Menu

• Dictionary
• Hot Shots

Directory

• Sponsors
• Billing Options
• Content Providers
• Web Hosting
• Traffic Counters
• Website Designers
• Resource Sites

Sometimes my business can be so frustrating and then there are times when it's so interesting and diverse I understand why I never get bored with it.

About an hour ago I was talking to a client face to face about advertising on Facebook ... ten minutes ago I was typing a lengthy email to another client on the other side of the country about why his completely new website was ranking on page 3 for one term and page 10 for a couple of other terms and what we needed to do to improve his rankings.

And now here I am about to talk with you guys about branding. If you've read these columns ... and the one I write over on Porn Resource ... before then you've probably come across my thoughts on branding and why I think that it's so important.

Just in case you haven't read what I've said about branding in the past then it probably comes down to this: if you're not branding your websites you're either crazy or maybe you don't want people to know that you've ripped them off in the past.

If you have a brand and you sell quality products ... like memberships in porn sites that are actually worth joining ... then people will come to recognise your websites and trust your marketing messages enough to be more inclined to buy what you're selling.

One of the easiest ways to brand your sites is with some form of logo ... it doesn't have to be big or intricate ... it just has to be simple and visible. And using a logo really is a no-brainer ... just look around at all the businesses that brand themselves and you will see that every one of them has an easily recognisable logo.

Of course it wasn't so recognisable when those businesses were new but the more people see a logo the more likely they are to recognise it.

Mascots
But perhaps in some ways logos are becoming a thing of the past. Quite a few people are now suggesting that there's something that works much better in social media. Instead of a logo you need a mascot ... a cartoon caricature that takes the place of a logo.

If you're not sure what I mean by a mascot then have a look at the Android mascot or the little robot figure that appears on the Seomoz site. Those are mascots ... they're not some fancy piece of miniature artwork and they're not real people that you can connect with ... they're just something cute that will remind people of the business that they are connected to.

So what sort of mascot do you use and how involved should it be? Perhaps the place to start when you're thinking about your mascot is what you might see in a favicon because that's one of the places where you can really brand your websites.

How recognisable will your mascot be if it's reduced to the size of a favicon? Will it just be an unrecognisable blob or will there be just enough detail in there for surfers to see that they're dealing with a website they can trust.

Of course you don't have to have your brand appear as a favicon ... you can place it in other highly visible parts of your websites. Just don't make it too big ... or too imposing. You want people to recognise it without it taking up too much valuable real estate on your web page.

Amateurs and branding
I see that there are still plenty of girls ... and guys ... out there who are prepared to build websites about themselves and that's great. That's basically where I started on the web ... as an amateur who did it all for her members and enjoyed what I was doing too.

It was fun but every amateur needs to understand that there is a life after your website so you have to be careful about your branding. Obviously the best brand for most amateurs is their face ... it's recognisable ... it's what guys and gals look at ... and it's very tempting to use your face on all your branding.

But the branding you use on your website and promo materials now can have an impact on life after you have closed your website and moved on. Right now you may think that time will never come but for most of us it does and you may not want to be quite so recognisable then as you do now.

So think carefully about your branding ... maybe the theme of your website can give you some clues about what sort of branding to use and if it doesn't then maybe using a mascot is the way to go.

Whatever you do ... and whatever part of the industry you're in ... if you're not branding your work then you're letting money fall off the table so start branding your work right now.