Brand Your Blog
Anyone can buy a web hosting package, install WordPress, download a free theme, and begin blogging in minutes. That’s a great way to get your voice out there, and if you have something you want to say then I recommend doing it now. But keep in mind that every one who visits your site will not be able to differentiate it from the competition.
Unique Theme and Logo
A unique design is an important part of developing the brand for your website. If I were to ask you to describe the visual look and feel of Truebluetitan, you would probably comment on the minimalism and most likely say a thing or two about the logo (By the way, my logo was just featured on faveup.com). Despite the somewhat standard blog layout, I think that you’d be able to pick Truebluetitan.com out of a line-up.
Get Recognized
On August 10, a new version of this site went live, leaving behind a design that appeared on multiple design galleries. As luck would have it, this site has just received similar praise, which has done wonders for it’s visibility. On the right is a snapshot of this site’s statistics two weeks before appearing on the galleries and two weeks after.
As you can see, the number of site visits increased by 5-fold in just two weeks. While the majority of these visitors will only stay for a few seconds, I was surprised to see that the average time on site barely dipped. That kind of traffic is incredibly hard to come by and won’t last forever, but it serves as a small pat on the back for the extra hours spent making your site your own.
Additional Benefits
In addition to having a site that looks different from the rest, a unique design gives you the ability to do even more. If you design the site yourself then you have the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the code, which makes future changes a breeze and enables monetization and ad placement much easier. And if the general public starts knocking on your door for a release of your WordPress theme then you have another opportunity to generate additional traffic.
Stay unique and differentiate yourself from the rest of the blogosphere!
Could you touch on who designed the blog theme & logo?
The theme and logo design of Truebluetitan.com was all done by me, from PSD to what you see before you. There are still several tweaks that I’m working on implementing so if you decided to become a frequent reader you will see this site evolve quite a bit over time.
Congratulations, good work! The overall design and branding of your site is great. ;)
Limitless
really!! great job
Congratulations
Thank you guys for all of the encouragement. Tell your friends! ;)
Definitely… :) Really professional!
NO doubt the design looks really wonderful and congratulation on getting this good amount of traffic just with the help of design.
Another clever branding idea is what DoshDosh does, showing a picture with each post. I borrowed this idea for my software development blog, VBNotebookFor.NET, using mostly vintage clipart and illustrations instead of anime. Plus I added in related or pithy remarks in the alt and title tags for these pictures, kind of an Easter egg for those who look for it.
How do you think about writing regularly just because it’s another way of branding your blog, even when you don’t write anything worth saying… Seems like the main idea changes and thus will the audience… If you want real and sensible contributing audience, you should obey this simple human rule. It’s about cause and consequence. Anyway, I’m sure we’re not in danger in staying hungry for a very long time. Being practical is important when working, work as a creative and self entertaining process - it’s to stay honest with yourself. Because if you’re not honest with yourself, what about the rest?
Sorry about dissociating the form from the content. ;-)
@Frank C: I’m glad that you brought up the ALT and TITLE tags, and found it very interesting that you added in unique little tidbits for your alt and title tags. As an SEO best practice I would strongly recommend utilizing these often overlooked little guys to insert keywords that you want your site to rank for.
A newly released blog, WRevenue.com just wrote a nice article about the importance of anchor text in backlinks. If you haven’t subscribed to Scott’s blog yet, then I strongly recommend that you do so now. It’s yet another great resource. Tell ‘em Truebluetitan sent ya!
@Martin: One of the ground rules in blogging is to post regularly and at a consistent schedule. Let your readers see the frequency of your posts so those that do not use RSS readers know when they should be checking back. Admittedly, its a rule that I’ve been fairly bad at following. My day job has been sporadically hectic as has my evenings as I settle into a new home and office. I still need to develop that routine that is oh so important! No excuses though…it’s something that I need to adhere to.
However, I would also recommend that one should only post if you have something of quality to say. People can tell if you’re writing something just for the sake of writing or if you are actually passionate about the subject matter.
I’m glad that you decided to disassociate the form from content. While you beat me to the punch (I’m in the process of writing an article about this same topic) I have no problem addressing it briefly here! Cheers.
One could keep posting regularly, but not that often - that’s a solution. E.g - once a week, no matter exactly which day, since it’s not right after the previous posting.
I wrote a big posting regarding this and other issues, including blogactionday last night. I was thinking about a lot of stuff until suddenly I felt the right moment to pack em all in one and write it down came. :) enjoy
[…] theme. To me, it shows an attention to detail often overlooked by many, and as discussed before, branding your blog is necessary to distinguish yourself from the […]