A lot goes into making a brand via blogging. Irrespective of the route you choose to take, you have to consider getting a brand name, brand logo, the right niche, the availability of your brand name, and your ability to create great content.
Your brand represents you, and this is the reason you must be cautious when creating your brand. Paying special mind while creating the perfect brand for your blog is something you will never regret. Let me run you through things you will need to create a brand.
This guide will cover the essential steps to get your blog started:
- Identifying the right niche for you
- Creating your brand name
- Checking for the availability of your brand name
- Creating a logo
- Creating social media accounts
- Identifying your mission and vision
- Hosting your blog
Clarifying Your "Why"
Before you even think about a niche or a name, the most crucial step is to ask yourself: "Why do I want to start a blog?" Answering this question honestly will provide clarity and help you navigate the entire process. Your response will reveal your motivations, and you can assess whether they'll sustain you through the challenges of blogging. If your reasons lead to more red lights than green lights, that's perfectly okay. It might mean that blogging isn't the right path for you right now, and you can explore other creative outlets.
Testing Your Topic's Viability
Once you've chosen a potential niche or topic, you should test its sustainability with a practical exercise. Take a week to write down 20 blog post ideas related to your chosen topic. If you successfully complete this task (or even exceed it!), that's a great sign. It shows you have a genuine interest and a wealth of ideas to draw from, making this a viable topic for your blog. If you struggle to come up with 20 ideas, this is a red flag. It might indicate that the topic is too narrow or that your passion for it isn't strong enough for long-term content creation. In this case, it's wise to re-evaluate and find a different topic.
Identifying the Right Blog Niche for You
A great factor for picking the right niche for you is by choosing a topic you are most familiar with. When you are in your comfort zone, you are free, shameless, and willing to express yourself in the most ideal way imaginable. When I began blogging in 2017, I didn't consider this procedure, and as a result, I struggled.
Finding or picking a niche is the process of characterizing what your blog represents. Properly characterizing your blog will help you in having a composed and organized concentration. My findings suggest that niche-specific blogs tend to grow faster. By focusing on a single, well-defined topic, you can establish yourself as an authority, attract a dedicated audience, and build a stronger community around your content.
Take, for example, Amazon. When the name is referenced, the primary thing that rings a bell is the online store. Coca-Cola: when the name is referenced, the principal thing that rings a bell is a refreshment/beverage. Having a clear focus helps build brand recognition.
In picking a niche in blogging, you should first identify those things you like doing. When you blog about what you are enthusiastic about, a few things occur: You're bound to put time and exertion into your blog. You're less inclined to abandon your blog later. You’re less likely to run out of ideas.
The beautiful thing about when you are in love with what you do is that it appears through your composition; thus, this will prompt you to stand out. If you go the other course and pick a specialty or niche exclusively because you believe it's beneficial, undoubtedly, you will keep running into burnouts and disappointments.
Do not venture into any niche you are not certain about. Another key point is: You must have enough information on those subjects you intend to promote through your blog. If you don't have the foggiest idea of what you're discussing, why would anybody want to visit your blog?
Are you still having issues finding the right niche for you? If so, the next paragraph will help you. Do you like reading, shopping, drawing, tuning in to music, following up on celebrities, ranting, traveling, cooking, eating, gaming? Do you like proving a point, or are you a jokester? From your rundown, select the things you do consistently.
For example, some people love to read, yet they never get the opportunity to get a book and read it. Is your preference to travel, yet don't have enough money to travel the world? Some are amazing cooks; however, they can't recollect whether they have a pot. Maybe because they eat out on most occasions. Thanks to their bustling way of life. What I am trying to state is that it is conceivable to like something yet not be motivated to do it.
One can choose to make a food blog since the person in question adores cooking. On the off chance that your lifestyle does not allow you to cook more often, I wager you will run into burnout. If your intention is to steal other people's work, this is absolutely not proficient.
What I will say is, make a rundown of all that you like, and at that point, pick from that rundown what your reality permits you to do.
An example; one who has a normal everyday job; however, she loves to cook, read, gossip, and shop. Her bustling way of life may not offer her the chance to cook, read, or spend time with companions, yet her fat pocket can empower her to achieve something else! Which is shopping?
I would advise such a person to make a blog that spotlights her shopping experiences. Also, she can share her surveys about items she purchased and her shopping experience. Essentially, it to be a manual for other individuals who love to shop like her. You ought to think and rethink, compare the options on your rundown. Take your time and always keep in mind that what you like isn't sufficient to pick your blogging niche. Always consider those things you are available to do when making this choice.
Here are normal slip-ups you should attempt to stay away from while choosing the right niche for you. Abstain from picking a subject basically because you have found others fruitful in that field. Choose a niche you are comfortable with, not a niche you think you can adapt to. Abstain from making a blog regarding matters you have almost no knowledge of. Choose a niche that you will never run out of topics to write about. You don't want to choose a niche that is too narrow and, at the same time, too wide.
Building a Brand That's All You
Create a Brand Name
There is no ideal or perfect brand name; notwithstanding, you need to put these things into thought when picking your brand name. Keep your brand name original. To begin with, go for something unique. You would not want to be found utilizing another person’s name. Pick a name you are fine with. As much as you can, pick a name that you can relate to or something you are not embarrassed about.
When picking a blog name or brand name, go for something sweet and simple to recollect. On the off chance you need your brand name on the lips of individuals, get a sweet and short name that is anything but difficult to remember. An error I see individuals make is naming their brand something unnecessarily long, for instance; Livingwellwithgreenlifetipsandtricksbygloriagrossi.com. Personally, this does not bode well for me! I would prefer not to feel like I am reading a novel while attempting to make reference to the name of your blog. Honestly, if I need to make reference to such a blog, I will certainly abbreviate the sentence to make life less demanding. My point is, for no reason will I endeavor to recall such a name.
Keywords or not? A few people recommend using keywords while picking your brand name. It’s not a bad idea. By and by, I don’t think it is important to make your brand name subject to certain watchwords. Telling creators that their brand name should be dependent on certain keywords related to your niche is something I can’t support. Try not to misunderstand me. I am not saying this is terrible. My worry is this: as the owner of a business, I prefer to call my brand based on my wants. It’s no doubt that some people call their brand name after their mom, family, pet, or their way of life. My point is, telling such an individual that they have to fill their brand name with keywords to enhance it for web crawlers won’t sound appealing to the proprietor. I sure know I wouldn’t like that. To demonstrate: Let’s say I’ve decided to start a fashion blog with the brand name “Quinn.” What the argument above is endeavoring to state is: I should call my brand “Quiin Fashion Blog or Girl’s Fashion.” You should know that the fact you decide to call your brand name “Get Cheap Items” isn’t a certification that if one is searching for “cheap items” on Google, your blog is going to spring up. As a matter of fact, crawlers slither through posts in the blog more regularly than the brand name. This explains why the search engine brings out related articles that can enable you to get to where you’re going. It doesn’t make a difference if your name is carefully constructed with keywords that one is searching for. The most imperative thing is that you have content that is very much optimized for web search tools. With the explanation in the next paragraph, I will demonstrate how web search tools or search engines crawl through your blog when an individual looks for certain watchwords or keywords.
The search engine can be compared to the operators who people meet to give answers to their inquiries. If I need to figure out how to sew online, the first thing that strikes a chord is to make a search. Today, we have diverse choices to browse on: namely, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, AOL, Baidu, WolframAlpha, or DuckDuckGo, among others. Everything relies upon what you are alright with. Once you type in your demand in the search box, the crawler within seconds crawls through related posts and pages to bring out arrangements of the most significant and relevant of all posts or pages. While picking your brand name, I recommend you have 3-5 name choices. Don’t pick a name that is too broad and, at the same time, a name that is too narrow. Broad in the sense that you can blog about absolutely everything, and in the like manner, avoid names that are too narrow in the sense that you are strictly tied to blogging about one thing. My point is, do not set a trap for yourself with your blog name.
Check for Name Availability
Try not to get excessively used to your extravagant/fancy brand name until you have not enrolled or guaranteed the name before another person does. You don't possess a brand name until you have effectively registered and gotten the name. This is the reason I generally prescribe you to have at least 3 brand names. In the wake of checking for their accessibility, you will have a better comprehension of the one that is accessible for procurement. All you have to do to enlist your brand or blog name is to purchase a domain or space name for it. A domain name is your site's name and address. A domain name is utilized for finding devices connected to a computer network on the Internet. Before now, IP addresses were used in place of domain names. IP addresses are a unique string of numbers separated by full stops that identify each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network and are not easy to recollect.
More on Branding and Hosting
Create a Logo, Favicon, and Optimized Images
This is the fun part! Your logo is the face of your brand. You want it to look professional and memorable. A unique, high-quality logo helps people instantly recognize your blog. Let's do this together:
- Logo Dimensions: For a self-hosted blog on WordPress, a good starting dimension for your header logo is often around 250x100 pixels. For a platform like Blogger, which often resizes images, a clean, square image (e.g., 300x300 pixels) works well as it's easily adaptable.
- Favicon: Don't forget this! It's the tiny icon in the browser tab. It's a key part of your brand identity and should be a simplified, square version of your logo, typically 16x16 pixels.
- Post Images: Every post needs a great image. Make sure these images are well-optimized for SEO. This means saving the file with a descriptive name (e.g.,
healthy-smoothie-recipes.jpginstead ofIMG_1234.jpg) and always adding alt text that describes the image.
For more help with your logo, you can check out free design tools like Canva or read articles on image optimization for SEO. You can also find great advice on the principles of good logo design.
Identify Your Mission and Vision
Your mission and vision are your blog's core purpose. They act like a compass, guiding every piece of content you create.
- Mission Statement: This is a clear statement of what your blog does, who it serves, and why. For example, a food blog's mission might be: "To inspire busy parents with quick, healthy, and delicious meal ideas for their families."
- Vision Statement: This describes the long-term impact you hope to have. For that same food blog, the vision might be: "To create a world where every family has access to easy-to-prepare, nutritious food, fostering health and connection at the dinner table."
To dive deeper into this, you can check out a detailed guide on how to write a mission statement for your blog.
Hosting Your Blog
Hosting is the service that makes your blog available on the internet. As I'm doing, free platforms like Blogger are an excellent way to get started. For those who want more control, self-hosted options like WordPress.org (the self-hosted version) are a popular choice. To use this, you'll need a hosting provider. Companies like Bluehost, SiteGround, and HostGator are well-known services.
Create Social Media Accounts and Backlinks
Social media is a powerful tool for extending your blog's reach beyond search engines. Create accounts on platforms where your target audience is most active to build a community and drive traffic.
Finally, consider backlinks, which are links from other websites to your blog. They are a powerful way to boost your blog's credibility and search ranking. You should also use internal backlinks (links to other relevant posts on your own blog) to keep readers engaged and help search engines understand the structure of your site. For more on this, check out this great article on beginner SEO for bloggers. You can also get some great tips on creating a social media strategy from this post on how to market your blog on social media.
Did I miss something, let me know in the comments.
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