This has become a bit of a pet peeve with me (and it is not directed at anyone in particular). The thing that gets me most, is the fact that this was something that I not only did with my blog for the majority of it’s existence – but something that I also promoted as a good idea.

stop promoting Stop Promoting Your Blog Already!

What I am talking about is bloggers incessant need promote their blog before themselves.

You know what I am talking about, people who:

  • Use Their Logo As Their Gravatar
  • Leave Comments With Their Blogs Name

Everything is about people knowing about their blog.

Like I said, I used to follow this ‘marketing strategy’ but since dropping it, I am starting to realise how annoying it really is.

Who Want’s To Communicate With A Brand?

I don’t know about you, but I want to talk to people. I want to know about the face behind the blog.

I love reading ‘about’ pages.

I love it when I can find and use a persons real name in social media conversations, comments and emails.

I want to know that I am talking to a person a and not a product!

What Is Best In The Long Run?

I understand the desire to try and brand your blog. But in all honesty, the only reason people stick around once they have visited your blog is because of you.

Content is great, but anyone can write content. People are looking for personality, who you are and how you write needs to connect with what they are looking for.

Branding will only get you so far, but start building personal relationships and networking and you will be shocked by the opportunities that arise.

The Changes I Made

With the relaunching/rebranding of StandOutBlogger it wasn’t just the blog design that got an overhaul.

I completely changed the way that I interacted with everyone. I wanted to put a name and a face behind StandOutBlogger.

So I:

  • Comment With Just My Name
    Every since I had started this blog, every comment I made on another blog was always ‘Tom | StandOutBlogger’ or ‘Tom@StandOutBlogger’ (if they used KeywordLuv). Everything needed the blog name on it.

    Now everywhere I comment, it is just ‘Thomas Sinfield’ – and if a blog has KeywordLuv, I don’t use it) I Want the bloggers to know that I am there to add value – not to try and drag their readers away to my site.

  • Made Twitter More Personal
    I changed the background and icon from my logo to a photo of myself. I also included my name in my Twitter background. Previously people would have had no idea on Twitter if I was male/female or what age I was. Now with one simple change it shows everyone exactly who I am – and have you noticed how much easier it is to tweet with a face as opposed to a logo?
  • Changed My Gravatar
    In the transition from logo of photo, I also made my Gravatar a nice little head shot of me.

I don’t know about you, but there is an increasing amount of spammy comments (and I am not just talking about the auto generated ones). I am talking about the commentators who just skim your content to pick up on key thoughts, so they look like they are leaving an educated comment – but in all seriousness they are just trying to get a link to their blog and a trickle of traffic.

So while I will approve comments that add value. Very rarely will I visit a commentators website, unless their name or a photo makes up part of their comments ( usually takes both).

Am I Saying Everyone Should Do This?

In a perfect world, ‘YES’. but in reality not everyone has the same goals. And while I am working on building community and credibility, other people are looking for traffic and profit (which funnily enough come when you have community and credibility).

But I think the main point I am trying to make, is that if you are interested in networking, then please give us something to work with? No one wants to communicate with a logo and a company/blog name!

Your Say: Blog Promotion vs Networking?

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe people do not care if they are communicating with a person or a brand. If you have something to add to this discussion, add your comments below.