Thanks Jennifer :->
Great Advice! Thanks!
As always, great tips!
Thanks for this very helpful advice.
I would add make sure you leave comments all across the internet with your web
address included in the signature to get the most attention for your branding. Good tips
thanks a lot.
Thanks for the great tips. Easy to understand and implement. Love the great content you provide.
Thank you. This was very helpful and informative. I like the fact that you laid it out in a clear and concise way.
My only follow-up question would be as a blogger, do you approach PR companies about product reviews or advertising or simply wait for them to approach you?
I am fairly new to this blogging gig, but have had some early success and am curious about the next step(s).
Thank you!
Ashley
Good, simple advice. Thank you!