What exactly is your online identity? Those that have been blogging for awhile have probably formed one, though they may not have realized it. In order to connect with your readers, it is important for any serious blogger to establish one. How can this be done?

In order to form an online identity, you simply need to create something or multiple things that are unique to you as a blogger (not necessarily unique to your individual blog). Remember, people don’t read your blog to find out what it has to say, they want to know what YOU have to say. Some things that many bloggers use to develop their own identity are a logo style that people will associate with you, a theme setup that is unique to your blog(s), a feature on your blog that you are known for, or even a style of writing you have (your bloggers “voice”).

Two Examples Of An Online Identity:

  • The first example of great branding is Daniel Scocco, who writes for Daily Blog Tips, Daily Writing Tips, and Daily Bits. If you look at all three blogs, they use the same theme with a different variation, they use the same style of logo and favicon, and you can easily tell Daniel’s writing style because it is consistent among all three blogs. Daniel has his own style, giving him his own online identity that his readers associate with him.
  • John Chow is another example that many people will be familiar with. John is known for a few things, such as writing about his expensive dining experiences, and his monthly income reports. When you think of John, after thinking of that big green dollar sign, those are probably the first two things that pop into your head.

Whether its your logo, your theme, a weekly/monthly feature you do, or just your writing “voice,” chances are you have developed an online identity that your readers associate with you. Poll your readers and find out what your online identity is to them. That way, if you don’t like the image people get when they think of you, you can work to change it or improve it by creating a better logo, improving your theme, or even tweaking your writing style.

In my case, most of you probably don’t know what I look like in person (you can see me on my About page). With some bloggers you may picture the actual author when you think of them or their site, but I’ve worked really hard to establish an online identity that is different from my offline identity. This is why I use either a logo or favicon for my various avatars (such as MyBlogLog, Yahoo, etc.).  Chances are, if you were to meet me in person, you would say “Kyle, you sound like your blog.” I’ve heard that before on a few occasions, but I embrace that as something I’m doing right. The last thing I do is try to use a consistent “style” on my blogs (except Hack WordPress, but more on that later), because I haven’t seen another blog that looks much like my blogs. I like to own that look, and have readers think of me when they see that look.  :D

When you think of Kyle, what is the first thing you think of? I’d love to hear in the comments below.