Do you want your blog to stand uniquely stand out from others? Are you ready to bring in lots of traffic to your blog? You need to put some time into branding your blog to make that happen!
When I first started blogging way back when, I had no idea what branding your blog even meant! I was all over the place with my colors because I just wanted it to be “pretty.” It wasn’t until I realized I wanted to take my blog further that I started researching blog branding.
After a total blog rebrand I started gaining more traffic to my site. I changed my theme, organized my menu, and stuck with just a few colors. Now I stay consistent with everything so my readers know exactly how to find me easily.
Overall, I think my readers feel more comfortable coming to my blog and that has helped them gain a trusting relationship with me.
What is Blog Branding?
Blog branding is not just your logo. It’s how people recognize you and your blog and/or business. You want to stand out from others and you need to be remembered. This is why it’s so important to put time into branding your blog.
For example, say you are scrolling through Pinterest and you see a lot of similar pins from a certain blogger, or business. Their pin colors, styles, and fonts are always similar. After a while when you see that pin style you immediately know who created it. That’s their brand.
Blog branding is all about your color scheme, the fonts you use, your overall theme, your logo design, and your graphics. And I’m going to show you how to put all of those together so you can start branding your blog today.
Steps to Branding Your Blog
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1. Tell your story
All great brands start with a story. You need to let people know exactly who you are and what you do. Having a clear brand keeps readers on your site longer because they’ll know exactly what to expect from you.
Ask yourself these questions when considering your story:
- What is your blog’s focus? (This is your blog’s niche. If you need more information on finding your niche, click here.)
- Where do you see your blog going in the future?
- Who are you writing for? Who is your target audience?
- What problem are you trying to solve for your audience?
Writing down your blog’s story is so important for creating a vision for your blog’s brand. Consider creating a vision board for your blog. (I’ll talk about that more later.)
2. Choose your color scheme
Usually, you’ll choose your color scheme before designing your blog. To help with choosing colors that go together, search Pinterest for “color scheme” or just do a Google search.
Typically you should choose 2-3 primary colors and 2-5 secondary colors. The primary colors will be used for your logo and all the main elements for your branding. The secondary colors are used for website links and marketing materials.
You want your color scheme to be memorable and create a positive impression. The colors need to have the power to connect with your audience and draw them in.
Ask yourself what you want to achieve with these colors. A feeling? The need to reach your targeting audience? Or is it just about getting noticed?
3. Choose your fonts
It’s super important that the fonts you choose are easy to read and can be seen on mobile phones. Cursive fonts or fonts that are too small or light in color are difficult to read. This turns readers off and they’re not going to stick around if they can’t read your amazing work.
Sans-serif fonts are the most pleasing to the eye. Also, be sure to stick with black on a white background for comfortable reading.
You can get more creative with fonts in your titles and subtitles because these are bigger than the text in your paragraphs. Because they are bigger, they are easier to read. To help with font selection, check out Canva. They have a fonts section that shows you fonts that go well together.
4. Create your blog’s theme
WordPress has some very professional pre-designed blog themes, both free and paid. Most of these themes allow you to change colors, fonts, layouts, etc., allowing you to make it your own.
There are also a lot of really nice paid themes out there. These are so great because all of the work has been done for you – the hardest part is choosing the one that fits you best. One of my favorite themes is the Neira WordPress Theme. I love the sleek design and all the different layouts you can choose from. Check out VolThemes.com for more fun designs.
5. Create your logo design
I personally believe having a logo is super important for branding your blog. It sets you apart from others and lets your targeted audience and readers know who you are.
Your logo goes at the top of your website, in your favicon, on your business cards, and in your email signatures. Logos should include your name, your brand name, or your company initials. It’s also very important to keep your color scheme going with your logo.
The logo design that you choose needs to be unique and consistent. Use the same logo for everything, don’t mix it up. This will only confuse your readers.
My best tips for branding your blog
- Be welcoming. Your color scheme, layout, and menu should feel familiar and comfortable to your readers. Make it easy for them to find what they are looking for.
- Be consistent. Make sure you are being consistent with your colors, images, tone, graphics, etc. You want your readers to be able to find you easily.
- Your tone matters. Your brand is characterized by the tone of voice you use when talking to your audience. For example: energetic and bubbly or serious and ambitious.
- Know your competition. Check out your competition for inspiration, but don’t copy them. What is their logo? Their colors? What is their message and marketing strategy?
- Know your audience. Knowing who your ideal audience is will really help with branding your blog. When you really consider your audience, you’ll be able to “talk” to them through your brand. They’ll feel comfortable with you and they’ll feel like they really know you. This is the beginning of a trusting relationship, which is also very important for your blog.
- Create a vision board. Use a poster board or a notebook to create a vision board for how you want your brand to look. Include the color scheme and fonts you wish to use as well as a drawing of your theme layout. Write out your blog’s story and put that on the vision board, too. Add your logo, blog name, and tagline so you can see it all come together.
To recap, branding your blog is very important if you plan to monetize your blog. It brings in traffic and makes it easier to grow your audience list. Having a consistent brand shows you’re trustworthy and know exactly what you want.
Having a brand also makes it easier when it comes to creating Pinterest graphics as well as creating emails for your email list.
