Branding is important for blog survival - no matter what you blog about - someone else is blogging about the same thing.

What is branding?

Wikipedia gives a great definition for the disambiguation of something by creating a brand:

A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it. A brand often includes a logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, and sound, which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.

Sorry, I try not to quote too often. But I really like the Wikipedia definition, as I find it extremely succinct. :)

For example…

Take John Cow and his trademark mooney making blog posts. This blog has seen a rapid increase in traffic, partly because he it is a parody/exact copy of John Chow’s site, and also because this blog has been thoroughly branded so as to create a buzz about his site. In fact, the fact that he is copying the John Chow’s site is another form of branding that is entirely unique. Now, I don’t frequent this blog and I likely never will, but it is a perfect example of how you can rise quickly to the forefront of the blogosphere by properly branding your blog.

My blog, on the other hand..

• Everything is always pink, pink, pink. I use different shades of pink but it has become part of my trademark. I have even changed my BlogCatalog name to pinkdanielle. If I were to change the colour of my site to some other colour, people would likely think they had come to the wrong blog and leave.
• My Build-A-Bear is part of my branding. Cheese ball, I know. But I love my bear! And everybody knows that about me. He is my little mascot and as I work more on my blog, she will be incorporated even more into the design.
• Being friendly and cheery is also another form of branding. I maintain this at all times when blogging (mostly). Even when I am mad I am cheery about it. People expect this of me, and were I to start posting angry blog posts all the time, I would lose the readers I have.

What can a brand do for you?

When creating a successful blog, or website, you need to consider the fact that no matter what you do, someone else is already doing it. So you need something special to help you create a buzz and to make people return to your blog. Don’t stick with a generic template. Personalize your site, and amplify one part of your personality, create a symbol for it. This is why people return to a blog. It’s not just about providing quality content, successfully drawing in a “crowd” is also about creating a quality “environment” for your users. This does not mean you have to be flashy, you just need to create a common theme and feeling, an underlying tone and symbolism that permeates throughout your blog, and if you can manage to do this, people will return.

I frequent many blogs that have managed to do this. Nice4Rice is one blog that has really managed this well. Because it is not just about creating a brand, you must also constantly remind your readers of your icons. Don’t ever let them forget them, and just like you can’t help but sing that catchy jingle from some dumb commercial, you will continue to return to the blogs that have an interesting theme that keeps you intrigued.