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Give Your Blog a Signature Look with Custom Branded Graphics hughbriss.com /give-your-blog-a-signature-look-with-custom-branded-graphics/ Hugh Briss Do you create custom graphics for your blog posts or do you just throw in a stock photo that sort of has something to do with what you wrote about? I’ll be honest, I’ve been doing the second one and the crazy thing is, I’m a designer. So, starting with this post, I’m going to create a custom title graphic for all of my blog posts from now on and I think you should too. Here’s why. If you come up with a style that you follow for all of your custom graphics you’ll give your blog a unique look and where a typical blog doesn’t really have a brand identity, yours will. Many blogs have custom headers and some use logos but consider the fact that when someone sees a link to your blog posts on Facebook or Google+, in most cases there isn’t any visual brand recognition. If you develop a style for your graphics, in time you will create that immediate visual recognition that any good brand should include in their marketing. When someone shares your post on their social network pages the preview will contain an image from your post so it stands out nicely in the user’s feed but a cool graphic with the text of what the article is about will stand out and get noticed more than a picture that sort of relates to your article. It’s also a good idea to add you branding or blog name to each image so when the post is shared that branding goes with

Give Your Blog a Signature Look with Custom Branded Graphics

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Give Your Blog a Signature Look with Custom BrandedGraphics

hughbriss.com /give-your-blog-a-signature-look-with-custom-branded-graphics/

Hugh Briss

Do you create custom graphics for your blog posts or do you just throw in a stock photo that sort of hassomething to do with what you wrote about? I’ll be honest, I’ve been doing the second one and the crazything is, I’m a designer.

So, starting with this post, I’m going to create a custom title graphic for all of my blog posts from now onand I think you should too. Here’s why.

If you come up with a style that you follow for all of your custom graphics you’ll give your blog a uniquelook and where a typical blog doesn’t really have a brand identity, yours will. Many blogs have customheaders and some use logos but consider the fact that when someone sees a link to your blog posts onFacebook or Google+, in most cases there isn’t any visual brand recognition. If you develop a style foryour graphics, in time you will create that immediate visual recognition that any good brand should includein their marketing.

When someone shares your post on their social network pages the preview will contain an image fromyour post so it stands out nicely in the user’s feed but a cool graphic with the text of what the article isabout will stand out and get noticed more than a picture that sort of relates to your article. It’s also a goodidea to add you branding or blog name to each image so when the post is shared that branding goes with

Page 2: Give Your Blog a Signature Look with Custom Branded Graphics

every image.

Take a look at this blog from the design firm re:DESIGN. They create a unique image using the text forthe title of the post for every single post. They also include a properly formatted vertical version of thesame image for Pinterest users. Instead of using a large text headline they make it small (for SEO) andrely on the graphic to be the headline. When someone shares their posts on their social pages you knowthose images stand out among all the average pictures that fill our feeds.

Of course it’s also a good idea to include additional photos and images that help illustrate your points but ifthe first image in every post is your custom headline graphic, that’s the image that will show when the postis shared socially.