More about Branding and How I can help you

I've already explained what branding is, now let's discuss the different ways Simply Amusing Designs can help you brand your blog, shall we?

The first step is to define WHAT it is that stands out about you and describes your blog the best. This is where a logo of some sort helps. For instance, on my personal blog, I drew a blue bird that represents both my outlook and writing style as well as helping to bring a unique look that screams "me" - and I even carried it over to this design blog because it already had "recognition" value. When someone sees that blue bird, my goal is that they think of "Karen from Simply A Musing Blog". Several terrific examples of "branding" on other blogs that you are probably already familiar with are found on my friend Megan's blog "Fried Okra" (How can you see a piece of okra and not think of her?) and Melanie's product review blog "Chili Tried" (hello? her nickname is Chili and everytime I see the groucho glasses in the Dollar Tree, I think of her). THAT is branding at its best. Recognition.

So how are we going to get you there, now that you've got your own blog? In addition to a quality blog design, there are several ways you can do it:

Blog business cards are one of the easiest ways to promote your blog because you can include them in all of your mailings (cards, giveaways, etc) and hand them out to your friends and family. You can include up to 5 lines of information on your blogger card (even combine it with a mom card and include your children's names) and I will custom design it to match your existing template or one of your choice...all for only $20! The best part of the whole process (if you ask me) is that I send the .jpg image to you so that you have control over how many you want to print, how often and whether you want to do it yourself or have it professionally done.

Blog Buttons are another great way to brand and promote your blog. You can use your blog button in your email messages, (and link it where else but directly to your blog!?) on message boards, and to swap links with other bloggers for cross promoting. For an investment of only $5, you can advertise anywhere you like with a button. What are you waiting for?!

Blog Banners can be created to advertise your blog on other websites and webrings such as Blog Explosion. They are generally made to look like ads and are linked back to your blog. The key to an effective Blog Banner is capturing the attention of the reader so they want to actually click on that banner to see your blog - so a fun tagline that describes what you're all about is always a great way to accomplish that.

Finally, I'd like to introduce another way you can promote your blog. Through a Cafe Press store -- you can see mine here. One important note about that - although Cafe Press is free, you may not sell copyrighted images in your store without an extended license. So that is something you need to consider before embarking on that project. On the other hand, it can be really fun to give out coffee mugs, t-shirts and such as giveaways on your blog based the design I create for you. If this is something that interests you, email me for a quote on getting you set up with that.

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