How important is branding in your online business? What are the available tools that can be used to help you establish your brand?

Brands according to Wikipedia were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design and symbol. However, today it is what they do for people that matters much more, how they reflect and engage them, how they define their aspiration and enable them to do more. Powerful brands can drive success in competitive and financial markets, and indeed become the organization’s most valuable assets.

There’s no question about the importance of establishing a brand. Even successful companies like Nike, Microsoft and Coca Cola continue to build their brand despite their popularity among consumers. Every year, thousands of dollars are spent by these companies to establish their brands. This proves that branding is an important element of a successful business including online businesses.

Branding Online

Branding is indeed important but how and what are the tools available that can be used to establish a brand online?

While the quality and usefulness of information found on your blog plays a crucial role in building your brand, there are other aspects of blogging that are equally powerful and important, which are often overlooked and underrated. Here is a list of useful resources to help you establish your online brand that are often overlooked or underrated.

Theme or Template : Since your theme or template is the first thing noticed by your visitors, it’s a good idea that you brand it by making it distinct from other websites. Using a premium template or theme in this case is much better as branding is easier. Using a free template on the other hand makes branding more difficult since free templates are open to everyone. Make sure to do some tweaking when you’re using a free template to differentiate your style from the rest of the other blogs. This will make your blog much easier to recognize and remember.

Header : The most noticeable part of your theme is your header. As such, it is strategic that you put some efforts to make the necessary branding. Put your logo, banner and descriptions on it. Invest some time and resources in designing your header. Or better yet, get someone to do it for your if you’re not good at graphics.

Logo : A logo is a recognizable graphic design element, representing your products and your business in general. Ideally, your logo should be custom made or unique. Coupled with the right marketing strategy, this will help build a long term impression on your readers. Serious businesses have logos so if you don’t have one… you might not be serious enough.

Avatar : Avatar is one of the most underrated tool in blog marketing and branding. I have seen several bloggers who do not take full advantage of their avatars. Some are using general photos of animals while others use their face. Another mistake common to bloggers is to use different avatars for different forums or social media. Worse, others don’t even bother to upload and use their avatar. If you don’t have an avatar, make one and make sure to use it. While most avatars used in forums leads you to your profile, it is still a good way of branding and marketing your blog.

Niche : Niche Blogging is focusing on a specific subsection of a general and usually popular topic. Having your own niche is a great way to brand your blog. In fact, it’s easier to build your brand when you have a niche. Making your blog an authority on a specific topic helps improve your brand, which is easier done when your have a niche blog. On the other hand, trying to be a well-rounded-know-all blogger is difficult and is not as rewarding as when you have a niche.

Signature and Link : The signature you use in forums and social media sites can help drive more traffic to your blog but at the same time it also helps build your brand. When using signatures in forums, use anchor texts that are relevant to your website. This is good for search engine optimization (assuming it’s a dofollow signature) and at the same time, it’s also good for building your brand.

Use Your Own Style : Victor of Blogger Unleashed cared less about what other people thought of his writing style. If you don’t know him, he’s blunt, frank and swears alot on his posts. While this is more of a personal choice, it is also a good blog marketing and branding strategy. You need to remember that branding does not necessarily mean you have to conform with norms. Playboy and Hustler are two well-known brands that did not conform with social norms but became established in their fields.

That’s a list of 7 tips and resources to help you build your brand online. What else can you add on the list? Do share your ideas through the comment.

Thank you for your time.

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