Continuing “The Blogging Life” series, this article will cover some of the many aspects of building your brand.

Many new bloggers come on the scene, launch their sites and post regularly for a few months, then become discouraged because they haven’t become popular or seen a dramatic increase in blog traffic.

This can be attributed to many reasons such as your subject matter, niche or even your writing style. But aside from any reasons you can think of, the lack of recognition and popularity is a direct result of time.

You simply cannot expect to become a household name in such a short period of time. You see, the number of bloggers who begin this profession and stick around is relatively small. Many find that this is just too much of an uphill climb and move on to something else in life.

So the stage is already set for short-timers and rookies because who knows how long they will be around? There is nothing to get overly excited about just because you’ve blogged for several months, that’s just the way it is. New bloggers, I encourage each of you to tough it out and dedicate yourself if you want to find any level of success.

Building your identity and branding yourself will take a considerable amount of time and if you are impatient, you will need to conquer that soon or find another line of interest.

This is why it is critical that you blog about something that you absolutely have a passion for; otherwise the love will soon be lost and this will become just another job. You must identify something that you want to spend the rest of your life doing, something fun that you can be paid to do. Finding that particular niche may take longer than you’d like but once found, your content production and all other blogging associated tasks will come easy.

Right now it may be your opinion that you’ve worked hard and followed a plan, so you expect to be further along than you are currently. This could be a direct result of unrealistic expectations. The reality of the matter is this; you must prove yourself over the long haul. This is not get-rich-quick or overnight success. That is something that rarely exists on the internet.

You may not realize it but if you have been online and involved in social media sites, you have already established a level of branding. People see you and have already formed an opinion about what you represent. The total picture may not be complete but some opinions have been formed about you already.

When you see someone regularly in places like Twitter and Facebook, others have already asked themselves these basic questions;

• What do they stand for?

• Are they an authority in a particular field?

• Is this person trustworthy and credible?

• Do I like their personality?

• Are they authentic?

The answer to these questions will go a long way toward building your brand and it is imperative that you establish your character early on in your blogging career. First impressions can be tough to shake if you get off to a bad start.

Before going any further, new bloggers should heed this one piece of advice; be yourself!

People can tell when you are being otherwise. It somehow gets picked up by our inner senses.

Who else do you know how to be beside yourself anyhow?

The use of social media sites is without a doubt, a great way to establish your brand. After all, you must go to the people in order for anyone to know you (or your blog) even exists.

People will come to recognize your name and develop their perceptions of you. They will come to know just what you are all about. Take the case of the spammer, the person who continually tries to sell you something or send you to one of their landing pages each and every time you hear from them. They have very effectively built their brand, albeit one of negativity.

The same can be said of the person who always provides helpful tips and information, without trying to sell you something on every occasion. They too have effectively built a brand, one with a positive image.

Once established, your identity or brand has the ability to be around longer than you will. Look at Andrew Carnegie for instance, a man who has been gone for nearly 90 years but is still remembered as a powerful philanthropist.

Your businesses may someday come to a close but your brand could go on for decades. This goes to illustrate how your personal brand and your identity, is not just about you, but about your legacy.

So why build a brand in the first place?

Here’s why.

Your personal brand will be generated by what people think of you and by their reactions to things you do and say online, so you just as well have a say in how this develops. If you do nothing to cultivate a positive image, a negative image may be the result simply because people have nothing to gauge your positives on.

How do you want to be perceived online?

If you care about how others perceive you (and you should) then you realize that you must control this perception by providing the data that others will process. If you want to build a brand as a professional computer generated graphics designer, then you must concentrate on putting forth that image. Show your skills and expertise in that particular discipline.

Another part of how you are perceived is the style in which you communicate. Yes, writing has a particular style for each individual. We don’t all talk the same and we don’t all write the same. Again, be yourself and allow people to see the inner you.

Reading a person’s blog gives a very in-depth view of what they represent, so it is good to send visitors to your site to see some of your content. This can be done by providing a link to a blog post. You don’t want to be spammy and send out links to the world every time you post, but know when it’s appropriate to do so.

While reading the blogs of others, you may come across a conversation that involves a subject that you have previously written a post about, so this may be a good time to blend your link into your comment or feedback.

Note: It is your preference on this but I will not leave a link on my first visit, even when the opportunity exists.

Always add some value to the conversation or even an opposing view. You don’t want to be perceived as a yes-man (or woman) all the time. Show your independent thoughts and views.

What have you envisioned for your brand? Do you plan to be an A-list blogger?

Leave your comments and feedback below.

Do realize that not everyone will become an A-list blogger, and frankly, you don’t need to be one to realize a decent measure of success. You simply need to be a little better than the next blogger.

Follow your passion and stay on your plan, success will come. It’s simply a matter of commitment and perseverance.

In part 2 of this article, I will cover some specific methods for building your brand.

Keep Blogging!