Why Do You Need to Brand Yourself?

“Brand me? I’m not a cow, Peter! ” Amy Amateur said.

“Even amateur bloggers need to brand themselves.” Peter Problogger said.

“Why?”

“Why are you blogging?”

“I don’t know. I just want to write and share what I know.”

“Share what to whom?”

“Hmm, Whatever I think, right? Everyone, I guess.”

“You need a brand. How will people remember you?”

“I’m pretty?”

“So are lots of bloggers.”

“I’m fun.”

“So are lots of bloggers. Three million posts a day – remember”

“Ugh.”

How Do You Brand Yourself?

My husband and I live in ranching country. “Brand” sounds painful, not to mention hard to do!

Put on your thick skin! This might hurt.

1. Name yourself.
   • Brainstorm ideas. What do you like? What are your characteristics? What is the purpose for your blog?
   • My husband and I chatted. Rudy, our Chamber President, calls me a social butterfly. My husband suggested “Fly By Night.”
   • The tagline for this blog was Just Write, but than name did not have the punch I wanted for a logo.
   • When I said, “Always Write” Vince’s eyes lit up and he laughed. “That’s you.” (I may be a little bossy and opinionated.)
   • Besides, I could make an acrostic out of Always Write. I love acrostics.
2. Unify everything under the same name.
3. Create your logo.
   • It might be your picture. My friend Ralph said, “It’s just me.” He’s right. His face is his brand. Having your face somewhere on your blog makes it easier to communicate with you. I especially look for them on the about me page.
   • Canva.com has templates to create logos.
   • Try out backgrounds. When I showed my experimental backgrounds to Vince, he lacked enthusiasm. Back to the drawing board
4. Add elements like shapes and lines. Janice Wald in Mostly Blogging says that every graphic should have a line. I thought maybe a triangle logo would work. Canva.com offers only square logos, so I went with a triangle on a square. “I like red,” Vince said.
5. I designed several. When I asked for your opinions, you liked the same one I did. You can see it in my header now.

Brand Design Problems

It’s fun and easy to play with Canva logos. There are some design issues, though.

• See how my border misses the left margin on the bottom?
  • The circles that appear when you move click on elements to move them cover the margins.
  • You can fill the space in Photoshop if you don’t want to correct it in Canva.

• The tip is not quite centered on this one, and there is a hair of pencil wood that is not quite right on the top. I worked with it but it needs more precision.

Am I right?

Yep, I’m always “write.”

Are You Going to Make a Brand?

Do you have a personal brand? What process did you use to identify yourself?

I received this twitter from M Pacansky-Brock ‏@brocansky Nov 14

Brand Summary

Even amateur bloggers benefit from having a brand. Logos help amateur bloggers develop a focus for their blog. Creating them also develops design skills.

There’s a company that specializes in helping people find themselves called Brand Yourself. Even non-bloggers have reasons to consider branding their image.

Follow-up

Thank you all for your input on my brand. I chose the most popular logo. Since that time Daniel Renteria from The AARC began redesigning my blog. He used my design to create a slimmer more professional design. Daniel used a triangle only. 🙂

The hardest part of hiring a professional designer is knowing what you want. Using Canva.com made it easy to leap from what was in my mind to my amateur design to a professional design. I gave Daniel an idea to start.

Related Posts

1. 7 Steps to a Successful Brand for Your Personal Blog
2. How Canva.com Turned Me into a Graphic Artist
3. How to Post to Multiple Social Media Accounts and Still Breathe
4. Seven Tips for Using Photos in Your Blog
5. 7 Things You Can Do to Build An Awesome Personal Brand
6. The First Step To Building Your Personal Brand
7. The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal Brand

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