DISCLAIMER: There are some portions of this chapter that contains excerpt from my other book, How To Make A YouTube Channel. So if you happen to read that book prior to this one, that’s why some paragraphs may sound alike because of trying to explain the same topics without the inconvenience of referring you or sending you to another book. It seems more convenient for the reader if I just insert such information in this book directly. If you are serious about your blog and where it’s going in the near future and you have long term goals for your blog, then you might need to consider properly branding your blog right from the start. Niche Specific Blog Naming Convention. When naming your blog, I highly suggest that you think of a name that will suits well basing on the type of contents or articles that you will write and publish on your blog. For example, if you are planning to publish all about crafting, then you might want to think of a name that by just reading the brand name itself, people will be able to kind of tell that you have a crafting blog. One benefit of doing this is that it will help some potential readers and blog visitors, when they read your brand name (as indicated in your domain name), be enticed to click on your URL link to check out your blog entries just because they are aware of themselves being interested in crafting and they figured your blog niche basing on your brand name / domain name. One thing can lead to another. A potential blog reader reading your branding somewhere, got interested and ended up in your blog because of it, and later becomes a loyal follower. Your Name As The Brand Name. Some bloggers resort to just using their real names as the name of their blogs. Many bloggers do attain success with their blogs using their real names as the brand, and them as the face of the brand. But if you are not a famous person at the start, using your name may not be so recognizable to majority of the people so it will be harder in the beginning to try to make people aware what your blog is all about, and what type of content you have in your blog. Although, overtime as you get more exposure and gain more readers then there will be people that will be able to recognize your name in relation to your blog. There are definitely great advantages of using your name as a brand name, especially when you also use it as a domain name for your blog or website. One obvious advantage is self branding. Every time you market your brand, you are marketing yourself. The more you market and expose your brand, the more your name become known and familiar to many. With great exposure of your name as a brand, more and more people will likely become familiar with you, and if you have history of great quality blog posts, products and/or services, then chances are, people who are familiar with your name/brand will likely try and utilize your new products and services as well. But not everyone who has a blog has this goal of being recognize by their name. Some bloggers prefer to use niche specific naming convention (as discussed earlier in this chapter) and remain anonymous when it comes to their personal identity.
As noted earlier, if you decide to use your name as your brand, then people will not be able to tell right away what your channel is all about. Whereas if you decide on a brand name using the niche specific naming convention method, some people will be able to make that instant decision after reading your branding if they are interested in your blog topic or not. Disadvantage of Using Your Name As The Brand. As your blog grows and develops, it may someday turn into a real business. A business with your real name attached to it. The only main pitfall of using your name as a brand is that it will be harder for you to sell your business (if you decide to do so in the future) since you are currently carrying the same name personally. If someone buys your business, then you are most likely obligated to give them the right to use your name as well, if you are selling your business with its current name. There’s a possibility that the business buyer will consider rebranding but the likelihood of them doing so might be slim because they will have to start from scratch promoting a new brand. Most businesses are well aware that building a brand takes time and advertising money in order for people to recognize the name and the overall branding. With that said, the business buyer will most likely keep the existing brand name, which in this case is your real name, since it is already an established brand at that point in time and existing customers already built that trust associated with the brand name. In case of the business buyer rebranding and decided not to keep your name, such changes could potentially detach the trust and connection that were already established with the old brand because of unfamiliarity not only in the new branding but the new owners and management. When someone buys your business, you normally will have less or no longer have any control to the operation and reputation of the company, and what the company will become. And that would be hard losing control of when your real name is still attach to it. Therefore, before you fully commit to the idea of using your real name as the brand, this selling-the-business issue is definitely something to think about if ever you have future plans to sell your blog or business. Because if you do plan to sell, then it would probably be better if you don’t have to sell it with your real name as the business name or brand. These branding decisions are entirely up to you. You have to make these type of decision depending on your vision, goals and plans for your blog. Besides, this topic may be way far off the main topic of this book which is how to create a blog, but I think it’s worth thinking about in advance because although it is hard to predict the future of your blog, success is apparent if you put a lot of time, effort, hard work into producing quality blog contents and maintain consistency in your blog postings. If you have to think about the future of your blog now, might as well look at the bright side of things. On the other hand, if you think that selling your blog or business is not an option that you would ever consider, then there is hardly a reason to worry about using your name as the
brand for your blog. Utilizing Your Brand In Other Online Platforms. When it comes to other online venues, it will be best if you stay consistent with your branding including all social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, etc so that people will be able to recognize you easily as one and the same individual or entity, and your followers don’t have to second guess if it’s you or not. Across multiple online platforms, there are viewers that tend to assume that since it’s the same brand name, they will assume that they are owned or operated by the same person or entity, and if that is not the case with your website or blog and your social media profiles then this could possibly create confusion, which ones are yours and which ones are not. Protected Words. A word of caution though, when thinking of a name or brand for your blog, you have to take into consideration that there are protected words, proprietary words and trademarks therefore you cannot use these words as part of your brand name. For example, you cannot put the word Google in your blog name as part your branding, for instance YourChosenBlogNameGoogle, because the term Google is a protected brand name. So you have to be mindful of these stuff while brainstorming for a name for your
As noted earlier, if you decide to use your name as your brand, then people will not be able to tell right away what your channel is all about. Whereas if you decide on a brand name using the niche specific naming convention method, some people will be able to make that instant decision after reading your branding if they are interested in your blog topic or not. Disadvantage of Using Your Name As The Brand. As your blog grows and develops, it may someday turn into a real business. A business with your real name attached to it. The only main pitfall of using your name as a brand is that it will be harder for you to sell your business (if you decide to do so in the future) since you are currently carrying the same name personally. If someone buys your business, then you are most likely obligated to give them the right to use your name as well, if you are selling your business with its current name. There’s a possibility that the business buyer will consider rebranding but the likelihood of them doing so might be slim because they will have to start from scratch promoting a new brand. Most businesses are well aware that building a brand takes time and advertising money in order for people to recognize the name and the overall branding. With that said, the business buyer will most likely keep the existing brand name, which in this case is your real name, since it is already an established brand at that point in time and existing customers already built that trust associated with the brand name. In case of the business buyer rebranding and decided not to keep your name, such changes could potentially detach the trust and connection that were already established with the old brand because of unfamiliarity not only in the new branding but the new owners and management. When someone buys your business, you normally will have less or no longer have any control to the operation and reputation of the company, and what the company will become. And that would be hard losing control of when your real name is still attach to it. Therefore, before you fully commit to the idea of using your real name as the brand, this selling-the-business issue is definitely something to think about if ever you have future plans to sell your blog or business. Because if you do plan to sell, then it would probably be better if you don’t have to sell it with your real name as the business name or brand. These branding decisions are entirely up to you. You have to make these type of decision depending on your vision, goals and plans for your blog. Besides, this topic may be way far off the main topic of this book which is how to create a blog, but I think it’s worth thinking about in advance because although it is hard to predict the future of your blog, success is apparent if you put a lot of time, effort, hard work into producing quality blog contents and maintain consistency in your blog postings. If you have to think about the future of your blog now, might as well look at the bright side of things. On the other hand, if you think that selling your blog or business is not an option that you would ever consider, then there is hardly a reason to worry about using your name as the
brand for your blog. Utilizing Your Brand In Other Online Platforms. When it comes to other online venues, it will be best if you stay consistent with your branding including all social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, etc so that people will be able to recognize you easily as one and the same individual or entity, and your followers don’t have to second guess if it’s you or not. Across multiple online platforms, there are viewers that tend to assume that since it’s the same brand name, they will assume that they are owned or operated by the same person or entity, and if that is not the case with your website or blog and your social media profiles then this could possibly create confusion, which ones are yours and which ones are not. Protected Words. A word of caution though, when thinking of a name or brand for your blog, you have to take into consideration that there are protected words, proprietary words and trademarks therefore you cannot use these words as part of your brand name. For example, you cannot put the word Google in your blog name as part your branding, for instance YourChosenBlogNameGoogle, because the term Google is a protected brand name. So you have to be mindful of these stuff while brainstorming for a name for your
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