You’ve got a business card, you’ve got a website, and now you want to start a blog for your business. I recommend to my web marketing clients that their blog follow the lead of their other marketing materials. A blog needs to resemble your business branding to make it recognizable as yours and maintain a professional appearance that builds awareness and confidence in your area of expertise.
Before blog visitors start reading, they make a connection with what they see. Start thinking about what people will see as you select your blog system, choose a template or work with a designer f a customized look. Of course color is important and cool graphics are a lot of fun, but these five basic images will ensure your visitors connect with your blog.
1. Logo – There’s no better way to make your business blog recognizable than to put your logo at the top of the blog. In blogging terms, the top of the blog is called the “header”, the ideal place to include your logo. Think about a newspaper; the top area, called the “masthead”, is where the paper’s name, logo and other information appeared. So, the blog’s header and a newspaper’s masthead accomplish the same branding.
2. Headshot – When you review template options, you’ll see they can look pretty sterile. Having a warm, personable photo of yourself or your business, heats up the blog quickly and makes it yours. If you’re selling a tangible product- then put up a photo of the product. People want to get to know you or see what you’re asking them to buy – a photo will move your business from a virtual reality to their reality.
3. RSS Icon – The orange striped square that denotes an RSS feed is the trail-marker that tells readers your site is a blog and they can subscribe to your feed. Bloggers want readers, but you will also want habitual readers who get your blog updates by subscribing. It’s an icon, meaning it’s universally recognized by the blogosphere as where to click to subscribe.
4. Networking lcons – You’ll want readers and subscribers to share your blog posts and share them on their social networking accounts like Facebook and Twitter, and other sharing accounts like Digg. Encouraging people to share means your blog posts will be seen by far more people. Don’t rely on text to link your audience to their networking accounts, but instead use recognizable icons that will be seen.
5. Post A Photo – Every time you add a photo to your blog post, you are heightening your connection with your readers. A photo that corresponds to the post draws in the visitor to actually read the post. On sharing websites like Facebook, compelling photos also draw in more readers. With a smart phone and stock photos available on line, you have great resources for photos to make your blog more attractive.
Since one picture is worth a thousand words, don’t miss the opportunity to visually capture your audience before they start reading by using these five crucial visuals.
