This is a guest post by Zac Johnson from ZacJohnson.com
This is the internet! This is the world of blogging and marketing! In the end it all comes down to who remembers who you are and what you are all about.
The importance of branding in today’s world of 900 million people on Facebook and millions of new blogs going live every day… is simply priceless!
In this post we are going to shoot out some of the easiest and most effective ways for you to increase your branding and exposure in the fast paced world of internet marketing, social media and blogging.
Create a Logo for Your Site or Identity
This one is almost a no brainer, but how many websites do you visit on a daily basis that still just have a basic text title. This is fine, but how many people are going to remember your name or site title without having something that stands out.
Creating a logo or mascot for your site can work for you 24 hours a day. You only have a few seconds to leave a lasting impression for visitors on your site. Give them someone they will see, and then next time they see it shown somewhere, they will remember where they saw it first.
It’s all about branding!
Keep All of Your Social Pictures Consistent
With all of the different social networks out there, mainly Twitter, Facebook and Google+, it’s important to make it as easy as possible for everyone to find and follow you.
Using the same picture or avatar in all of your accounts and profiles is a great way to give your audience ONE image that they will remember you by. This also applies to your blog commenting. Use the same images you are using in your social networks, for your Gravatar (blog commenting) image etc.
Mingle with the In Crowd and Be Found on All Networks
While keeping your social profile images in mind, it’s just as important that you are being found on all the social networks and ranking websites. The top players in the marketing and blogging game all have their inner circles of friends.
Make sure you take the time to follow all the top people and sites in your niche, while also doing what you can to make sure they know about you. This can be anything from saying “Happy Birthday” on their birthdays, or writing killer link bait blog posts about their sites or other interesting facts to grab their attention.
To find some of the top players and names in your niche market and what social networks they are on, be sure to join Klout and setup a free account. This is an excellent way for you to pull all of your social networks together, while making it easier for other people to find you as well.
Get Out There and Guest Post
Never before has there been a more effective and free way to bring promotion to your name or website. There are hundreds, if not thousands of blogs in your specific niche that are offering guest blogging opportunities to quality bloggers right now.
Not only can you earn incoming links from guest blogging, but you will also get massive exposure to a whole new set of readers, who may soon become readers of your own blog if they like your content. Don’t forget to respond to all blog comments, as this is extremely important for your overall brand exposure and showing you take the time and care about what people have to say.
No matter what type of business or blogging you are doing online, it’s very important to get the exposure and branding you deserve.
Building an authority blog and gaining the trust of readers and people on the internet takes a lot of time and work. Start increasing your branding efforts online right now.
To be honest, the idea of creating a brand or logo is something that I had not seriously considered (when compared to the other tips you bring up), but when I think about it, it makes very good sense. Logos are so vitally important for recognition in most real world industries, and the internet is just as visual a place. Developing a smart, easily recognizable logo for an online blog could really but you ahead of the competition in an environment that really doesn’t have many. It’s such a simple, yet totally overlooked, idea. Thanks for that, I’ve got some work to do!
This is a great post. I believe in consistency so I liked that you included the tip about having consistent social pictures. It will help people relate your face/picture/brand logo to your company. Exposure on the internet is everything–it’s important to mingle online and let yourself be known through the networks.
Brilliant Zac! I think keeping the social pictures same is something that no experts talk about. It is indeed the most important aspect to create an identity which will eventually help in creating a brand value in the longer run!
Loved the article 🙂
I’m guilty of having diff pics for different social sites. My G+ pic is also the one I use for commenting and will probably make that the one for all sites.
As for writing about the influencers’ sites or blogs, that’s a good idea. I’m writing a blog post right now about the best pizza blog for my own pizza blog. By doing so, I hope I can get that post to rank high for “best pizza blogs” and with that ranking high in Google, I hope some people will click on it and then enjoy my own pizza blog. I’ll see how that works out.
I too agree that blogging on other blogs help build friendships and you also get to know a lot of people, who in term get to know about you.
I prefer social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn may or may not help you sell your products but if that’s where your customers hang out, maybe you should too. The blogs on these sites can help retailers keep in touch with shoppers, make announcements or feature new merchandise and promotions.
I found this post to be very informative. I just started blogging 2 months ago, and I have learned so much in a such a short period of time. I blog about the latest real work from home opportunities, and the latest social marketing stratgies and techniques. Branding is one I have not talked about. I have had 2 guest on my blog and have gotton lots of readers. Guest blogging is important and plan to have more guests and be a guest myself.
Nice post. I think you are right alot of good branding is about consistency through all the various channels that now exist FB, Twitter, Google+, Blogs and e-commerce etc. A logo can certainly help but I think alot of “branding” all comes down to how you “do what you do”. I think our brand is about the quality of our cards and the service we give each customer. The logo, typefaces, avatars etc are all just public faces for the brand. The brand itself are our designs and our people – that is what makes the company what it is and they are therefore the brand.
Looks great. I agree branding is very important. It is also one of the hardest things to design and implement….at least that is what I have found. We have gone thru a few different designs but think we have finally settled on a good one we are sticking with. There’s a reason why the good brands rarely change their logos dramatically.
Hello Zac Johnson,
I am sure that you are right and of course every business on the internet needs great logo and generally speaking a great first impression. For example I have visited many blogs in the past but I remember some of them. That not means that the blogs I remmember are better than others but to tell you the truth the first impression of them which I remmeber was far better !!
Thank you,
zourkas