Find a way to humanize your brand, use your personality, and take your brand
from good to great. -Guy Kawasaki

Do you envision your blog as a brand? If you do, try embracing the concept of brand personality. To understand what brand personality is, envision your brand as if it were a person. It would have values, beliefs and interests. These attributes are what would make it unique.

Groundbreaking package designer Walter Landor felt that everything you project into the world goes toward creating your brand. Each little piece is of equal importance, equal weight, and has to be appropriate to the audience it is reaching or the message that it is trying to promote.

The energy that you put out on your blog will be directly related to what you receive in return. Since your blog is a brand and you are the central driving force behind developing its personality, it is further defined by every action you take and every post that you create.

THE KEYS TO TURNING YOUR BLOG INTO A SUCCESSFUL BRAND

1. Determine what your goals are. These goals will pull you through the tough times, give you a focus and ultimately, a way to measure your success. Defined goals that can be measured (specific traffic levels, rankings, make it much easier to see if you’re hitting the mark.

2. Find out what your readers want and need. How does your brand fit into their life? The best way to determine your reader’s needs is to ask them. Develop a direct connection between your blog and its readers. Do some old fashioned research, whether it’s through polling, emails or a survey post.

3. Clearly communicate your blog’s personality. This can be facilitated through being trustworthy, relaible, developing a unique slogan and having a memorable blogging voice.

WHY THE PERSONALITY BEHIND YOUR BLOG IS SO IMPORTANT

Marketing has become a mass-produced commodity that lacks authenticity. Our saturation point has been reached and the old rules no longer work. Though used mostly for products and services, branding can also be applied to people. The key to developing an authentic brand is to be true to who you are and to follow your own, unique path. Give some thought to the one thing that makes your brand unique, the one attribute that no one can take away from you. This is where you should focus your energy.

The characteristic that many of the most successful blogs share is that people are following the BLOGGER, not the BLOG. A blog’s theme can be replicated, but the personality behind it cannot. There may been hundreds, if not thousands of blogs in a saturated niche. So ask yourself, why do you repeatedly go back to the same blogs when you can probably get the same information from another site?

As Tom Dorresteijn notes, “The concept of brand personality combines inside-out and outside-in; identity and image. A personality has its roots in the identity but is strongly externally focused. It is not ‘be who your are’. Personality is: Become who you should be.”

DEVELOP A SOLID BRAND IDENTITY

If your blog was a living, breathing person, what adjectives would you use to describe it?

The world belongs to those who stand out, stand up and stand for or against a cause which they can strongly defend, those who can talk crowd and keep their virtues or walk with kings and not lose the common touch – their identity. An independent mind is a frontier of change in the world. -Tayo Korede

Just in case you need further proof that blogging is here to stay, Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 offers some captivating statistics:

1. There are now over 77 million unique visitors frequenting blogs in the U.S. while 77% of active internet users are reading blogs.

2. Bloggers are collectively creating close to one million posts every day.

3. Three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates (and overall, U.S. bloggers are more educated and affluent than the general internet population).

4. One in five bloggers are self-employed.

5. Four out of five bloggers are personal bloggers while 12% of bloggers blog in an official capacity for their company.

6. Two-thirds of bloggers openly expose their identities on their blogs, while one-third are concerned about readers learning their true identity (mainly due to safety, job and family related issues).

7. Half of bloggers attend events (e.g., movies, conferences, sporting events) for their blog with one third doing so for free.

8. One in four bloggers spends ten hours or more blogging each week.

9. More than eight in ten bloggers have a commenting system in place along with archived posts and built-in syndication.

10. 37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post.

Canon G10 review - New but not improved from Dave Allen on Vimeo.

Now those of you who know us well at Nemo, and particularly StudioNemo, would surely understand that we take our cameras very very seriously indeed… Well, we have lived with and loved the Canon G9 for some time now. In fact we loved its ability to be a basic blogger’s work horse so much that it became standard issue around the shop. So naturally we were waiting with baited breath for the new, shiny updated G10 model…. uh oh… read on and watch the video, it gets ugly.

From Nemo’s Trevor Graves - “This is the review I have been excited to write for months. I have read the rumors on the blogs about Canon discontinuing the G9 and all the new and improved features for the G10. I pre-order the rig on Amazon and sure enough it’s delivered today October 3rd, 2008. With the excitement of a 10 year old I ripped open the box and unleashed the new toy.

That is where the excitement ended.

Being intimately familiar with the G9 I intuitively reached for the Video function of the G10 as I have heard about the new and improved DIGIC 4 chip and the ability of it to produce HD quality video on an SLR. How exciting to have better video!! Wait, what’s this, small video format and NO TIME LAPSE feature. WTF??? I pay $50 more and Canon drops features that turned me on to the G9 in the first place. WTF!!! I am pissed! Who was the genius at Canon that is living in a bat cave to lose sight of what makes the G9 wonderful in this new world of bloggin! Was the decision maker a frustrated SLR engineer that wanted to get their rocks off on a 14.7 megapixel CCD sensor? Why even have the G10 at all. Other point and shoots are smaller and have a large enough meg for decent prints, the larger SLR have better quality and better everything so why go with this G10 product that has nothing more to offer than less noisy images in low light and a faster processing speed that is negligible to the end user any way. WTF??? The over under dial is handy and more convenient but come on guys, I can tweak that exposure on the back end in photoshop and the G9 over/under function wasn’t that horrible. Shit even the lens cover looks cheaper than the original G9 lens cover. I bet this one scratches the lens in its poor construction too. WTF? You could have at least made that better for $50.”

Well, Canon, seems like there’s some ’splaining to do….

If you run a blog, do you consider yourself a blogger? Or, do you feel like the term is too limiting?

Yesterday, Dave Allen and I got into a discussion about the term blogger (a contraction of the words web and log). Is it still considered cool and relevant? Or, has it lost some of its appeal now that everyone’s doing it (there are currently over 110 million blogs in existence)?

Dave relayed the thought that since many people still don’t know the difference between a blog and a website, the label blogger can be off-putting. Many times, if you ask someone if they read blogs, they’ll reply no. But, after some further quizzing, they’ll admit that they do read blogs. They just didn’t realize what these sites were called.

During the time my site has been live, I’ve always used the term blogger fairly loosely to describe what I do without much thought. My main career is in graphic design; I simply use my blog as a way share my work and thoughts with others. My frequent postings about design, style and marketing could get tricky and convoluted in another format, but a blog with categories and tags makes finding related subject matter a cinch.

TRENDING AWAY FROM BLOGGER

Some folks like Problogger’s Darren Rowse are inching away using the term blogger because it can be too limiting.

Writers can be especially sensitive to being categorized as just bloggers. It’s easy to see why the term can be viewed as downplaying their talent and craft. Though, as Mark Glaser points out, these worlds have started merging over the last few years:

The time-worn debate of Bloggers vs. Journalists has finally run its course. For years, traditional journalists scoffed at bloggers as pajama-wearing screamers, while bloggers have pointed to MSM (mainstream media) as secretly biased and obsolete. While the extremists in this argument have had the stage shouting at each other loudly, what has happened quietly in the background has received less attention: Mainstream media reporters have started blogging in droves, while larger blog operations have hired seasoned reporters and focused on doing traditional journalism.

DOES YOUR TITLE MATTER?

On the other side of the argument, categorizing oneself as a blogger can make the discussion of what you do for a living less taxing. Entrepreneur Kevin Muldoon relays a common experience:

One of the things I have found about working through the web is my inability to correctly give myself a title, ie. a name which explains what I do for a living. Lots of people online seem to be using the term ‘Entrepreneur’ but I really hate it, it’s kinda pompous in my opinion. With blogging taking up most of my time now I am more than happy to use the title ‘Blogger.’

FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION

The blogger label is hip and cool now, but where will it be in five years? Will it still have merit? Will using a different term really make a difference in how you’re perceived by your audience?

Blogging will probably always exist in one form or another. It’s not surprising that there are over 175,000 new blogs popping up every day. Blogging is an easy way to connect with a much larger audience while investing very little upfront in the process. And, because of this, the number of blogs will continue to grow, whether a niche is already saturated or not. The appeal of sharing your views with the world and receiving instantaneous feedback (with the prospect of earning a decent income in the process) is highly seductive.

In reality, the people reading your blog probably don’t care what your title is. They are visiting your site regularly because it offers a perceived value. Whether you’re a writer, an information architect, a blogger, a web publisher or a content developer, what really matters is that your readers love what you’re creating.

Scanning Technorati’s Top 100 list, it’s easy to be bowled over by the success some blogs have achieved. But, Royal Pingdom has done some digging and shows us that 11 of the world’s most popular blogs weren’t always so polished. Gizmodo is a prime example:

View the entire history of the 10 others here.

Every year, a social media conference called the Blogworld Expo takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s the largest blogging conference in the world and includes more than 50 panels, seminars and keynotes featuring social media’s brightest personalities. Topics range from how to sell more advertising on your blog to taking smart risks with your online personality.

Last weekend, I attended the expo on behalf of Nemo Design and absorbed tons of valuable information. Below, I’ll detail everything you need to know about the convention and why you should consider going next year!

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND A CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO SOCIAL MEDIA?

Blogging has grown into much more than an idle hobby. It’s a way of life and a viable way to make a living. According to Blogworld’s stats:

* Over 12 million American adults maintain blogs (and more than 57 million read them).

* 22 of the world’s 100 most popular websites are blogs.

* There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.

* 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.

* Over 120,000 new blogs are created every day.

MY THREE FAVORITE CLASSES AT THE CONFERENCE: WHAT I LEARNED

1. Beyond Blogging

With social media, marketing is essential. Unfortunately, everyone thinks they can perform marketing tasks well with no training.

Transparency can be difficult for corporations dabbling in social media because as they get larger, they don’t necessarily know who they are any longer. The overall vision (and truthfulness) can get lost in a sea of PR and marketing teams trying to craft a visibly perfect image. Successful bloggers within corporations are authentic, passionate and know what they’re talking about.

2. Taking Smart Risks with Your Online Personality

There’s a difference between pure risk and smart risk online. Smart risk is about having a plan. There are many great things that can come out of showcasing your personality and letting people know who you are. Think about how you want your intentions to play out in the long run and develop a corresponding plan.

A very finite number of negative outcomes can arise when you put yourself out there (on the internet) and most of them can be controlled. In contrast, there’s an infinite number of great possibilities that can happen and they usually outweigh the bad. Examples include job leads, networking and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Remember, it’s up to us as our own personal brand managers to control our image. Be aware, consider the persona you’re projecting and your reactions / responses. The residue can last forever. Figure out what your boundaries are and give some consideration to your personal image before you step out publicly.

3. Opening Keynote

Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park had some really inspiring, basic advice during the keynote.

First of all, it’s important to give fans a brand that’s consistent with what you’ve promised them.

Secondly, you don’t want to fight the battle of competing with everyone else. Don’t be an asshole. You’ll meet everyone on the way down that you met on the way up. Being nice isn’t the same thing as being passive. Being cordial and direct and assertive doesn’t cost you any extra time and pays off.

Timothy advised us to “talk to your readers the way you’d talk to your friends after two drinks.” Cut out the nonsense and show them what they want to hear. Don’t avoid offending people; it comes across as fake.

He also related that It doesn’t matter how many times you’re rejected or how many people don’t get what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s about how many do.

IS THE BLOGWORLD EXPO RIGHT FOR YOU?

If you’re serious about blogging, either as an individual or for the company you’re employed by, Blogworld is for you. With up to seven seminars to choose from a few times each day, there’s a huge variety of topics on varying levels ranging from introductory to professional.

Meeting Steve Pavlina!

Beyond receiving the opportunity to learn everything there is to know about blogging, Blogworld is a fantastic place to network! I was able to meet Timothy Ferriss (totally approachable), Steve Pavlina (he’s hugely inspiring and even showed his raw food stash of snacks to us!), Darren Rowse and I came very close to meeting Guy Kawasaki on a few occasions (next year, perhaps?!)

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

1. The convention hours are early (9 a.m. on average), so unless you’re a ‘morning person,’ staying out all night and partying on convention days is not recommended!

2. The cost ($400.00 for an all-access pass) is only worth it if you stick to a pre-planned, class-packed schedule. If you plan on taking extended breaks to nurse your hangover, don’t bother attending.

3. The food options at the convention center are exorbitant and not very tasty. Plan ahead and bring tons of snacks!

4. Sign up for a Twitter account in advance. It’s the preferred way of communicating at the convention. (See the live Blogworld 08 Twitter feed here).

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Are any of you planning on attending the Blogworld Expo next year?