Your blog is your brand.
We writers hear this a lot. But sometimes viewing our blog as a brand can feel limiting.
For example, let’s say you have a style blog that focuses on chic, work-appropriate fashion for young professionals. But you’re also inspired by creative, avant garde fashion shows. Because you’re trying to build a brand you may feel it’s not OK to write about both. But here’s why I think it is.
Establishing a brand for your blog isn’t solely about deciding the focus of your content. Building a brand is mostly about your voice and your values.
Whether you’re writing about runway looks or office party attire, your voice is the same. (Or at least it should be.) Your unique writing voice is much more important than what you’re writing about because it’s your voice that makes your blog stand out. Your readers aren’t just coming to your site because you’re giving suggestions on how to dress well for their 9 to 5. There are probably thousands of other blogs out there on this same topic. Your readers are coming to your blog because it’s your blog! They’re coming because they’re drawn to your voice and your style of blogging.
Your values also help build your blog’s brand. Why do you blog? What’s your mission statement? Yes, you blog to help young women feel both posh and professional, but why? Why do you think this is important? If your goal is to empower women and to help them feel more confident then simply make sure that everything you post — including a review of an avant garde fashion show — does exactly that.
For marketing purposes, it is smart to make sure that most of your posts center on your blog’s primary topic (unless you’re trying to shift the focus of your blog). Thus, consider creating a weekly or monthly feature that lets you go a bit off topic. So Monday through Thursday you’re blogging about what to wear to work, but at the end of the week you have “High Fashion Friday” and on this day you showcase the looks you’d love to rock the runway in.
Remember the thing that makes your blog unique isn’t its topic. Your blog is special because the woman writing it is.
Each day in November for #bloglikecrazy I’ll be publishing a blog post that answers your questions about blogging, social media, writing, wellness or women’s empowerment. Send your questions to javacia@seejanewritebham.com.
Javacia–this has been SO helpful (and quite empowering!). You’ve made me look at my blog in a way I hadn’t before. Thank you!
This is exactly the problem I was having with all my old blogs! I thought my “brand” meant having very specific content, so each time I found myself narrowed into a hole. This was problematic for so many reasons: I limited my audience, I easily ran out of content, and I felt like I had nothing to blog about when my interests shifted. In the end, I just got bored. But now that I’m blogging about a wide variety of topics all within the scope of books/reading/libraries, I’m finding that I enjoy blogging so much more now!