Branding Is Key To Success

I am massive believer in the power of branding, and consider it one of the most, if not the most important reasons why the majority of ProBloggers are as successful as they are. If people perceive that you are professional and have influence, then whether you are or not has no bearing.

Perception Is Everything

Have you ever noticed that seem to have a lot of subscribers and a heap of influence – yet they never seem to have anything interesting or of value too say?

I can definately think of a few bl0ggers like this. The thing I have discovered, is that people live by a herd mentality. If someone sees a lot of people doing something, they will naturally follow – because obviously there is a reason so many people are doing it, and it is the same with blogging. But you don’t have to be the most influential blogger with 1,00o’s of RSS subscribers to give the perception of success.

Excellence And Success Correlation

If you look at all the most successful bloggers in your niche, the one thing you will find is that their blog is excellent. Take my niche for example:

ProBlogger.net

• Quality Design
• Published Book
• Well Researched Twitter
• Personally Branded Twitter Page

The reason Darren has been able to build such a successful blog, can largely be attributed to the above factors and how Darren has branded them all to the ProBlogger brand. Knowing this, I now know the things that I have to do to emulate his success – but in my own way!

Branding With Twitter

With the month of May being directed at Twitter, and using it to grow your blog. After setting up your Twitter account, there are two things that you can do to brand your blog on Twitter, that you should do straight away.

1. Your Picture

Your picture is the part of your brand that will be most seen on Twitter. Every time you make a tweet, your picture is shown – so you definately want to make the most of it. There are only really 2 options here and the one you choose will depend on how you are branding your blog.

A Picture Of You
If you are working on branding yourself  personally then this is the obvious choice. Bloggers like John Chow are an excellent example of personal branding. A good tip for this is to make your photo stand out. Ask yourself, ‘Why would this photo catch peoples attention?’

Your Logo
The method that I went with, and perfect for branding your blogs name and logo. It allows you to be constantly exposing your followers to your brand – which will definately help with brand recognition. If you have a long logo, then you may have to rework the design to make it fit into the square template Twitter uses.

2. Your Twitter Background

When people receive an email, letting them know that you are now following them, the first thing they will do is click on the link through to your profile. Your Twitter background is the first impression of your blog that they  will see. Is it a good first impression?

I was once told:

‘You only get one chance to make a good first impression’

Now knowing this take a look at your Twitter background and ask yourself,  ‘Is this the first impression that I want to be giving?’

At the top of this post I included an image of my new Twitter background. Personally I love it because it does everything that I want it to do, and it portrays the first impression I want people to have of the ‘StandOutBlogger brand’. So let’s pick it apart and analyze each section.

Continue Colours From Your Blog

The first thing you will probably notice when you visit @standoutblogger (feel free to follow) is that the background is blue. In fact it is two shades of blog that just happen to come out of the StandOutBlogger logo. I did this because I wanted people to be able to connect the Twitter account to this blog, and keeping the colours constant between both the blog and Twitter account helps do this.

Your Photo Or Logo

Continuing on from your Twitter picture,  your background is another great way to expand the branding of your blog. So if you are branding yourself, include a photo. ProBlogger is the perfect example of this:

Notice how although the photo itself is not really that special, the way he has edited it and how big it is, really makes his Twitter background stand out. However, also notice that Darren has also included the ProBlogger logo! As I am not looking to brand myself through this blog, but mainly the standout blogger name, which is why I only included the logo:

Credibility Builder

With there being so many blogs starting every day, why would people want to subscribe to yours over any other blog in your niche? Especially with people on Twitter constantly growing their followers – ‘What is going to make them stop and look at your Twitter again – AND follow through to your blog?’

If you are serious about building your influence with Twitter, I think you definately need to include some form of credibility builder. This is the part of the background that shows people that you know what you are talking about. This could be as simple as text saying ‘featured on (insert website here)’ or ‘As seen on TV’ or it could be an ebook like I have done.

Your constant battle as a blogger is to gain readers trust and I believe that we need to constantly be looking at ways to build our credibility. Using the ‘featured on’ tag lets followers know that someone else vouches for you, while the ebook portrays a perception of being a leader in your niche and that you know what you are talking about.

Do you have a Twitter background that you believe perfectly brands your blog? Or maybe you know another blogger that does… Feel free to link to them in the comments below and provide us all with a little inspiration.

To kick off a month of Twitter, I decided to start by asking my followers exactly why they used Twitter!

Here is the response I received:

@HerLadyRavenSky Not really sure why I do. Get my voice heard, see what other people are up to, make a few friends? Basic stuff.

@laffertyjohnson Still trying to figure that out…but information and new contacts.

@geekzDo i use twitter???? No. I live in twitter. Twitter is LIFE.. :)

@jpoole0732 to give my self breaks throughout the day to vent or to see whats going on.

@canopygallery Twitter’s a neighborhood where people open their doors & holler interesting & useful info. I’ve always liked cuckoo clocks.

@spencermcdonald Right now I am experimenting.

So you can obviously see that the is a really broad range of reasons why people are using twitter. For me and the StandOutBlogger Twitter Account, it is all about building the StandOutBlogger brand and increasing the influence I have on the blog about blogging market. The increase in traffic and mailing list subscribers is just an added bonus.

Find Your Purpose… Then Use Twitter Accordingly

I have had a few people tell me that having 1,000′s of twitter followers is pointless because I cannot seriously read the updates of that many people. That may be right, but it does allow me to meet a whole lot of new people and bloggers that I wouldn’t normally meet – which is part of my purpose for using twitter.

Your purpose for Twitter will detirmine the way you use it.

Why do you use twitter?

As usual when I decide to test something out, I jump in ‘boots and all’ – at the moment it is twitter.

As you would have reader yesterday, I decided to create StandOutBlogger a twitter of it’s own @standoutblogger. That was two days ago, and today I already have over 750 people following me – and by the morning I am guessing I will crack the 1000! I’m testing a heap of different strategies not only for gaining followers but also for converting them to viewers and readers.

I have a whole heap of ideas running through my head on how to capitalise on Twitter and a few of them are already paying off!

Not only that, but I will be working with one of my best friends Cody (who just happens to be starting a Twitter for my church – City Church), and I am going to be working with him create a massively influencial church twitter account – with some pretty large goals. So you are not just getting one case twitter case study, but two. And with each account having different goals you will get a fantastic overview on how to use twitter for any type of website.

So if you are interested in learning more about Twitter make sure you subscribe to StandOutBlogger so you don’t miss any of my sure to be amazing tips :D

Just a quick one today to say that StandOutBlogger.com now has it’s very own official twitter page!

So go ahead and follow @standoutblogger :D

Up until now I have been using my personal twitter account for SOB as well and it was starting to get messy, so I went out and created one just for StandOutBlogger .

PLUS…

It gives me the chance to really test how effective twitter really is, and for the month of may I will be focusing on how to use Twitter to improve your blog. I’m going all out with twitter this month and I am aiming for over 10,000 followers by June!  – And I would love my committed readers to be the first to follow!

You Follow Me = I Follow You!

If you are nice enough to follow @standoutblogger, then I definately want to return the favour, so once you have started to follow me, post your twitter account in the comments and I will follow you too!

:D

Thankyou for taking the time to while browsing Twitter to learn more about me and StandOutBlogger.com!

Who Am I and What Is StandOutBlogger About?

My name is Thomas Sinfield and I am 23 y/o, living in QLD, Australia. I started StandOutBlogger in May 2008 as a way of not only teaching bloggers how to improving the blogging, but also to inspire them to aim higher and work harder (and smarter) to create highly influencial and profitable blogs – that add value!

Learn More About Thomas And StandOutBlogger

Sample The StandOutBlogger Style Of Content

I know that every blogger is different and everyone has their own unique voice that some people really like, while others cannot stand. I have compiled a list of a few of my favourite blog posts over the last year that will give you a quick overview of what you can expect from this blog.

• Setting SMART Goals
• Photoshop Ebook Cover
• Overcoming Procrastination
• Climbing & Goals
• 50 Creative Blog Designs
• Finding New Blog Readers

Thomas, What Are You Trying To Sell Me?

Now I know what you are thinking.

You say that you created this blog to teach and inspire, but we all know it is about making money! No one does anything for free these days, so what is the catch?

And you would be right to a degree. My goal of this blog is to build influence and create a brand name (through StandOutBlogger) that people see as a leader in the field of blogging, and I do promote products and sell advertising on my website

BUT…

In saying that, here are a few convictions I have about this blog:

1. I Will Only Recommend Products That I Use And Believe In
   Honest and integrity are two of the most valuable qualities that a person (not just a blogger or entrepreneur) can have. I hold them in such high regard and I will not gamble the risk of losing them to make a couple of dollars from affiliates sales for a product or services that I do not trust!
2. I Will Only Post If I Have Something To Say
   If you are like me, then you will have a heap of blogs in your RSS feed reader. The last thing I want to do is spam you with unnecessary posts – which is why I will only write a post when I have something to say that I believe is valuable and worth your time.
3. I Want To See You Succeed As A Blogger
   As this blog was created to teach and inspire bloggers to become think bigger, be creative and gain influence, I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if my readers blogs were not succeeding! This is the main reason that I wrote my latest free ebook, ‘7 Traits Of A Successful Blogger‘.

If You Like What You Hear Would You Consider Subscribing?

I would be honoured if you would take the time to subscribe to my blog and allow me to feed you with thought provoking and challenging posts about how we can all improve as bloggers. As a bit of an incentive, if you sign up via email then I will automatically send you a copy of my 15 page ebook ‘7 Traits Of A Successful Blogger‘.

If there is anything I can help you with, or you would like to ask me a question, then I am always excited when I receive emails from my readers. So click the contact link in the header and shoot me an email! I will answer you as quickly as I can – but sometimes I get busy, so give me a couple of days!

I wish you all the best of success with you blogging!

Tom
StandOutBlogger.com