Oh, I'm not even going to talk about the snow here in the east coast.  The snow IS the news (there's just so darn much of it!) for most of us.  But to me, it's yesterday's news.  That's right.  From here on out, it's nothing but sunshine and clear skies ahead. Yup.

I'll have to get better at brainwashing myself.

In any event, let's get on with the article.  Focus and Branding.  It's important.  Remember, my advice is for people wanting to turn their blogging commercial.  In order to be successful at this, you basically have to pick a topic, and stick to it.  I know a lot of people like to use their blog as a personal diary, talking about personal things, and whatnot.  And that's totally cool.  Some personal blogs actually may make a good amount of cash, but far and wide, the most successful blogs are strictly topical.  Gizmodo.com is about gadgets.  Techcrunch.com (all y'alls favorite) is about new online startups.  Kotaku.com is a successful gaming blog.  And on, and on.  And it makes sense for things to be this way.  It goes to the essence of branding, and why we need to have brands in the first place: human nature demands it.

At PostieCon, I said something that I'm very fond of.  It's my definition of branding: "Branding is associating yourself with a concept, and searing that in people's minds". And the reason associating yourself with a concept is important is because this is the way people think.  It's the way people think of you. Branding is what our brain uses to make sense of the clutter.  It's what we use to find what we're looking for in a sea of competing offers.

Think of it.  If you're looking to purchase a luxury car, what do you think of?  Mercedes, Bentley, etc.  If you're looking to buy some household items on the cheap, what do you think of?  Wal-Mart. If you want a quick, satisfying bite?  McDonald's, Burger King, etc.  Luxury watch?  Rolex. These companies have all picked an area of expertise, and worked their bums off in order to sear that association in your minds.  And you reward their work by giving them your money any time you're looking for an item that falls within their focus.

Blogs should be no different.  However, it's important to keep something in mind.  Not only should you build a brand, and associate yourself with a concept... but you should make sure this concept is lucrative.  As I said at PostieCon, you very well may be passionate about underwater basket weaving... it's unlikely you'll make millions writing about it.  Don't get me wrong, you could get a following, even a devout one.  But there just isn't a whole lot of money in that area, so advertisers will be harder to come by.  Branding works for readers, but it also works for advertisers.  If an ad agency is looking to spend some marketing dollars on good automotive blogs for instance, it'll serve you well to have established your brand is that area. 

So... if you pick a good topic, and start building value for your readers and advertisers around that topic, you'll be on your way to making good money. Of course, you still have to get people to notice you, your value-building, your branding, your hard work. I'm talking about traffic.  You could write books about getting traffic online.  I'll spend less time than that.  Next article, I'll give you the ways I used to build traffic for OhGizmo.com.  It'll by no means be a complete list, only what I've done.

But let me finish here with one question: over the last three years, how much money do you think I've spent getting traffic for OhGizmo.com?

Posted by dponce80 at 02:37 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)