Do you know how many blogs there are on the internet?

While the exact number is hard to determine, most stats point to about 500 million. That’s an insane number of blogging sites!

With that number firmly lodged in your mind, you need to ask yourself, “How can I succeed when it’s such a crowded space?”

The answer to that, my friend, lies in the power of branding.

Branding has a few different meanings depending on who you ask and in what context. In the world of blogging, think of branding as giving your blog its own personality.

Doing so helps differentiate your blog from the other half a billion other blogs out there.

You’ll also help to increase your online recognition and authority – vital to your continued blogging success.

If you want to level up your blog and stand out from the crowd, check out these five actionable tips below.  

#1 Create a logo

Think of your logo as your blog’s face. It’s unique to you, and just like meeting new people, you want to look your best when meeting face to face.

Usually, it sits at the top of the page. But don’t forget, it’s also used elsewhere as well to help people identify your site.

When people visit your blog for the first time, you want to make a great impression on them. A poorly designed or ugly logo will reflect badly on your blog. If you want to appear professional and trustworthy, you need a great-looking logo.

Can you design the logo yourself? Unless you have years of experience as a graphic designer, it’s best to leave it to the professionals or use a dedicated service, and there are lots of options you can choose from:

Hire a logo designer – you can hire a designer on freelance platforms like fiverr.com or look for an agency to help you create a logo

Start a logo competition – logo design competitions let you submit your design brief to multiple designers simultaneously. At the end of the competition, you can view all their submissions and choose your favorite

Design with a logo maker – logo makers are online logo design platforms many use AI to create logos based on your input. Of all logo design options logo makers are the cheapest option.

#2 Develop your brand image

Ever heard pop stars talk about their brand image?

The music industry is super crowded. Bands and singers who want to get noticed and set themselves apart create a unique look that makes them stand out.

But they also tailor that look so that it appeals to their target audience. Compare Taylor Swift to Metallica. They’re both hugely successful artists. But their branding is at complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

You can apply the same branding principles to your blog through:

• The tone of voice – you may not realize it, but your blog has its own tone of voice. It’s just a reflection of how you write naturally, but it’s unique to you. Pay attention to the kind of tone your blog has. Is it professional, or is it laid back? Use a tone of voice that your audience responds to, and make sure you stick to it.
• Color palette – Don’t use too many colors on our blog site. Instead, create your own brand color palette using 2-3 colors. Make sure it matches your tone of voice and is liked by your audience.
• Font–style – People are reading your blog posts. Have you ever thought about the typography you’re using? Pick a font that matches your voice. Professional news websites use serif fonts like Times New Roman, whereas more casual blogs use sans-serif fonts like Calibri.
• Imagery – If you’re not using images, you will not get the most out of your blog. Images help draw people in and keep them engaged. To help solidify your visual identity, stick to one type of image, whether it’s for your blog posts, your home page, even social media posts.

#3 Be consistent with relevant content

People are creatures of habit. Please don’t make them guess when your latest post will be.

If they like to visit your blog post on Wednesday morning because they’re expecting a new post, don’t let them down! Create a blogging schedule and stick to it.

You also need to create relevant content. In other words, content that your audience wants to read and find interesting. If you already know who your audience is, this isn’t a problem.

But if you’re still trying to uncover who exactly is reading your blog, try using some of these methods:

• Google Analytics – By connecting your website to Google Analytics, you can find out demographic information about your audience. Where they’re from, their age group, gender, and more. You can also see how people are arriving at your posts. Are they coming from social media? Search engines? Other blogs that are linking to you?
• Use Comments – Allow readers to leave comments with their thoughts and own opinions. It’s a great way to find out more about your readers and increase your engagement levels.
• Content Discovery Platforms – Content research platforms like Answer The Public you input topics, such as ‘woodworking’ to discover subtopics you can talk about in your blog posts

#4 Build your social presence

Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly users. So does YouTube. Instagram has over 1 billion, and TikTok is catching up with close to 700 million monthly users.

The point I’m trying to make is that you can gain lots of new audience members by growing your social media presence.

Growing your own community takes time, and it can be pretty tiring. Many social media users expect high levels of engagement. Like constant new posts and increased engagement with the community.

Using social media tools to set up automatic posting and alerts can do wonders for your efforts.

Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to use every social media platform there is. Stick to the ones your audience is using. LinkedIn, for example, is excellent for B2B businesses, whereas Facebook is much more social orientated.

#5 Leverage email marketing

Another channel you can use to level up your branding is email marketing. This doesn’t mean you need to bombard people with sales emails trying to sell them stuff. In fact, that type of email marketing is a sure way to get people to unsubscribe and blacklist you.

Instead, leverage your email marketing to help build your brand by engaging with people. Use it to keep them up to date with your blogging activities, ask for feedback, and send email-only tips and advice not available on your blog site.

Just like your actual blogs, make sure your emails are relevant and sent consistently.

If you have your logo and color pallet set up, incorporate them into your email design to help your branding even more.  

Summary

Turning your average blog into a brand loved by its audience won’t happen overnight. But with the actionable items on this page, you can start the transformation today. Keep working hard, posting consistent and relevant content, learning everything you can about your audience, and developing your blog into a killer brand that stands out from the 500 million over blogging sites!

The University of California (UC) schools are amongst the best public university systems in the country. Several of their elite colleges have the prestige and diversity to rival even the top private universities. Part of the admission process includes writing 4 essays based on 8 prompts called personal insight questions (PIQ), and each response cannot exceed 350 words. If you want to really impress the admissions officers, make sure you avoid these common mistakes when writing your PIQs.

Don’t Use Generalities

When answering the PIQs, it’s important to make them personal. Don’t speak in generalities, as they want to get to know who you are as a person and your skills, accomplishments, and potential to succeed. Make sure to use statements with “I” and “my” while writing. This will help focus your answers on your own experiences and express to the colleges why they should accept you as a student.

Avoid Repetition

Since you’ll be answering 4 PIQs, you need to make sure that the information you provide in each of them is unique. Choose prompts that will allow you to do this, as you don’t want to keep saying the same things about yourself. For example, the PIQs 2021 choices include questions about your greatest talent and your creative endeavors. If you write about how painting is your greatest talent, don’t choose another question where you talk about your experiences as a painter.

Stay Away from Philosophical Contemplation

Having to reflect upon your character and personality, as well as considering your future can lead you to contemplate these things in philosophical terms. However, try not to do this, since they are looking for facts in order to judge your capabilities as a person, rather than your inner thoughts and feelings. Make sure you get to the point of what you’re trying to say in each answer since you have a very limited amount of space to do so.

Don’t Complain About your Hardships

It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing too much about all the difficulties you’ve overcome in your life. You can include these things but focus more on how you’ve grown as a person instead of elaborating on how tough it has been for you. The purpose of college is to learn and build your foundation for the future, so dwelling too much on the hardships of your past can make you seem like someone who would rather complain about a problem than solve them and move forward.

Using Humor is a Bad Idea

Trying to inject some humor into your writing is often a way to express your personality, but it’s best not to do that with the PIQs. Since the questions ask about things like your talents, leadership skills, or community activism, they expect a serious answer. These aren’t the place for funny comments or silly anecdotes. Keep your essays on point and avoid inappropriate uses of humor.

Avoid Creative Writing

There’s no reason to write a poem or speculative tale for the PIQs. You can speak about your talents as a creative writer, but don’t give them any examples of your work. These should be fact-based answers, so anything that doesn’t directly support the message you’re trying to get across doesn’t belong there. You’re not telling a story, you’re informing the admissions offers about why they should choose you for their school.

Never Use Quotations

Since the purpose of the PIQs is to hear about you in your own words, they don’t want to hear anything from another person. Stay away from adding quotations as a way to support your answers. They will take up space that would be better served writing something from your own point of view. If you feel like you absolutely need the schools to be aware of something someone else has said regarding you or your activities, save it for the Common Application and/or Supplemental Essays.

Don’t Pick a Prompt Because it’s Easy

It can be tempting to choose a PIQ that sounds easy to answer, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you go that route. They are looking for information that best describes who you are as a person and what you can do, so it’s a better idea to pick a prompt that will allow you to display your best qualities.

Applying for college and completing all the necessary steps to get in is a lengthy and difficult process. Your future could be riding on whether you get accepted or not. When you’re writing your PIQs to get into a UC school, remember these tips on what mistakes you need to avoid to have the best essays possible.

Interviews are famously unpleasant. When examining what occasions people feel the most anxiety about beforehand, interviews of any kind usually rank pretty high. It doesn’t take a lot of research to figure out why this is; interviews are a singular event that have a lot of pressure surrounding them, it always feels like you have to get them 100% right in one go. While little can be done, outside of thorough practice and research, to prepare yourself any more for an interview than you have already, there are things you can do to quell your nerves beforehand.

Attitude is important; this is true in a great many aspects of life. Unsurprisingly it applies here as well, as having a positive and relaxed attitude when entering an interview will be noticeable to your interviewers and will thus reflect positively on you. Therefore, it makes sense that you would be on the lookout for anything you can to put this change into motion. Thankfully, there are several techniques you can adopt, so you have plenty of options in how you approach this.

Take Your Mind Off of Things

The stress leading up to a big event such as an interview is sometimes exactly what it appears to be and little more – short-term stress. In this case, you might just want something to distract you while you wait, something to stave off the nerves. Old solutions sometimes work the best, and luckily you live in an age where your smartphone is often right by your side. Social media feeds work well here, as do games if you’re looking for a distraction. Outlets such as Spin Casino offer online slots Canada-based, as well as other games that you might find to your liking.

Start by Practicing Some Breathing Techniques

Breathing techniques are a well-known method of reducing stress and inducing long-term relaxation, especially if practiced regularly and integrated into your routine. It doesn’t take much to start either; there are several places online you can look to learn more about breathing techniques, including how you can fit them into any situation and how they benefit you. While you can start doing these regularly to lower your general stress, their ease of use and access means that you’ll be able to utilize breathing techniques in any situation – including while waiting for your interview to begin.

If stress is something you’re struggling with in the long-term and you’re finding that the long-term benefits of breathing techniques sound rather appealing, you might be looking for other solutions of a similar nature. If this is the case, yoga could be something that you’d be interested in taking up. Not only does including this in your daily or weekly routine give you regular exercise, but it’s also something that’s been found to increase your overall sense of calm and relaxation. Combating general anxiety puts you in a good position for whenever you begin to approach stressful situations throughout your life.

The distraction you choose should be based on whatever helps you relax and get into the best mentality possible before the interview.