10 Blog Design Tips for Branding & Building Trust

Here's a review of important business blog design tips we shared on a call with The Master Business Building Club today.

(As a side note, The Master Business Building Club has some pretty amazing resources for anyone who wants to use the Internet to make money. One of our participants on the call had been up until 2 a.m. using the members'-only site to learn for her business! You can do this for a free 30-day trial membership yourself.)

Anyway, getting back to our blog design tips...

Here's a list of design elements that you should be using for branding on your blog:

1. Banner, title - be clear about what your blog is about
2. Tagline – further describes 1) who the blog is for, 2) what are benefits of reading the blog and 3) who is the blog author (name & expertise)
3. Topic definition & key articles-  can expand on about page or a separate page
4. Colors - coordinate with website & logo
5. Look and feel: simple, complex, artistic, business like?
6. Photos, graphic images of products, illustrate posts, connect personally
7. Get your own domain name and use domain mapping for branding your blog (see Build a Better Blog for free tutorial)

How do you build trust with your readers?

1. Photo – a professional photo is preferable to a snapshot outdoors with shadows and plants, or, if you're in a business like a sport-related one, you can use an appropriate setting
2. Bio or About Page -  Use the first person personal pronoun “I” and write in a conversational way, avoid using a formal 3rd person impersonal business bio
3. Testimonials - put a link to a separate page with testimonials in a side-bar or Typelist

Comments

[Adrianne Machina]

Ah, yes. Speaking in the "I" form. I just got a new client blogging, and I'm trying to beat it into their heads that cutting-and-pasting impersonal vendor marketing blah-blah-blah is NOT blogging.

Maybe they need your book!

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Thanks, Adrianne, for stopping by! And you won't believe how common these mistakes are...or maybe you do! You said it...blah-blah-blah is not blogging!!!

[Steve Von Hoene]

Please forgive the "green horn" entry here, but I just started my own blog ( http://lifeprep.typepad.com/lifeprep_for_teens/ ) and wanted to say "THANKS!!" for your help. I Googled "blog services, typepad, wordpress" and your post was most helpful. Now I just need to polish it up. Thanks again - you guys are the shiz!