Create your Identity – Niche Brand Style
Today we will look at getting to know your Niche, Brand, Style and your Name.
“Why did your coffee go to the Police? It had been mugged!
Did you smile, or just go aw… Blogging is all about doing what you love, so smile because your are about to learn a big step to Starting a Blog website. It does take some effort, but when you are up and running the stories will flow freely to you.
To get through this start process, we need a good foundation. Know what you want to Blog about. The first step is called your Niche. Get it wrong and you could lose focus, which will cause you to lose joy and then… Well we won’t finish that sentence, lets plan to succeed.
Moving forwards at this crucial stage with a solid understanding of your Niche, your Brand, your Style and choosing the right name will certainly prepare your foundation well. A wise man once said, “He who build his house with foundations into the rock, no one will shake or remove it, it was well built.”
You too, need a good solid foundation and that is by determining the best Look and Layout for you. I struggled for a time as I had a few areas that I love, but to succeed, I had to just focus on one. For me I chose to focus on Graphic Design through Art and Photography.
As I know a lot about computers and blogging, I created this series, primarily to start my own blog website the right way. And it was only logical to share these ideas with you and others. Anyway let’s focus on the Niche.
Your NICHE
Having a Niche will help to grow your blog to reach more people who are interested in the same things as you. And if you followed these steps to identify your Niche previously. Then most of this is just reviewing what you did with your brainstorming session. Although, if you missed that step you can download the Blog Planning Worksheet to get you back on track. It’s free.
Basically you should have found your ideal topic and categories. You should also have a reasonable idea on the type of readers that will visit your blog. In summary:
Step 1: Find your Ideal Topic
What are you passionate about? Well, write down a list of the topics that interest you. It could be something that you think you could continue to write stories about. Do not be too specific. E.g. Gardening, Cooking, Health, etc
Step 2: Narrow down the Focus of your topics
From the above list above, pick a category that most interests you. Even a few categories are okay. E.g. If your Topic was cooking then some categories could be: French, Easy Meals, Recipes, Food Photography, etc.
Step 3: Identify your readers
Your Ideal readers are those who will read your blog and fall in love with it and connect with you. Additionally, they would usually become a loyal reader to you and keep coming back. So, describe your ideal reader below. E.g. Age group, gender, occupation, follower, etc. And for Cooking – Easy Meals, could mean they are busy people, Business/Professionals with a family to feed after work.
Step 4: Combine to identify the best Niche for you
Topic > Focus > Ideal Reader => Niche! Combine your Focused Topics and your ideal Reader profile into one sentence and you will see that is what exactly your blog should be about! Just make sure you feel happy about the result. If not start at Step 1 again until you like what you see. E.g. I Blog about Quick and Easy Meal preparation for the Busy Worker who wants to eat well but with little time to prepare.
Now you need a Name for your Blog?
- Make it easy to remember – Make sure that your blog Name is easy to type or say to someone. Long blog names will make your blog forgetful. Instead, a simple name says a lot about you to your readers.
- Think about your topics – As discussed above in determining your niche, you should think about the topics you want to write about on your website, who is your target audience, and write down descriptive words that are related to what you want to write about. Brainstorming this way can help you to come up with lots of naming ideas.
- Use Thesaurus.com to find similar words. Sometimes, your first choice for a blog name may not be available. Maybe you want to see if other words catch your attention better.
- Make it catchy. You may want to think of something funny, use alliteration, or something else to make your blog name catchy and memorable. Cre8sfun.com is the correct pronunciation but is unique to the area I write about.
- Use your name. If you don’t want a unique simple name or you just cannot think of one then you can use your own Name. It is easier that way, and more and more people are starting to do this. A bonus is that if you turn this into business; Your personal name is already registered for tax purposes.
Next Steps…
Now that we know your topic(s), and have a Name for your website, it is time to get things started. Next we will get this blog off the ground and running.
In the meantime, one thing you might like to start considering at this time is your Brand. You have worked out your Niche, a Brand can make you stand out and be remembered from the crowd along with great Style. To do that, consistency is the key. If you present yourself with the same style across all your blogs and social media, readers who are interested in your work will quickly identify you on the web or Pinterest or wherever.
I have prepared a FREE Blog Styling package to help you create a unique and memorable brand for yourself. It starts with a few questions and then you convert your answers into a brand that you can use over and over in your website. Branding is your choice and not required to start, you can apply a brand at a later time.
There is also a website called Fiverr that can design anything for your, your Logo for your business or a an advertising campaign or your entire Website including the Brand. Watch this short Funny video for more details.https://www.youtube.com/embed/tEsQnmdhZrw
NOTE: If you just want to start your blog right now, you can skip the process and go straight to my Creating your Blog Website Start-Up Tutorial and be up and running in about 15 minutes than 15 minutes!
Kind Regards
James FG