All Entries Tagged With: "branding"
Does Having More Than One Blog Water Down Your Branding Efforts?
Should you have more than one blog? Would that water down your branding?
That’s an important and a worthy question. One asked by a commenter at Search Engine Optimization Journal.
In my view, it depends. Having more than one website could dilute your brand if you do it the wrong way. On the other hand, it could strengthen your brand if done the right way. And a third view is to use the additional websites in a multiple branding effort. Let’s discuss each of those options briefly:
Brand Dilution With Multiple Blog Sites
If you have a relatively small brand or serve a small niche then multiple blogs could serve to dilute your brand. You want to speak to your market with one voice. Having two or more blog sites that compete against each other could pose a certain public relations problem for you if your customers and potential customers discover this, which they will surely do if you keep it up for two long.
But what if you are a bigger company and serving a large niche with a lot of competitors? In that case, multiple blog sites could actually be a benefit. We’ll discuss that more in a minute.
Brand Strength With Multiple Blog Sites
Branding doesn’t have to take place only at the company level. It can also take place at the product level. If you have more than one product line, each with its own branding personality, then multiple blogs could be to your benefit. You’d want a separate blog for each brand in addition to a blog for the parent brand. Why would you want to do this?
Suppose your brands serve different segments of your market. A fashion merchandiser may have a clothing line for teen girls, a separate line for middle-aged women, and then a totally different line for men ages 18-40. Those are three drastically different markets with completely different needs. One blog to serve them all might actually be more diluting than multiple blogs for a small company in a small niche. It could be more effective to split up your marketing efforts to address the needs of each of your market segments.
Multiple Branding With Multiple Blog Sites
This is really kind of related to the above section for multiple brands under the same parent brand. I want to discuss it as a separate issue, however, because your company may actually be a little more diverse than the fashion company mentioned above. What if you are a holding company with interests in fashion, restaurant management, and sports? Obviously, those are completely different markets. Each company within those areas of interest would be best served with their own blog sites. Your holding company may have a blog of its own, but you most definitely want a separate blog for each of your companies within different industries. After all, each company deserves its own brand marketing.
Blogging As Brand Management
Whether you are a small company with a single brand, a mid-sized company with different market segments under the same brand, or a large company with multiple brand identities, a blog can be an excellent way to communicate your brands’ messages to the market place. You want your blog to serve as a marketing vehicle for each brand and for your company. You’ve got to figure out the best way to make that happen. Sometimes, one blog is not enough.
What Of The Domain Name, Anyway?
Should you get a domain name with your keyword in it for your new blog? Search Marketing Standard’s Rebecca Appleton gives some good, and bad, advice about this issue. First, let’s dispel a rumor: All the good domain names aren’t taken.
There I said it. But is it true?
Ms. Appleton says that most of the good domain names with keywords are gone. It depends on what you mean by good domain names.
About once a year Google changes its ranking algorithm to put more weight on keyword-rich domain names. Later in the year the search giant reverses it. So keywords in the domain names do, at least for part of the time, affect your rankings. Even beyond anchor text. But, as she so aptly points out, anchor text can be a bigger benefit to you if you have that keyword in the domain name.
A part of the perception regarding domain names centers around people coveting shorter domain names. Yes, if you’re looking for a one-word domain name with your keyword in it then you’ll likely never see it. If you do, you’ll pay thousands of dollars for it. Likely, hundreds of thousands.
Nevertheless, you can still get a domain name with your keyword in it. You just might have to get creative. There is nothing wrong with coming up with creative variations of keywords that can also be branded. Not every domain name has to be Keyword_______.com where the blank you fill in is a related, but different, word that describes the same thing. Instead, why not fill in the blank with an unrelated keyword that you can use as a branding element. All kinds of examples abound:
- AutomotiveChickenHawks.com
- MattressPerv.com
- FlowerChild.com
- GreaseMonkey.com
- TheClockStruck1.com
- RealEstateHatTricks.com
OK, some of these may be far out, but think branding and marketing. You’ve got your keyword. You know what you want to target. Now come up with your version of the Marlboro Man. If I were Philip Morris, I’d secure TheMarlboroManSmokes.com and I’d brand it to the hilt.
How Important Is SEO To Your Blog?
Depending on who you talk to, many people classify blogging as social media. To be sure, there are important social media applications that blogging involves. But is it all about social media or is SEO important too?
We believe that SEO is as important to blogging as social media marketing. A true company blog attempts to brand you within your niche while targeting the search engines with your most important keywords and connecting with your target audience through social media tools. You could see it as a three-legged stool. One leg is for SEO and the other leg is for social media. The other leg is personal communication with your target audience through the blog itself.
Social media marketing should never be your primary goal with a blog. It can be augmented goal, but you should use your blog to communicate directly with your target audience and try to sell them on the benefits of your product or service. But targeting the search engines with key phrases related to your niche is important too. How will you attract your target audience if you don’t reach them through the search engines?
Blogging and SEO go hand in hand. Social media makes for a fine companion, but it’s like your children. They don’t make the marriage. They are a healthy byproduct of a successful marriage. Make SEO your marriage partner.
Blog Partnerships: How To Have A Ghostwritten Blog For Less $$
In a downward moving economy like today’s companies begin to look for ways to scale back on the budget. It’s a shame because one of the first things to go is marketing and there is no more important a time to market your business than when business is slow or declining. If you find yourself in the situation where you have to cut your marketing budget and you think your blog is going to be one of the things that you cut, let me tell you three reasons why you don’t want to do that:
- Search engine marketing – A blog is one of the most powerful search engine marketing tools you can have. One blog is far more effective than five static websites with no blog promotion. Yes, it’s a monthly expense, but it also keeps you in the forefront of search queries and without a blog your static site will just slide into oblivion.
- Branding – A blog is not only a good search marketing tool. It’s also a great branding tool. There is no other tool on the planet that can do as much to brand your company for less money than a blog.
- Credibility and Authority – A blog also gives you greater authority – with the search engines and with your human visitors. It’s a shame you might consider throwing that away for a few measly dollars each month.
But, hey, a budget’s a budget, right? We understand that. We really do. That’s why I have a suggestion for you. Instead of cutting your blog out of your budget altogether, why not take in a couple or three partners? By sharing the expense of the blog you can also share the benefits and your blog still will get posted to every day. It costs less than one dedicated blog, but it will still provide you with most of the benefits of a daily blog. Each blog post can be optimized for and link to either you or your partners and all of you can have sidebar links on your blog. It’s a win-win for all.
If I were to go the partnership route on a blog I would make sure of two things:
- No. 1, don’t partner with your competition. Instead, choose complimentary services and products that can benefit by sharing the marketing expense.
- Get your agreement in writing. Plain and simple. All parties should understand the nature of your contract.
Another way to go about the partnership plan for your blog is for you to take care of all expenses and seek sponsors. Ask your sponsors to pay a few dollars (RE: $10, $15, $25, or even $50 or $100) per month for the privilege of placing a banner on your blog and an occasional promotional post. I’ve done this on my blogs and it works like a charm. You don’t have to stop blogging altogether.
