Your brand is the face of your blog. You want this brand to be recognizable. Your brand includes colors, font styles, graphic themes and your logo. Taking time to streamline all of these things is a minimal investment with a big pay back. Your followers will recognize your material on social media and be drawn to it because they know it comes from you. Make it unique, but clean. In order to keep all of these details in line, I suggest you make a brand board. It’s as simple as taking on the details and putting them onto a blank white document so you have a visual of your brand.

Color Pallete

Be sure that you are using colors and fonts that your audience will like, not just that YOU like. For example, if you are starting a finance blog, a bright pink font might not be best, even if it is your favorite color. Your audience may be 50% male and 50% female, so pick according to it! You want to have 2-3 colors that are consistently used across your blog. You want to make sure that these colors are going to be easily seen and read in the way that you intend to use them. Simply stating “White, green and blue” are not enough. Once you begin creating graphics and really getting into customizing your blog, you will want to know that exact color code of the green, blue or red you want to use. For example, The Basics of Blogging blue is #74BFF2 and the Swaddles n’ Bottles pink is #FF99CC. There are dozens of small areas on my website that are customized with that exact color code.

Logo

One of the main focal points of your blog will be your logo at the top of the page. Your logo needs to incorporate your set color pallette.

You may have a few different variations of your logo for different uses. I have a copy of my logo with a transparent background so it is easy to place on top of my colorful Pinterest pins without a white box around it. I also have a Sub Mark logo (a mini logo) that I use on my social media accounts.

I use Canva to create just about every graphic on my sites, including my logos. If you don’t feel like your artistic side it strong enough to create your blogs logo, hire someone! Fiverr.com is an AMAZING website filled with talented graphic artists who will create a logo for you for $5! Their final product could be an inspiration for even more branding on your blog.

Tagline

Your websites tagline tells your visitors who your website is for. Your tagline needs to clearly have your niche stated in it. Make sure it is visible above the fold on your website. The best place for your tagline is directly under your blogs logo.

Side note: you will hear the term above the fold continuously. Above the fold means it is visible to a visitor of your web page without them scrolling on your page.

Typeface

You want to have a set font used for headline and body within your blog. While you are aiming to be unique in many other areas of your blog, that isn’t the best path to take when picking fonts. Some computers may be able to display a cute, curly font, most mobile devices are not able to, and mobile is where most of your traffic will come from these days. Pick something that is easy to read but not overly used (like Times New Roman).

Consider setting your standard font size a bit larger than you may think is the right size. 14 is the new 12. Some say 16 is the new 14. Again, the reason is mobile devices. The screens are smaller, meaning your font needs to be bigger.

Personality

That’s right, your blog needs a personality. Is your blog meant to entertain? Provide information? Will it be funny or invoke more serious emotions? What type of language will you use? How will you interact with your audience? The answer to all of these questions lies in your niche. What will they respond best to? How will your blog be perceived by them? Take some time to explore what writing style comes easiest to you and define your blog’s personality.

Set a Theme to Your Marketing Materials

 Take a look at the images below from ElnaCain.com. Do you notice anything about them?

Each of these groups of images has unmistakable similarities to the others and all include a few key features that you will need to outline before making a mass amount of marketing materials.

First of all, they are all branded with the blog name; a HUGE piece of the branding puzzle. Even if a user scrolling past sees this material on social media but doesn’t click on it, they see the name. That is brand recognition working! Next time they see something with your name on it, they will think “I keep seeing this website, I should check it out!”. I would suggest even putting it on individual pictures you use within in your website. You never know when someone might pin a great shot you added to a blog post!

You will notice that all of these graphics also have similar font styles and color schemes.  She uses the same font across all images with the same color scheme. She is even consistent with her text taking up the same amount of space in each photo.  I guarantee you Elna’s followers can spot one of her pins from a mile away! You want to be sure you have these details in all of your marketing materials.

I’m sure you’ve realized by now that one of the biggest places these graphics will be used is Pinterest.

Pinterest has the capability of taking your blog from 0 to 100,000 pageviews with the right strategy. My first blog is proof of this! I grew from 0 to 140,000 pageviews in just 60 days!

I’m sharing my strategy I used to do just that in 60 days. Check it out here.