Problogging Basics: Recognizable & Relevant

The words “recognizable” and “relevant” may seem somewhat random when paired together regarding your blog. It seems a given: well of course, anyone who has ever sat to write a blog post wants to hit these two things out of the park – right? No one is intentionally creating content with the desire to be anonymous and irrelevant, so why should such a basic need saying?

The key point for this discussion is that it’s not just your content that needs to be recognizable and relevant. Yes, that helps. It’s great to be able to find your own voice when creating content, to have people read your writing and immediately be able to identify who is the typist behind it. It goes without saying that relevancy is important, too – no one is going to feel much like reading your thoughts on a news story from a decade ago.

So when it comes to content, sure, recognizable and relevant are the basics that anyone should be able to cover. Yet they have a necessity beyond that, which is that need for your branding to be recognizable and relevant.

Why Should A Blog Be Branded?

You might think that, as a blogger, you don’t need to be overly concerned with branding – “isn’t that more based on small companies?”, you might wonder. Well, sure, but as a professional blogger, you are a small company. Yes, your product is digital, but you’re now a publisher, a creator, an owner – so of course branding applies to you.

You need to ensure your blog’s brand, its values and what it stands for, are repeated cohesively around the internet. From social media to your blog posts themselves, you should have a distinct and recognizable identity. If this all sounds confusing, then it’s a worthwhile investment to enlist the help of a creative branding studio to ensure you’re on the right track.

The reason this is so important is that internet attention is easily diverted. You might have great blog traffic numbers, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to retain those eyes and stick in people’s memories. If you have cohesive branding across all platforms, however, that consistency can mean you’re more likely to stick in the memory – and thus retain a reader.

How Should A Blog Be Relevant?

Obviously, your content should be relevant – we’ve covered that. The other way – and arguably the most important way – that your blog should be relevant is in terms of innovation.

That means you need to stay firmly on top of the latest trends in blogging, especially when it comes to design and social media usage. If you see a number of your competitors beginning to do something – such as a design change, or even simple things like using Instagram stories to guide users to a new post on your blog – then you need to ensure you’re doing it as well.

Blog readers tend to get a sense of the trends, what’s current, what the latest innovations are. If you’re still struggling along with the same methods that worked 12 months ago, then you’re not innovating, and you’re no longer relevant to the times you exist in. Don’t risk alienating a savvy viewership by seeming out of touch.

So by following the blogging R&R, you can be kept up to date and noticeable in the eyes of your readers – and your blog will reap the benefits.