Blogger Resources by Blog Content Guild

I’m not sure that it’s possible to quantify the importance of establishing a brand, but if I had to iterate this quality in words, I would emphatically say that it’s the most important thing you can do to create a successful piece of work, especially when it comes to marketing on the web and even more so with a blog. This is by no means an easy task, but if you can successfully accomplish this, it’s more likely than not that your blog will gather a slew of followers, and it will establish an authoritative voice on its subject matter.

When a blog is born, for most of us, it’s simply a bunch of nicely formed groups of words with tags and categories. This newborn blog is barely visible to anyone, and it’s probably not ready to be exposed to the harsh reality of the web. Despite blog failure, there are tons of reasons why people create blogs, and all of these reasons are underlined by one thing: the blog creator wants their work to be seen. The aspiring blogger wants people to actively respond to their content, and they want people to like it. Whether they know it or not, all bloggers essentially desire that their work become a content resource; they want it to become a reference for web explorers. Any blogger who tells you otherwise is in denial.

Climbing the ladder from blog infancy to a legitimate content resource is a learning process and an arduous journey. There are endless amounts of how to, tips for, and list articles about the best ways to blog. Of these “expert bloggers”, only a small percentage of them are successful at doing this. Yes, I know, success is a relative term, but when it comes to building a brand, it’s pretty clear cut that you need to have a lot of followers, regular participants in your conversation, and blog visibility. From reading hundreds of articles written by experts and non-experts, a few things continue to reoccur: quality content, active relationships with other bloggers, a personal and unique voice, and lots of social media outreach. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are a few of the main things that you can do to become a content resource in your niche.

Taking your blog from a content resource to brand is an incredible feat, and it’s something that’s hazy even for the best bloggers. In order to create brand, you need to create some sort of blog pneumonic device – something that causes mental resonance. Your blog needs to be associated with its niche or perhaps something specifically inside its niche. Some examples of this are Nike with basketball shoes, Whole Foods with organic foods, American Eagle with clothes. I do realize these are actual brands, but the same thing can happen for food blogs, electronic blogs, video game blogs, or whatever topic you choose to write about. My best recommendation for blog brand development is effort, lots of research, trend-analysis, and no self-proclamations of expertise. It’s a must that your blog offers the latest news, trends, and information on your subject.

My last advice to you is to stay creative, stay dedicated, and assert yourself. Try new things, experiment, and deliver quality and personalization to your audience. Make sure that you continue to promote and network your blog. Even if you don’t manage to create brand, you’ll still be putting your blog in a great place to be very successful.

At least once in our lives we will be told that it’s not what we know, instead, it’s about who we know. While this phrase may be overused and stale, it still carries a strong message, especially for any person trying to increase their social worth or any business looking to balloon growth. Technology has changed the game. Information is more readily available, accessible, and ubiquitous. For those of you who are just realizing this, it’s time to crawl out from under the bridge and see the light of day. Don’t get me wrong, operational knowledge is important to any successful endeavor, but the single most driving factor for business success is social currency.

In its rigid form, social currency is defined as the collective potential and future resources derived from social relationships, networks, and communities.In layman’s terms, social currency is basically the value you derived from your social interactions with people.
By developing and expanding your social currency, you commit your business to do the following:

• Open new avenues for potential business
• Construct a weave of social support
• Increase company and brand visibility
• Learn and take interest in your peers and their respective markets

Once you really decide to change how you socially connect, expect a snowball effect to take place and new opportunities to surface.

Seems like we should all know the importance of social relationships, right? Wrong — social connections are severely undervalued. To what extent they’re undervalued is uncertain, but I can say with 100% confidence that most people have met antisocial people in their field. However, being antisocial is a losing trait. The most talented people are the ones who can develop deep social connections, become liked, and gain respect from their peers. The ability to develop deep social connections comes naturally for some, and it can take years for others. CEO’s of successful businesses have the ability to do this. I would argue a lot of people can do most of the stuff CEO’s do in a day, but a CEO’s ability to connect with someone, which can happen in mere seconds, is what makes them unique.

Developing true relationships can be difficult, and it takes practice. However, you should embrace an attitude of generosity without reciprocity. Look for situations where you can develop win-win relationships. Most importantly, look for opportunities to help and take interest in the success of others.

You begin by evaluating the way you interact with people. Do you connect with people regularly? Are you introverted or extroverted? Regardless, it’s time to bolster your relationship building efforts. Try to connect with one new person a week. For those of you more extroverted, connect with one new person each day. Build stronger connections with people whom you’ve already developed a connection with — contact them more, follow up more, and take a greater interest in their lives. It will take a lot of effort, and you can expect to invest more energy into this,but payoff’s worth it.