The post Food Blogger Connect London 2013 – My talk on Breathing life into your brand identity appeared first on Miss Foodwise.
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Just over a week ago I did a talk on ‘Breathing life into your brand identity‘ at this years Food Blogger Connect Conference in London.
Like last year, it were fun food filled days and even the sun came out to play. A few people who were there and a lot who missed the conference emailed or tweeted me to ask me to write about my talk, apparently branding your blog is a thing a lot of you think about these days. And I get it, us blogger have to be writers, photographers, stylists, web developers and why not also graphic designers.
I had the advantage of being a graphic designer myself, my husband is an art director/ illustrator and we have our own company specialized in unique branding and graphic design called The Tiny Red factory. Although I enjoy photography and writing more than graphic design these days, it will always be a big part of who I am.
So here are my views on branding your blog.
Branding is about asking questions and getting the right answers
to build your strategy on.
First ask yourself this question:
Why do I blog?
Is it to build a business, to get some kind of income out of it or out of pure fun?
This will determine what kind of blog and branding you are building. Asking yourself questions and thinking about the answers will make for a more solid brand.
My brand has become me and I have become my brand, that is one strategy. Another strategy is to stay the person behind the blog and let you site/blog be your branding.
One golden rule is to stay true to yourself, don’t paint a picture that isn’t true. To get a successful blog you can’t be dishonest about ‘you’ because you can’t keep up a lie for ever.
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| My branding integrated into my christmas card |
Another important question to get straight before you take your brand to the next level is What do I blog about?
Do I have a niche, do I blog about food in general, parenting or am I a review blog. Make a choice. It doesn’t mean you can’t do a review or giveaway if you don’t choose to be a review blog but it is good to figure out which way you want to go so your readers know what they can expect.
A niche is always good, find something that sets you apart from other blogs – be personal and be unique.
Choosing a blog name
If you have answered the questions above you might have a fair idea on what to name your blog. Make sure your name isn’t too long, you still have a strapline you can use to explain things further.
Make it catchy.
Choosing a strapline
Keep it short and topical is the message here. Try to narrow it down to a few words. This benefits you SEO and will also be more easily remembered by your readers.
Your strapline can explain what you are blogging about, what kind of blog you are or a little about the person behind the blog.
A few words should say it all so have a good think on it or ask advise from a copywriter.
When you have your name and strapline it is time to take it further.
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| Taking your branding further – Miss Foodwise for Food Revolution |
Create a Moodboard
Before you start your logo and pin down your visual branding, create a moodboard for yourself but also for your graphic designer if you choose to consult one – pinterest is a handy tool we ask our customers to use.
The board should be full with interests that are relevant to your blog, color scheme, fonts and styles. Have a play! Don’t just pick things you like, pick things that represent you.
This will give your graphic designer an idea in which direction to work and will also help you to build your further branding. A solid moodboard will also keep the cost of a graphic designer under control. There is nothing harder than to design a logo for someone who doesn’t know what she wants and budget can go out of the roof because of it.
At this point I think I mention the F-word in my talk… 
The logo
Although a logo doesn’t make a brand it is extremely important.
It is the whole branding – the package – that makes your brand and how you use it.
When you create your logo, try to make it as clean as possible, don’t try to put everything in you like, make choices.
A blog logo should have a web version which means one that works in your header, and a print version. On you business card the logo will be smaller so therefore it should be revised for print use as well. I myself have 3 different versions of my logo, one is my blog header, one is my logo for larger use and the last one is my logo for smaller use like on a business card or stationery.
Ask for help!
Don’t try and do it all by yourself.
Invest in a graphic designer, the time you spend trying to put a logo together is time you could be working on actual content for your blog.
It doesn’t have to be a costly affair especially if you go to an expert prepared. If you have done your homework – like creating a moodboard – you will have saved money.
On to The blog
To choose a platform, an interesting post about choosing a platform can be found here.
I’m on blogger – changing to WordPress soon.
For the design of your blog – use elements from your logo like colors and or details from your logo to determine the rest of your branding.
Make it all come together visually and then go on to define it further via your content.
A HUGE part of breathing life into your brand identity is defining your writing style and photography.
If you write a blog on a farm, I don’t want to see minimalistic studio photography, I want a country feel. Even minimalistic can have a country feel, be creative. The fact that you are on a farm, or perhaps in a renovated industrial building can be a selling point – it can be part of your branding.
For writing, try to find your voice and stick with it. It doesn’t mean you can’t evolve but try and find a rhythm that is truly yours and tell a story.
It can be conversational or more formal, again a choice you have to make. Here on my blog I tend to write more conversational because that’s just who I am, I am a chatterbox! My English won’t always be correct, but hey, I’m Belgian and that’s my voice! I’m not ashamed of my accent, it becomes part of who I am.
Typography
Make sure everything on your blog is reader friendly.
Go for contrast and just think, would I read a book if it looked like this. I’ve seen blogs with orange text on blue background, you stop reading that after a while.
Font size
Make sure the font size is large enough to read comfortably.
Anywhere around 12-16 px is readable for your blog posts, your title can be larger.
Of course the font has to work with your branding but it also has to be readable.
Different browsers and different screens render fonts differently.
Make sure the font you choose is a web safe font, one that also works on older devices and especially on PC.
A font that looks gorgeous on Apple might look awful on PC!
On this website you can test fonts to see if they are suitable for body copy.
Curly fonts aren’t suitable for body copy of your blog posts however they can be used for titles. Just make sure you choose a web safe font!
About page
Also very important to breathing life into your brand identity is is your about page. On this page you should tell a little something about yourself and show your face. People always enjoy reading blogs more if they know who is behind it.
If your about page is too generic and has no profile picture, you will loose readers. Blogs are personal, so your head shot is a selling point. Include contact information, you don’t want people to have to search for you details, provide them clearly.
For writing a good about me page, go to Dianne Jacobs blog for a post here.
Your brand in print
Put some thought into your business cards, they have to show who you or your brand are.
Add your full name! A lot of blogger forget to add their names on business cards.
Add your logo, your social media handles – if you like but especially your main contact details. We don’t need to see your profile picture on there -unless that’s your brand of course – but show a picture of your food or something else that people can link to your branding.
Don’t go all corporate in your business cards if your blog has a fun ‘down to earth theme’, that just doesn’t fit. Like I said before, make sure your logo is suitable for print. If your logo looks great when on your blog when it is large it might be too small and unreadable when scaled for your stationery.
Always look at your moodboard for inspiration. Again, your moodboard is here for keeps!
And finally, let your branding be the red thread that runs through all that you do!
Thank you for all the lovely tweets during and after my talk, I’m glad it was useful! x
LINK LOVE
Which platform to use
Branding Your Blog: You’re Doing it All Wrong
Are you making these 3 mistakes on your about page
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| Ellen Silverman at the photography workshop |
When I started this blog not a bone in my body imagined that I would also gain so many friends.
It all began with Food Blogger Connect last year, I arrived at the conference without a twitter account, instagram or even Facebook page. To be honest I only knew of a few people’s food blogs and I was almost convinced I was the only food blogger in Belgium…
This conference has changed my life, it has shown me that there are still people who are selfless and kind. People who are driven by passion and creativity. I was embraced by a community and went home with friends from all over the world.
I speak to them nearly every day trough various social media platforms and we see each other as often as we can. We travel to each others homes and have a taste of each others cultures, leaving to go home again full of inspiration.
As a first time attendee of the conference last year, a world of SEO, social media and photography opened for me. I discovered that (food) photography is my real passion in this world -other than this blog of course but they are entwined anyway-
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| The Ragged School room, our venue. picture www.sarkababicka.com |
You get a taster of different kind of things, you enrich yourself with knowledge. What a lot of people don’t realize is that as a (food) blogger you have be a storyteller, photographer, SEO-geek, social media expert and occasional web developer.
Luckily Food Blogger Connect offers talks and workshops on all these subjects.
Last year Jaden Hair from Steamy Kitchen explained to us how to create solid foundations for our blog and branding, Fiona Beckett from The Guardian told us to write something every day even if we don’t publish it, Food and Travel editor Alex Mead gave us some pointers about pitching to magazines and Béatrice Peltre shared her knowledge on food photography.
Last year the venue was a posh hotel, this year it was the Old Ragged School of Beaconsfield. A Victorian
school building and railway arch that made my heart skip a beat. How
romantic, having a weekend of lessons in a Victorian school… For three
days I was trying to imagine how the school would have looked in bygone
times.
This
year we were spoiled with the opportunity to choose extra workshops.
This made the ticket more expensive and I had to save up for it for
quite some time but still, for me personally the conference is worth
it.
Photography workshop with Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman is a professional photographer who has photographed many cookbooks and works with magazines like Sweet Paul Magazine. Last summer she also photographed some of the images for my dear friend Giulia’s new cookbook!
She flew in for the conference especially and gave a full day workshop.
Ellen was so very inspiring, she has a way of teaching that left us glued to her lips with her every word.
She shares her knowledge so generously and took the time to sit down with some of us who wanted it, to review our portfolio. I actually had sweaty hands when it was my turn and I learned so much from her remarks.
This is some of the advise she gave us: Don’t overdo it with the props, and don’t show too many pictures in your blog posts. Keep it simple. Less is more.
I really hope to have the pleasure of meeting Ellen again, she’s a kind and generous person and I feel very lucky to have met her.
Food Writing with Dianne Jacob
An other very inspiring workshop was the food writing workshop with Dianne Jacob. You might know her from her book ‘Will write for food‘. Dianne asked us to write two pieces which we analysed with her to learn some writing techniques. Giulia and I pushed each other to stand up before the group and read our essay out loud. Both of us, with our foreign accent, we felt really proud of ourselves for doing it. Although the whole class thought I was talking about a day when I was drunk and I was in reality telling them about a comforting bowl of soup after being car sick all day! They just wanted to hear that I was drunk, I’m sure! Funny moments, but I really learned a lot.
The most important thing Dianne said was that we are all storytellers, either through the pictures or through words, we all tell a story. Keep it simple, read your words over and over again and delete where you can.
Artificial light photography workshop with David Griffen
The last of the workshops I attended was with David Griffen, you might know him from his photography for Great British Chefs but he has a list other clients like Fifteen Cornwall and many food magazines. David gave us a taste of the world of artificial light photography. He showed us what gear to get, how to use it and gave us some tips for working for magazines.
He gave a piece of advise I have since taken in account when shooting my own work: “give the art director or designer you’re working for, room to crop the picture.” Basically don’t crop every shot on your camera, take a shot from a wider angle too. I should have already taken this in account being a graphic designer myself but I guess when shooting you just enjoy cropping the picture the way you like it.
This was another person I enjoyed meeting and I’m sure he’ll always remember me as the red haired girl who made him a food pack to take on the train home!
Our friend Sarka gave a lecture about natural light in photography, Giulia and I were sitting in the front seats of the beautiful classroom of the old Ragged school to support her. Sarka has a natural way of teaching, a lot of people felt like they could really ask her questions and I’ve seen them contacting her after the conference with their questions on twitter. Watch this girl!
And then there was food… glorious food brought to us by the crème de la crème of London’s street food vendors. This year we were able to enjoy all of their beautiful food from all over the world instead of having a formal lunch or dinner. Here are some of the traders: Seychelles curry by Vinn Goute; salt beef by Bel & Brisket; beautiful porter beer by Florence Brewery; homemade pasta by Pasta e Basta, Mexican food by Toma Mexicano; Portuguese artisan food by Silmartaste; chocolate salame by Silmar Taste; ; offal by Tongue ‘N Cheek; Venezuelan food by Guasacaca; mini-burgers (and Whisky ssst) by Mother Flipper; tasty Russian food by (loved the potato & herring salad!) Russia on a plate and Italian sandwiches by the moustache guys of Gurmetti (please remind me if I’m forgetting any of these wonderful peeps)
Breakfast was brought to us by Urvashi Roe of Botanical Baker as part of Better Breakfast Week.
To drink we had the best designed packaged apple juices by Cawston Press loved them, coffee by Nespresso, tea by Joe’s Tea Company, yoghurt by Good Heavens and wine by Wines of Lebanon.
Last but not least were we spoiled rotten all weekend by the Vitamix team with deliciously healthy soups, smoothies, ice creams and cocktails… I. am. in. love. I want one of their fnatastic blenders in my life. At first my thought was ‘it’s just another blender’ But it is really not. Did I say I NEED one?
Oh my.
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| Cooleeney cheese, an FBC sponsor |
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| Thanks for the great curry, mate! VinnGoute |
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| Lovely people and food by Tomexicano |
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| Shooting with artificial light and one of the many piles of props for the workshops |
Are you thinking of attending the conference but are you a little scared of the price tag? I understand, it’s a lot of money and I will have to look for a sponsor for next year, or start saving up for it months in advance.
I’ve
been to conferences in the design business that are more expensive and
where I gained less. Here we had three days of learning, delicious food
and plenty of drinks hot, cold and with spirit. Spending time with the
community is such a big part of the conference, I know a lot of bloggers
who became volunteers to help Food Blogger Connect to be a happy place.This is not just a conference but, to me, this is ‘our conference.’ After all, it isn’t organized by a large commercially driven organisation but, rather, by a small team of bloggers. Of course, aside from Bethany, the organizor, none of this would be possible without the help of a lot of friends, bloggers and a lovely sister and patient husband – something entirely reflected in the weekend’s atmosphere.
Want to know more?
My friend Giulia has written a post about the conference too, find it here
and here is one by Jenny
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| The fabulous venue |
So there I was, London.
I was very nervous before I arrived at the Hempel hotel for Food blogger connect.
It felt like the first day of school.
Some people allready knew each other, some were newbies but nevertheless as soon as the canapés arrived and everyone hauled out their camera, the ice was broken.
We were amongst our own kind.
We started to review the food and soon tips for making the best falafel were exchanged.
Suddenly the mood had changed from the first day at school to a high school reunion.
Smiling faces everywhere, everyone excited about what was coming.
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| The waiter looked very nervous with all the foodies taking pictures! |
When it was time to go into the gallerie we were all cheerful and enthousiastic, like children on a fieldtrip. Our first speaker was the fabulous Jaden Hair from Steamy Kitchen. She talked about laying the foundations for your blog.
During short breaks everyone was running around wanting to meet everyone, exchanging business cards. Glad to see in this digital age that print isn’t dead whatever some people say. A business card is the first advertising for your blog or business, it has to look good and have all your relevant info on it. I personally love business cards, I like flipping through them and discovering peoples personality’s by their cards.
I couldn’t wait to get back to the conference the next morning. I had 1,5 hours commuting to do as my hotel was in the other side of London but it felt like it was only a 15 minute drive. Another wonderful day started, the food was plenty, the people great and the sun was shining…
We had some inspiring workshops with the lovely Fiona Beckett from the Guardian, the long awaited photography workshop with Béatrice Peltre and Nando from Nandocucca showed us the world of video blogging. I think nobody had much sleep during these few days because clearly everyone was visiting each others blogs at night to compliment them on it the next day.
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| Left to right: Jackie, me, Nando, Bethany, Kelly, Valerie, Arthi, Emiko, Julia, me, Zita |
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| Picture by Sarka Babicka (c) cookyourdream.com |
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| Anjum Anand (left) and Caroline Mili Artis (right) |
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| Two British favourits… |
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| Luncheon |
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