The Ultimate Guide to Online Branding and Building Authority Part 1 – Blogging

When you establish your brand effectively, not only will you become memorable but also recognizable in your niche. You won’t be just a company relying on how the wind blows in the market, you get a say in how it goes. When you get to establish your online branding game properly, you establish and build authority. This is a big deal for a lot of companies, as you’ll likely want to build yourself as an authority in your field. And if you want to accomplish such a feat, there’s a ton of ways to go about this. So many, in fact, that sometimes it can overwhelm businesses that start out. In this series of guides to online branding, we’ll start with the basics of building your brand authority. Perhaps one of the most recognizable and effective ways to accomplish this is through blogging. How does this work, though?

Blogging 101: What You Need To Know

Blogging isn’t just about writing, though. A huge part of blogging has to do with studying your audience, understanding what sort of content they might need, assessing what type of content you want to write, and weaving them all together. Such a task requires a lot of research and experimentation, which can get tedious for a regular marketer. However, if you’re looking for results, especially in a market as huge as Hong Kong’s, it does help to be familiar with how blogging works. This will help you create and produce pieces of content and blogs that not only appeal to your audience but also establish your name and brand within your niche. Before you go straight to writing, though, it helps to understand that you may want to follow particular sets of advice to be able to maximize your potential to make content. And if you get to follow the advice below carefully, you might pull off blogging success in just a few months. 

Build Brand Authority: Why Blogging?

When we talk of ways to improve brand authority, we usually think of methods such as pretty and stunning graphics, as well as various forms of multimedia advertising. After all, what better way to build a brand than actually coming up with a catchy and recognizable ad, right? Well, what if we tell you there’s a much cheaper way of generating the same traction? That’s right – blogging is actually capable of boosting your brand authority without forcing you to spend so much on promotions and production. Why blogging, though? 

• People still love to read. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube might show that people love photos and videos, but customers still read blogs for reliable reviews and impressions. When you take the time to write lengthy but informative pieces, you appear as reliable to users. 
• Serious consumers do heavy research. If you want to look for loyal customers, invest in making reviews and articles that people will take a lot from. Serious customers will take the time to read and research pieces because they want information that they can use in the long term, precisely because they’re considering your product. 
• Blogs can be specifically tailored to consumers. Unlike photos and videos that are more or less made to appeal to a huge audience, blog posts can be made specifically to cater to a particular audience. If you want to make an article on a specific topic or issue, a blog will likely be a good medium to contain lengthy and informative tidbits on the subject without attracting the wrong users. 
• Blogs may never disappear. Despite the appeal of just looking at photos or watching videos, blogs stay because of people’s attachment to reading. When customers want quick and easy to access information, they don’t wait for a specific section of a video to come up. Rather, they really look into a blog for information. You can take advantage of this tendency. 

Blogging 101: The Basics

Blogging isn’t just about writing articles and reviews, though. If you want blogging to work to your brand’s advantage, you’ll want to maximize the opportunities blogging offers to get your voice to most consumers out there. What a lot of people don’t realize is that blogging’s benefits really come over time, meaning you have to start early on if you want to reap blogging’s many benefits in the long run. How exactly should you approach this process?

• Choose your platform well. If you search for the “best blogging platform,” you’ll likely end up with a ton of suggestions. Websites and services such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and Blogspot are just some of the many platforms that can host your blog. However, the best platform for your brand really depends on the kind of objectives you have and what you want to achieve.
• Pick a niche and stick to it. Your brand and your company might be involved in a lot of niches, especially if your brand relies heavily on lifestyle. However, it helps to be aware of exactly what kind of content you want to produce on what particular topics so you don’t have a lot of trouble writing in the long run. Invest in writing content in niches that your brand really caters to, so your content will always be relevant to consumers. 
• Choose topics that matter today and tomorrow. Choosing a niche can be quite tricky, and sticking to it can be trickier. A way to approach this is through choose topics to write about that matter to your audience in a general sense, and also topics that appeal to them on a specific “level.” This means you ought to make content for both newbies and veterans in your field unless you want your brand to specifically stick to a topic or a theme. 
• Develop a style that works for you. If you want to make blog posts that resonate with your audience, you need to write posts in a style that works for your brand’s voice and your audience preferences. What sort of personality do you want your brand to project? If you want to be authoritative, you can go formal. If you want to be friendly, you can be casual. It’s not just grammar that counts in blog post formats, but most importantly your style and approach as well. 
• Build consistency in your work. When you finally choose the kind of content you want to write, you need to start writing your blogs consistently. This doesn’t just mean sticking to a schedule, but also sticking to your niche and your tone. Be sure you’re allotting enough time to proofread and research your piece well. And try to ensure the kind of voice you use in works remain consistent throughout your blog’s life cycle.

Blogging: It’s More Than Just Writing

With the above in mind, hopefully, you now have a good idea of just how helpful blogging can be when it comes to establishing your brand authority. No, blogging isn’t just you sharing stories. No, blogging isn’t just about featuring products. And most importantly, blogging isn’t just about populating your website with “content.” In the case of online branding, blogging plays a huge role in establishing your position in your particular niche. As shown above, if you blog, you prove to your niche that you’re willing to show and share something new and unique to your particular field of interest. In the case of branding, blogging provides your voice with a mechanism through which you can share your overall message to your users.

As such, blogging is such an integral skill to learn when it comes to establishing your online branding and brand authority. Should you need any assistance on writing top-notch blogs, Pnetform Web Development can be the team to do the job for you. Our team understands the principles of blogging explored above, and we make it our mission to ensure your voice gets itself a flexible medium to share just how unique your brand is compared to the rest of your particular niche.