Either by intention or by default,  branding starts during the design and strategy stage of creating a  new blog. That’s when the blogger chooses the niche (subject matter and keywords)  and lays the foundation for what kind of a blog they intend to create,  selects a url, blog title and  blog tagline that reflect the intended “brand”.  Thereafter, branding begins to shift as a reader community develops and  grows.

Ultimately, the blogger and the reader community become co-creators of an ever evolving brand.

Flexibility

A blog’s brand is never set in stone unless the blogger is rigid and inflexible. The result of rigidity and inflexibility is a declining readership, rather than one that’s growing. The better blogger accommodates for changes in direction, increases and decreases in emphasis, and becomes more successful by observing and celebrating the fact that he or she and his or her readers are co-creators of an ever evolving brand.

How branding evolves on the blog

(1) The better blogger is continually aware of what the trending topics reflected in the most popular posts on his or her blog.  Conversely, he or she is likewise aware which posts do not receive many comments and show no evidence of growth in popularity. His or her observations lead to the creation of new posts on trending topics.

(2)  The better blogger is vigilant when it comes to discerning changes in direction(s) occurring in the discussion on their posts as presented in the  reader’s comments. Their observations lead to the creation of new posts reflecting directional changes based on reader interest.

(3) The better blogger is vigilant when it comes to taking note of meaningful comments  indicating a need to create new posts reflecting related  subject matter based on reader interest.

(4)  The better blogger is also vigilant when it comes to noting the search terms readers are typing into search engines that result in them visiting his or her blog.  Creating new posts reflecting frequently used search terms flow from such observations.

Beyond the blog

* Normally the definition of blog niche is limited to the intent to make money from marketing in specific subject area. In this post I use that same term to reflect a groups of blogs targeted at the same  subject matter eg. parenting, movies, food, dating, blogging tips, etc.

(1) The better blogger subscribes to the RSS feeds of the blogs of several leading bloggers in his or her own  niche as well as to  newsletters and ezines that  reveal trending topics. These may provide inspiration for creating new blog posts which may affect change in the better blogger’s blog’s brand.

(2) The better blogger  garners information and news  from networking  in social networks and in social media that may likewise provide inspiration for creating new posts, which may affect change in the better blogger’s blog’s brand.

(3) The better blogger is always aware of what what’s being said on the topics he or she blogs on found on similar sites, whether or not they are blogs of leading bloggers, or bloggers on their way up in search engine rankings.

Adjustments to make

Over time as a their blog’s brand evolves the better blogger updates his or her keywords in their blog description found on their About Page, and in their blog descriptions posted on Profile Pages at the the social networking and social media sites they are members of.

This blog began as a wordpress.com blogging tips and blogging tools blog. It expanded to include  free resources for wordpress.com bloggers.  It expanded again to include blogging tools reviews for bloggers on all blogging platforms. Then it expanded yet again to provide tips, tools, resources, and tutorials for bloggers on all blogging platforms, as well as, SEO advice. With each expansion the tagline and the blog description was updated to reflect the evolving brand.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to Pierre who has a cool blog with an evolving brand titled Warfare – The Delightful and Dreary Sides of Gay Life

References

The difference between marketing, PR, advertising and branding (pic)
Twitter Introduces New Personal Branding Tool: Lists

Related posts found in this blog:
How to form blog centered relationships
Encouraging blog readers to comment
Blogging: Learning SEO is worth the effort
Blog It! Writing Ideas Checklist