Branding Your Blog

Branding Your Blog – Developing a Name and Image That Will Stick With People, A Name That Can Be Remember Easily.

Every empire has a name.  It may be regal enough that “Rome” says everything there is to say.  It may try to ride off the success of others, as the “Holy Roman Empire” attempted in the Ninth Century.  Whatever name you choose, however, will establish your brand.  It will be the name that people remember, and it will be with you forever.  Think it’s not important?  Just imagine what would happen to Coca-Cola if its name was changed tomorrow to Sparkie’s Soda.  Would you still buy it even if it tasted the same?  Would they still be the most popular cola in the world?  Their name, built carefully for more than a century, is the most valuable asset they own.  Your brand will do the same for your Blog Empire.

Is There A Need For A Brand Name To Be Relevant to Content?

The question immediately arises whether your name needs to be descriptive of your content, and the answer is, unfortunately, “maybe.”  Sometimes it helps, as no one going to Red State would expect anything other than GOP-friendly commentary.  The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler is descriptive of both commentary and style.  Post Secret says everything there is to say about the blog.

On the other hand, many successful blogs have names that are simply memorable.  Little Green Footballs, with more than 100,000 visitors a day, is a political blog concerned with the War on Terror. BoingBoing describes itself as “a directory of wonderful things.”  Both have memorable names; neither has a meaningful one.

Branding Idea Generator

In order to come up with a few brand ideas to choose from, we’re going to perform a little brainstorming session.  It will involve picking words that relate to you and your content or your interests, and matching them with other words.  As an idea generator it will be worthwhile even if you have a name and image picked out.  After all, almost any idea can be improved, but if yours is already the best, this little exercise should prove that, too.

Repeat your theme here:

Blog Theme: My blog is known and respected as the best place on the internet to find: ____________ ___________________ _______________ _______________

Now, take a look at your key, content-related words and write them here:

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Write your personal nicknames (if applicable) or a couple words that describe you here:

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Write five words or the names of particular objects or subjects you enjoy writing, researching, or talking about here (they need not be related to your theme):

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Now, go online to dictionary.com and look each up in the thesaurus, picking out unique synonyms or words you like the sound of.  Write them on a separate sheet of paper (you should end up with at least 30 words).

For each of those words, write two words that are related, like “captain – ship, quarters” or “car – hot rod, spinning wheels.”  Try not to be too obvious.

That’s a lot of words, some of which will be related to your content, and some not.  Now, just play with them and combine them however you like, noting those combinations which sound powerful or – even better – interesting. Change a few words to interesting but similar words (e.g. “pillar” to “pillage”).  Write down a few phrases (even clichés) that the words appear in.  Just have fun with them!

Then grab a half dozen of your favorites and just let them stew in your mind.  By the time you’re through with this book, you’ll know which one you like best or whether you need to start the exercise over, and you may even have dreamed up matching artwork for a few of them.