After glancing at the featured image for yesterday’s guest post I thought about me, my blog and my brand.
Being true to each means allowing my message to bleed through blog posts, guest posts and any content I create online.
Of course, some bloggers adhere to strict guidelines to preserve brand integrity. I guest blogged for a 2 million member community once; one needed to mimic the brand voice through posts to get submissions approved.
However, many bloggers allow for leeway in terms of guest blogging. Knowing how Joy runs the blogging show here I felt confident to pick one of my travel photos for the featured image above.
Being true to your blogging brand lets readers see you. Being true also allows readers to clearly understand your brand message. Any divergence from a brand message creates chaos, confusion and a general misunderstanding among your audience. Imagine me publishing hometown pictures on my Blogging From Paradise blog based on a life of travel, daily, for years. Readers follow my blog to get smart blogging tips and pictures from travel locations I have visited. Folks do not visit my blog to see pictures of my home town in the USA, even though the town is eclectic, funky and quite charming.
My brand message is travel. Being true to travel lets my blog brand to expand. Not being true to the blog brand causes contraction because divergence promotes confusion. Confusion creates misunderstanding. Folks who do not understand your blog message leave in droves, reducing your blog traffic.
At the end of the day, either you blog on brand or off brand. I encourage bloggers to journey within their mind to empower themselves and to free themselves from worldly shackles mired in fear. Imagine if I published 5 consecutive posts railing against government, politicians and major media? Ranting from a victim mentality goes completely against my core blog brand message of going within to free and empower yourself. As I dramatically deviate from being true to my brand, readers who enjoyed my empowered brand would stop reading my blog because they followed me to be victors, not to be victims.
Observe personal development bloggers who blog on brand to speak messages of personal responsibility, empowerment and freedom, then making a wicked turn to publish blog posts and social media updates complaining about politicians, governments and major media. After 2, 5 then 10 social media updates and perhaps 1-2 blog posts, a decent chunk of their readership completely stops following their blog. One empowerment coach who became involved in politics even began pandering to potential voters through the tried and true victim mentality. I stopped following her immediately and began following another coach in that niche who completely walks his empowerment talk and always stays on brand, being true to mindset mastery and never blaming or victimizing anyone.
I understand the odd rant here and there or perhaps the rare off topic post but when rare becomes consistent, moving off brand by being untrue to your message turns off readers who previously loved your blog.
Remain true to your blogging brand. Act in terms of alignment. Be helpful but consistent with your brand message. Staying on brand grows your readership because an increasing number of like-minded readers will find your blog. Speaking a singular message allows readers to become familiar with what you do and how you can help these individuals.
Be true to your blogging brand by weeding out elements not true to your blogging brand. Observe your blog. What needs to go? Release deviation to reveal consistency. This is the starting point in creating a powerhouse blogging brand.