I think we all realize the importance of branding products. For example, think Tide and you think immediately of a bright red and yellow spot. Or think MacDonalds and your mind goes to either golden arches or Ronald MacDonald, depending on your age.
I never thought I'd ever consider myself and branding in the same sentence. But I was putting in an order for some stuff, business cards, pens, a mug etc last week (and hopefully they will arrive soon - they notified me they had shipped) and I realized that one of the reasons why I don't change the look of my blog much - apart from the fact that I've no idea how to go about it - is I consider the banner my brand. There have been a few changes to the design that Mailyn did a few years ago, the wonderful and talented Ames did a three column design, I've played around a bit with the background colours and the sidebars. But basically, it's stayed the same for quite some time now and other than those kinds of changes, I think I'll keep what I have because for me now - it's part of my 'identity' in the romance blogging world. The business cards, the pens, the little fridge magnets I ordered all have it.
Now the mug and mouse pad that I ordered aren't my 'brand'
,that was me wanting to have RICHARD close - as if the specially designed calendar wasn't enough -there are some things
I don't do in half measures!
December is a bit gray, but July should be light and sunny!! And the calendar was free as well as the mouse pad and the mug was half price!!
But the free tote bag and greatly reduced pens and some of the other 
stuff have the Ramblings on Romance, etc, 'brand' on them.
Looking at other blogs, I'm not the only blogger who 'brands'.
As is Wendy - SuperLibrarian, who has a righteous post up now about the loss of her fantasy boyfriend, 
and the hosts of an awesome contest going, Dear Author.
All these bloggers who have been around for a while I think are 'branded' on their blogs.
Rosie is another blogger who also has an excellent 'brand'. As does Stacy. In fact there are quite a few!
Because I consider my header my 'brand', when I decided to have business cards made up a couple of years ago now, it was easy to design. Since I've started going to conferences and conventions and meeting other bloggers and authors and other industry people, I thought it would be ever so much easier to hand them out then it would be to try and find pen and paper and write out the stuff. And the 'brand' made it fun to have other stuff to go along with the cards.
So now, when I get a hankering to go for a major change in the blog look, I decide against it since I consider the header a part of who I am as a blogger. The same thing has happened with the avatar I use. I have it attached to everything I can think of to add it too, LibraryThing, GoodReads, Shelfari. My Twitter page is, if I may say so myself, gorgeous, with the avatar and matching colours.
I know there are quite a few bloggers who change their look - and I always notice and enjoy the change - but for me, I'm find with sticking with what is *g*. Especially after dropping a bit of a bundle at VistaPrint. It's amazing how all the free and half price stuff I recently purchased came in with a price *g*.
So here's a few questions. Do you consider your blog header your 'brand'? Do you think it's a good thing to stick with it or do you like change?
Do you have blog business cards? Do you consider them important? If you don't have any, have you considered getting some? Do you ever go for any of the other swag? I love the pens and like giving them out to roomies and other at the conferences etc.
and the hosts of an awesome contest going, Dear Author.All these bloggers who have been around for a while I think are 'branded' on their blogs.
Rosie is another blogger who also has an excellent 'brand'. As does Stacy. In fact there are quite a few!
Because I consider my header my 'brand', when I decided to have business cards made up a couple of years ago now, it was easy to design. Since I've started going to conferences and conventions and meeting other bloggers and authors and other industry people, I thought it would be ever so much easier to hand them out then it would be to try and find pen and paper and write out the stuff. And the 'brand' made it fun to have other stuff to go along with the cards.
So now, when I get a hankering to go for a major change in the blog look, I decide against it since I consider the header a part of who I am as a blogger. The same thing has happened with the avatar I use. I have it attached to everything I can think of to add it too, LibraryThing, GoodReads, Shelfari. My Twitter page is, if I may say so myself, gorgeous, with the avatar and matching colours.
I know there are quite a few bloggers who change their look - and I always notice and enjoy the change - but for me, I'm find with sticking with what is *g*. Especially after dropping a bit of a bundle at VistaPrint. It's amazing how all the free and half price stuff I recently purchased came in with a price *g*.
So here's a few questions. Do you consider your blog header your 'brand'? Do you think it's a good thing to stick with it or do you like change?
Do you have blog business cards? Do you consider them important? If you don't have any, have you considered getting some? Do you ever go for any of the other swag? I love the pens and like giving them out to roomies and other at the conferences etc.
