Brand Before you Blog

There are many peoplewho are creating blogs, without realising they need to brand before they blog, without really understanding the brand they wish to promote. The result is an unfocussed badly optimised blog that has a short life expectancy. If you base your blog on the "next big thing" this is wrong way to go about it. For a blog to be successful, it has to be built on what Jon Ward calls the brand triangle: passion, expertise and a support system.

The success triangle:

1. Passion

Without enough genuine enthusiasm, you won’t be committed to have a successful blog or career. Passion eliminates fear, obstacles and a short-term outlook for success. Since a blog cannot be built overnight, passion allows you to constantly generate content, while loving every minute of the process. You can tell, as a blog reader, who is passionate and who is in it to just make money.

2. Expertise

Most of you might not think your experts and that’s fine. You don’t want to call yourself an expert without a third party endorsement anyways or it comes off as superficial and self-proclaimed. Passion is the fuel that will make you invest the time to become an expert in your field. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours and the only way you’ll pull even a quarter of that time off is with the heart to do so. Expertise allows you fulfill customer of client needs, which in turn gives you a monetization system.

3. Support system

Blogs don’t just grow after writing a few entries. You have to be the chief marketing officerand get the word out. In order to do this, it’s all about networkingand that will never change. The larger your network, the more resourcesyou have to help funnel yourblog and grow your brand.Get feedback about your brand both directly and indirectly. Asidefrom asking your closest friends and colleagues about your strengths,interests and skills, there is a new way that you can measureperception. If you’re on Twitter, and I hope most of you reading thisare, you’ll notice a new option called “Twitter Lists.” After tweeting several times, you’ll be categorized on lists based on how yourepresent yourself – your brand – on Twitter. This includes your profile page and tweets. The way people categorize you in lists is areflection of the brand you’re presenting to the world. If you don’tlike you you’re categorized, then you need to do something about it.

Know your breand and you too will have a focussed successful blog. Don’t you want people to know who you are?

Paul Palmer