Every great chef and foodie has a special ingredient or secret sauce they hold close to the cuff, which makes their dishes irreplaceable. When it comes to branding everything else online is so watered down and sometimes its hard to know where to start. Take a look at the following 7 unique ingredients for branding a blog!
1. VOICE - When it comes to branding a blog that is your voice. No two people use the same verbiage, speak in the same tone, or come with the same approach. Your voice is the most unique factor in your brand identity recipe, so take great care to perfect this secret sauce. Don’t underestimate the power of your voice. Without it your recipe will very likely end up looking and tasting like everything else out there. It’s this ingredient, your voice, that should ultimately dictate the subsequent ingredients in your recipe. It’s truly the secret to your success. Work to find your voice and then build your recipe around that.
2. HEADER - The next essential ingredient for branding a blog is your header. This is really the meat of your recipe. A header is the first thing a visitor sees when landing on your blog, so just like a bad piece of meat can ruin a dish, a poorly constructed header can squander a first impression.
YOUR HEADER SHOULD INCLUDE:
A well designed logo that includes the name of your brand
A tagline that tells a visitor what your brand is about, who it helps and how it will help them. Your header is a qualifier for visitors. It should tell them enough that they can make a quick determination if they want to learn more or leave. Open or white space is needed to have a clear introduction. Limit the ingredients in your header to a logo and tagline that are legible and easily readable in milliseconds.
3. FONTS - Fonts are to a blog is what vegetables are to your daily nutrition. You need to find the ones you like best and use them regularly to see results. Without defining specific fonts for the different elements on your blog your brand identity recipe will be lacking the hearty structure it needs to grow. Using fonts consistently will make your content easy to scan and read. It will also build brand recognition through familiarity in your typography.
THERE ARE 3 FONTS YOU NEED TO DEFINE WHEN BRANDING A BLOG:
A headline font
A secondary headline font or accent font
A body font
4. COLOR PALETTE - Spices dazzle our senses by bringing out the taste and aromas that make the flavor experience come alive. Colors do the same thing for a blog. The unique color combination you choose will help you visual delight visitors and make your brand identity recipe your own.
THERE ARE 5-6 COLORS YOU NEED TO DEFINE WHEN BRANDING A BLOG:
ONE Dominant color (Primary color associated with your brand)
ONE Primary Action Color (for calls to action, links and buttons)
ONE Light Color (for fonts and backgrounds)
ONE Dark Color (for fonts and backgrounds)
ONE to TWO Accent Colors (to use in your images and on your website to interrupt your basic color scheme when you want to accentuate or highlight something special)
Once you define your branding color palette you want to consistently pepper your blog with each color in the elements the color was defined for. Consistency is the key to spicing up your brand identity with color, so keep your recipe potent by always using your brand color palette, no exceptions.
5. DECORATIVE ELEMENTS - When done right, herbs are an organic way to beautify the presentation of a dish, without disturbing the finished product. Defining decorative elements for your brand identity recipe can result in the same type of finishing touch for your blog.
DECORATIVE ELEMENTS THAT ARE COMMONLY USED WHEN BRANDING A BLOG ARE:
Background Patterns
Lines/Separators
Frames
Bulletpoints
Banners
Icons
Decorative elements are meant to seamlessly add to your overall brand identity recipe. If something detracts, from your existing recipe in any way, it should be left out. Like a garnish to a dish, use decorative elements in a way that if left out they would not affect how mouth watering your recipe is.
6. IMAGES - Used the right way and in the right ratio carbs give you energy. Images, done right, have the same result when branding a blog. It’s not images in their rawest form that creates energy. It’s only when your visual content is presented in a way that seamlessly complements the rest of your brand identity recipe that the magic really happens.
THERE ARE 4 ELEMENTS YOU NEED TO LEVERAGE WHEN CREATING IMAGES FOR YOUR BLOG:
A template for consistency
Branding stock photography to match your signature style
Making sure images are share worthy
Watermarking for brand recognition
If you make sure your images have been infused with these 4 guidelines you can count on them adding energy and visual delight to the unique brand identity recipe you’re whipping up on your blog.
7. SOCIAL BUTTONS - After you whip up your delectable blog branding recipe you’re going to need some flatware and utensils to serve it up. That’s where social buttons come in. There are two type of social buttons you need to brand for your blog.
SOCIAL PROFILE BUTTONS
These are buttons that are linked to your specific social profiles, which helps visitors find you on their platforms of choice. There are 2 ways you can brand your social profile buttons:
With your branding color palette
With a branded pattern
SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS
These are the buttons visitors can use to share your content on social media. The only way to create branded social sharing buttons without an ounce of coding is to use the Social Warfare WordPress plugin {affiliate link}. One of the coolest features {and there’s a lot of them} of this plugin is the ability to change the color of the buttons. Meaning, you can tweak the color of the buttons to the action color in your branding color palette.