“My blogging life is basically goalless. I like the zen nature of that, and paradoxically, it improves results” Seth Godin
Blogging 201: Day Two: Audit Your Brand
Some of us have purely personal sites to discuss the day-to-day, while others use our blogs as a springboard for other projects. No matter which describes you — or whether you’re a bit of both — you’re not just a blogger: you’re a brand.
Today’s assignment: audit your brand — look at all the ways you communicate information about your blog to make sure they’re consistent and focused.
Here’s a checklist to get you going:
* Does my theme match my blog’s intent? What about my font and color choices?
* What are my title and tag line saying? What about my post titles? My About page? My user name and nickname?
* Do the titles of my widgets contribute to my brand?
* Do I have a consistent visual identity? Am I choosing images that support my brand, both in posts/pages and widgets?
* Are there elements that are counter to my brand? Why have I included them? What role do they play?
* Does all this carry through in the other places my blog has a presence — Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or forums/sites where I’m active?
You can never go wrong with black background, white font and with a touch of gray, especially when photos are concerned. And since my blog is mostly about the photographs and the stories, then the outlook is excellent!
My current theme, The Visual Theme, serves well for both the written word and the images. The font and colours came with the theme and the simplicity pleases my eye at least for now. I have gotten a few compliments as well, so I know I am on the right track.
About the title: Rantings of a Third Kind, with the slug “Blog about everything and nothing and it’s all done in the best possible taste!” pretty much describes the nature of the blog, the writer and the contents. I do not really rant about things, but I like to keep that option open for the future;) I also have visions of adding more content like videos, short and longer stories, serials and photo stories to the site. A travel blog is in planning. Therefore I prefer not to tie the knot with any specific genre, format or subject.
A blog about everything and nothing.
Fiction, fact, poetry, odes, homages, photography.
Humour, yet some serious thoughts.
And it’s all done in the best possible taste!
My user name is my name. I also registered the domain for the site “rantingsofathirdkind.com” but am having second thoughts of actually implementing the name change. Especially after the linking done on so many sites already for the current name “gunroswell.wordpress.com”. But let’s see what happens with that later on. I still have the option to use it since it is already registered to me. I also have a domain for my user name “gunroswell.com” with a light site running on the same.
I have used widgets to create more visibility for searches and links. Also keeping a calendar of the posts on the main page. And of course advertising the community I follow.
I have accounts in Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, LiveJournal and Pinterest. This to advertise my postings to a wider audience outside the WordPress world. I have quite a few hits on Google alone and if you Google my name, site or use any of the tags for example from the fandom/homage posts, you can be certain my links will pop up on the top 😉
For photographs, I have a share for Instagram, Flickr and recently also joined the 500px community.
Start introducing changes that reinforce your brand:
* Add or update a tag line to give more context to your title.
* Create a Gravatar that echoes your blog’s look.
* Customize your widget titles and comment prompt.
* Use your own photos to create custom image widgets or a custom header.
* Add a text widget with a pithy description of your blog’s mission.
* Create an email address for your site, using your custom domain or a free yourgreatblogname@gmail address.
Tag line:
Rantings Of A Third Kind
Blog about everything and nothing and it’s all done in the best possible taste!
Contact and email:
A separate page for the contact form:
https://atomic-temporary-83380856.wpcomstaging.com/contact/
The email address is set up for my domain and serves very well: gun@gunroswell.com
As far as the customization for fonts and such goes: I prefer to keep it more simple and not to add too many gadgets on the page. After all, the written word and photographs play the main role on my site 😉
