About 2 years ago I started the most amazing journey of my life: my current blog, Not Another Blonde. But I had been blogging on and off for 4 years before I decided to totally rebrand my blog for the New Year. I started with a blog called Brittoon In (it was supposed to be a clever play on “tune in” since Brittoon is one of my nicknames), which was strictly fashion.
Then I changed directions completely and I started another blog called Sheer Spirit which was mainly inspirational, yogi, and healthy living principles. At the time I was in a very spiritual place in my life so Sheer Spirit made sense.
Flash forward to 2015, the first week of January, and I rebranded my blog to Not Another Blonde. I was finally finding my voice, what my purpose in the world was, and I was ready to make my dreams come true without the stereotype of being another blonde blogger.
The point of that story isn’t to take you down memory lane, it’s to let you know that no matter where you are in your blogging career you can always rebrand yourself and start totally new.
change your blog name or niche
If you haven’t bought a domain name through a service like GoDaddy or Bluehost, the New Year is the perfect time to do it. You can finally get rid of your blogname.wordpress.com account and step into the big league with a blogname.com website. As the years change so do your interests so if you find yourself no longer aligned with the blog name you started with, change it.
On the other hand if you still like your blog name, but you’re not as passionate about the topics you have been blogging about, pick a different niche. Like I mentioned before, I did this 2 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made.
When the passion from your creating is gone, your followers can tell. And at that point if you’re not blogging for yourself and you’re not blogging for your followers, who are you blogging for?
It’s never too late to change you ur blog name or niche. If your content is good enough, the rebranding process will happen on its own and people will instantly recognize your new name.
try a new blog layout
Every 1-2 years I change my blog layout. This isn’t as big of a deal as changing your blog name or niche because you want your blog layout to be fresh and in this case switching it up every so often is good. Your followers will get sick of the same layout so why not try something new for the New Year?
There are hundreds or thousands of WordPress themes out there that showcase different parts of your blog/business you never knew could be showcased before. Trust me!
The days of a Plain Jane blog with a post after post format are over. Now you can create feature boxes with your most popular categories, a contact button, your Instagram feed, Snapchat code, etc.
You want your blog to feel professional and up to date. And as long as your new blog layout isn’t complex or confusing, you can change it every year if you want!
pick a new aesthetic
Probably the most important part of rebranding is picking and sticking to an aesthetic that is easily recognizable as your own. The Skinny Confidential, Fashionlush, and Happily Grey are prime examples of outstanding branded aesthetics. Whenever I come across any of their pictures I know whose it is. That is branding at its finest.
If you need to get some inspiration just browse Instagram. There are hundreds of thousands of bloggers and creatives on there to get ideas from.
Whatever you do you want your aesthetic to match your personality and brand. So if you’re bubbly you probably want to go with an aesthetic that is bright and cheery. If you’re more moody you want to go with darker and warmer tones like black, white, and grey. If you’re a mellow midwesterner you want to go with lots of white with a boho undertone.
There are so many ways you could take your new aesthetic you just have to think creatively and logically about the message you’re trying to send.
Final thoughts: Branding is so so SO important I can’t stress it enough. Even I plan on kicking things up a notch in the New Year, (pay close attention). If you want to be a household name, you need great branding, period!
What are your blog plans for the New Year? Tell me in the comments below!
xx
8 Comments
Nyla
01/03/2017 at 5:25 amYou’re actually one of my favorite bloggers, and it’s because your voice is so unique and real. I’m glad you found it. 🙂
I started several blogs as well since 2013. It wasn’t until the middle of last year that I found my blogging “home”, The Blossom Project. I completely rebranded too and am so happy with it.
Thanks for sharing another great post as always.
Nyla
http://www.TheBlossomProject.io
brittany
01/06/2017 at 12:38 pmWOW Nyla! Stop it you’re making me blush! What a wonderful compliment, I’m so flattered. Thank you. I took a look at your blog and it is so ethereal and beautiful, great job on the rebranding. It’s very peaceful and calming, (hope that’s the vibe you’re going for). Please let me know if you ever have any questions, I’m always here. Hope you stay in touch! xx
Sue Bowling
01/04/2017 at 3:00 amWe are thinking of rebranding our blog so I would be interesting in knowing how yours goes.
brittany
01/04/2017 at 8:30 pmHey Sue! That’s great, now is the perfect time. I don’t plan on rebranding anytime soon because I just did it about a year ago, but what questions do you have? xx
Kandra James
03/30/2017 at 12:42 pmThis was good food for thought, as rebranding/redoing/recreating is on the front burner for me, as I am sure is the case for so many others. And, you are so on target with getting an owned domain,lol. I want to push the reset button, but don’t know if I want to reset my current space or create a new space….or both…
My goals have changed with growth and experience. But deciding what the new should be is such a challenge…
brittany
04/02/2017 at 10:17 amYou can always upgrade what you have so don’t stress about starting over unless your current blog is really not aligned with how you are today in which case I would say starting over may be best. It’s not that big of a deal to start over if you’re a new blogger or if you haven’t stayed consistent with it. Hope that helps! Thank you for reading Kandra! Hope you stay in touch. xx
Nikki
04/05/2017 at 12:00 pm1 question Brittany… when you re-brand, how do you handle social media accounts/marketing? Is it better to change the name on accounts (where possible) or to start over fresh. I’ve heard some say that their followers moved with them to new accounts but many times their interests won’t align with the new direction. What do you think is the best promotion strategy, since that’s a big part of building a brand?
(Sorry to focus so much on this aspect. I am admittedly THE worst at promotion & SM.)
brittany
04/17/2017 at 4:24 pmHaha this is such a great question Nikki thanks for asking! I’ll give you a short answer now and a longer question in one of my #BlogWithBritt YouTube videos…
I’ve changed my social handles 3 times – my name, my first blog, Not Another Blonde. I did this because to me the people following me on those accounts were a part of my journey and sometimes a journey requires a redirection which is what happened in my case. I think it’s much easier to change names than to build something from scratch completely. If your current followers don’t like the new content you’re putting out they’ll unfollow you. It’s much easier to lose followers than it is to gain. Look out for the video and I’ll chat more about this and give you a shout out! xx