DMBMMLF: Week 2 – Personality
Yesterday we took a gander at your blog’s Look & Feel. It was a lot to digest, I know so I’m going to make Day 2 of Does My Blog Make Me Look Fat a little easier on you (but not much!).:
Today we’re going to work on getting your personality on your blog. This is also known as “Branding.”
In this world if you’re a solopreneur or tiny biz, you need your business to stand out.
What if your core business is not so unique?
How do you differentiate yourself?
With your blog you have several opportunities to do so by infusing it with your personality.
Logo. Make sure your name is in lights.
Most WordPress themes have decent type-based headers so don’t fret too much about having a custom designed logo.
If you simply must have a logo, there are inexpensive logo designers out there or you can fire up the GIMP (or Photoshop) if you’re brave and make one yourself.
I highly recommend you stick with a text-based logo or logotype as the fancy-shmancy designery types say.
But what’s most important is that you you have YOU splashed across the top.
A quick aside: The WPChick logo was created by an excellent Atlanta-based designer named Helen. You can find her on Etsy.
Along with your name or logo, you want to make sure it’s super clear from the first few seconds of viewing your blog who you are, what you do or what you’re blog is about.
You can use a tagline or sub-heading on your blog to do just that.
Here’s how you add your tagline to your header in WordPress:
- Go to Settings > General in your WordPress Admin
- Type in your tagline in the “Tagline” field:
- If your WordPress theme has this enabled, your tagline should now appear on your front page below your Blog Title.
Here are a few examples of useful taglines:
Be Consistent.
Make sure you have the same thing splashed across the top of every page and looks essentially the same (a no-brainer with WordPress).
Enough about logos. So how about your personality?
Theme. Does your WordPress theme match your personality?
There are TONS of themes for WordPress out there both paid and free.
It just takes a little time to look for them.
You’re bound to find one that captures your eye as well as reflects who you are.
The two that I like most mainly because I’m a huge fan of simplicity are Vigilance (which I use on WPChick.com) and Frugal. Both have free and paid versions. And yes those are affiliate links. That is, just in case you’re wondering.
Posts. Do they sound like you?
Is your voice showing through or does reading them out loud make you sound more like the adults in Charlie Brown cartoons than how you actually speak?
Before you hit “Publish” on any of your posts, read them out loud.
If your writing sounds stiff and dry, try this:
Pretend you’re writing a letter (with a pen on paper no less!) to your closest friend. Start out “Dearest Mathilda…” and go from there.
If you have to heighten the reality and actually write it on paper with a real-live pen go for it. And if you really have a friend named Mathilda, excellent!
You’ll find your writing style is a LOT more conversational, and a lot more interesting. Lose the jargon, the industry-talk. Be more you with your writing, and your personality will shine right through.
Your assignment: Re-write the most boring post on your blog (or write a brand new one) as if you’re writing to a friend. Be conversational, informal, and write the way you speak. And If it rocks harder than AC/DC, let me know in the comments. I’d love to read it!
p.s. here are some free font resources for you:
DaFont
1001 Free Fonts
Chank: some free, some not-so-free
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This post is part of the Does My Blog Make Me Look Fat: Ten Weeks. Ten Small Actions. One Great Blog Series. Here are the rest:
MYDMBMMLFPOSTS
Love the idea of writing a post like a letter to a friend; I will try that.
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