Standing out from the competition is very important when it comes to attracting visitors to your site and being successful on the internet. In a sea of endless blogs and company websites, you really need to take the time distinguish yourself from everyone else or you'll end up being just another face in a crowded place. So how do you make your site stand out from the rest? In one word: branding.
Having worked for a few small businesses as a web developer in the past and more recently in large corporate environments in different roles, I can tell you first hand the the importance and power of branding go hand in hand. This has become even more evident to me since I started this blog. The importance of branding has exploded in recent years both on the internet and in the workplace. Your brand is what defines you to the rest of the world! Your audience needs to clearly know what you are about, which is what branding is all about. Here are five steps anyone looking to build their brand can take based upon my own experiences and research (all of which I have used myself on this site and other projects):
1. Pick a style and purpose for your site or company, and then stick with it! Don't take the middle road. You need to pick a topic (something... anything!) and really run with it.
2. Create a unique image (logo) to associate with your brand. When you think of sites like Google, YouTube, TechCrunch, or any other popular site, the logo is probably the first thing to come to mind. Invest the time and detail needed into your logo to make it something people will remember. I'll go into more details on this one next week, but for now just know this one is VERY IMPORTANT.
3. Design your site to match the content you write. Your site should have a a cohesive feel to it. The colors and layout should match the content subject you are writing about. Look at any number of popular blogs for examples.
4. Advertise! You can use social media sites to advertise for free to start. You also might want to setup google analytics and look at where your traffic (no matter how small) is coming from. Then invest some money in a small ad campaign on one of those sites to see if you can further boost your traffic.
5. Spread your brand everywhere. Use your site to make your brand known to the public. The more people are exposed to your brand, the more they will remember it. Be active on other blogs and use those social media outlets to boost exposure of your brand.
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