Blog Logo: Giving Your Blog a Competitive Edge

When we think of “logos” we think of brands. But did you know that even a blog, that is in no way associated with a brand or a business, needs a logo?  

Justin Hall, an American journalist started links.net during his college days, in 1994. It was an online chronicle of writing snippets, links, and more. By 1997, these online journals were given the new name “weblog”. Fast forward 24 years and here we are, in a fast-moving blogging realm where there are around 7.5 million blog posts published per day

When it all started, blogs were used as digital spaces for bloggers to share their thoughts or document their personal experiences, or even to start discussions with people around the world.

Are you a blogger struggling to get the right audience to notice your blog? Then you should know that even blogs, like brands, need branding. They need logos. 

Why Does Your Blog Need a Logo?

Do you think it is worth investing time and money in designing a logo for a blog? Short answer, yes. And here are some reasons that tell you why blogs need logos too. 

  • Logos help your blog gain a competitive edge. You might have chosen a rare niche where there are only a few blogs already. But your blog should still have a unique element that will set it apart from the rest. A blog logo can be this unique element.  
  • A logo will create an identity for your blog. Your blog name and logo together will define who you are and what kind of content your blog would offer. The logo will help establish a personality for your blog. And thus make it easier for the relevant audience to resonate with it. 
  • Your logo becomes the identity of your blog on social media. It comes in handy to target readers who do not already follow you on social media. With a strong logo in place, when you promote your blog through social media ads, your readers might instantly recognize your blog. After establishing this connection, you can then use interactive social media designs to keep them engaged. And also to continue driving more traffic to your blog. 
  • For business blogs, people know that there is a professional team behind the blog. But for a personal blog, there is an individual behind it. When there is no strong brand name to create trust and reliability, your logo can be a great starting point. Of course, a lot depends on the content you post. But your logo will act as a foundational block in building the credibility of your blog. 

Blog Branding Tips That Every Blogger Needs to Know

Back in 1999, just five years after Justin Hall set a new trend, there were 23 blogs already published. Do you know how many blogs are out there on the internet today? Over 600 million of them

So, if you do not want yours to get lost in these millions, you should focus on branding. You heard that right! Even blogs need branding. Let’s look at some quick tips on blog branding. 

1. Let your logo talk 

Designing a blog logo is often the first concrete step toward branding a blog. Your logo will be that strong visual element that lets readers know what your blog is about the moment they spot it. 

2. Get social 

Nearly 94% of bloggers rely on social media for marketing their blogs. But that is not enough. Remember that there are other bloggers in the same domain and brands trying to push their blog sites. 

The competition is tough but making small changes to your marketing efforts goes a long way in enhancing the performance of your blog. And getting a professional logo for your blog is one such step to boosting the image of your blog, and thus its performance too. 

3. Have a distinct theme 

Have you noticed how businesses spend millions of dollars on web design? A good design is visually appealing. And it also offers a great user experience. The readers who visit your blog might also be reading several other blogs. So, you might want to look for aesthetics that make the reading experience more comfortable for them. 

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Use consistent color schemes, graphics, blog images, the right type of font, and other little details to deliver your audience the best user experience. And your logo design should also seamlessly fit into the theme you choose for your blog. 

Kimp Tip: The images you incorporate in your blog post can make or break the theme of your blog. Whether you use stock photos or custom designs, always pick impactful images relevant to the content.

Looking for custom blog images to add value to your posts? Design eye-grabbing visuals with the Kimp Graphics subscription

4. Pay attention to your niche 

Picking a niche and sticking with it is perhaps one thing that most successful bloggers all have in common. 

Instead of dabbling with too many segments, try to focus on the niche you choose and aim at becoming an expert in it. So, people will come to you when they need reliable advice in that particular niche. This is how your blog becomes a brand they trust for information in a specific area.  

So, that was about branding a blog. While you might mostly have a plan in place for the rest of the points, designing the logo is perhaps one thing that’s worrying you. We get it, coming up with a design to represent your blog is not easy. 

But don’t worry outsourcing logo design is pretty easy today. And if you think outsourced logos are expensive, design subscriptions that combine all your marketing designs will make it a cost-effective move. Whether you design your own logo or outsource the design, here are a few design tips to remember. 

Tips to Choose the Right Blog Logo Design 

Remember that logos for a brand and logos for a blog are two very different things but with similar purposes. In the case of a brand there are a variety of other things like the services and products offered, the teams involved and the corporate culture together influencing how people look at the brand. 

For a blog that is not selling anything but just providing information, the customer experience comes from the content itself. So your logo will become the face of your blog. 

If you are a business owner, you will be using your brand logo as the blog logo. But if you are a blogger with no registered business name, what should your logo be? From the colors you choose to the type of logo design, there are so many things to consider. Here are some tips to consider when you finalize your blog logo design. 

1. Understand that logos are of different types 

Lettermarks, wordmarks, picture logos, and abstract logos are the most common logo types that brands use. You can also use these styles for your blog logo. To use them right, you should know what each logo means and what makes them special. 

Lettermarks are logos with just letters in them and mostly they are the first letters of the words in a business name. This is particularly suitable for blogs that have a long name of three or more words. Try to include the full name of your blog as a tagline below your logo especially when your blog is still new. 

Wordmarks are logos with words and in this case, this word would be the name of the blog itself. Picture logos are direct pictorial representations of your blog name. The logo of Twitter is the perfect example of a picture logo. Abstract logos are pictorial logos too but there are symbols or pictures that have a deep meaning or in this case, these would be symbolic representations of what your blog covers. Have you seen the logo of the audio products brand Beats Electronics?  

Source: Wikipedia

At first glance, it might look like a conventional monogram logo with the brand’s initial “B”. But look closely and you will notice that the circle looks like a human head with the “b” forming the shape of headphones. This conveys the message that the brand specializes in headphones.

Similarly, you can create an abstract logo that tells your audience about the niche your blog belongs to. For example, you could use a “baker” symbol or a symbol of cakes and cookies if you blog about baking. Or if your blog is about parenting it could be a symbol of a mother or a multitasking woman. 

2. The logo color should look good on your blog 
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People might spend more time reading a blog than they spend skimming through most websites. So, you should be cautious about the color schemes you choose for your blog in general and for your logo too. 

An understanding of color psychology will help you get it right. And once you have a color palette for your blog itself, you will easily be able to use the same colors for your blog logo for a more synchronized look. 

If you don’t know where to start or what kind of colors to combine, you can also use an online color palette generation tool or better yet, work with professionals who can give you the best recommendations. 

Kimp tip: Most often, readers judge your blog even before they read a post. The look at the visuals, the overall aesthetics. And colors play a critical role in their judgment. Our blog on color psychology might help you get a quick insight into how different colors are perceived in branding.  

3. Choose the right font 
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Text is primary in most blogs, except of course photography blogs. There is going to be text everywhere on the page. So you would want your logo’s typography to stand out from the rest of the text while also not breaking the rhythm of the layout. 

Some font styles are preferred for their readability. While others make the logo look professional. Along with this, the kerning, serif, and other factors influence the effectiveness of different fonts. If all these sound confusing to you, check out Kimp’s blog post on choosing the right fonts

Knowing a bit about fonts comes in handy while designing your blog’s logo. Because the personality of the typeface you choose for your blog should align with the personality of your blog. 

For example, a vintage font style might look out of place in a logo that targets youngsters or talks about contemporary fashion trends. Since typefaces determine the look and feel of your blog logo, pay close attention to the one you choose. 

4. Understand what your logo design says about your blog 
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While choosing all the physical attributes of a blog logo design, you should not miss out on the core objective. And that is for the logo to depict your blog’s character. 

We’ll explain it in simple terms. There might be hundreds of baking-related blogs out there but only a handful might be popular across the world. But what sets your blog apart from the competition? Perhaps the type of images you use? Or the tone of your content? Or both? Once you know this unique style your blog has, ensure that your logo design communicates this style as well. 

Because other blogs can copy your content ideas. But they will not be able to mimic your personal style. So, your logo should also be along the same lines as your content style – fun or sophisticated, or formal. 

5. Remember your audience when you pick a theme for your logo design 

Every logo design, especially one with symbols or pictures, has an emotional value. So, make sure that your blog logo triggers the right emotions. 

For example, a comical element in your logo or bright colors might appear a little out of place if your blogs target professionals and business owners. On the other hand, a very formal logo or a design with emblems or heritage symbols might appear a little too rigid for a family audience. So, keep your audience in mind when you finalize the overall logo design. 

Where and How Can You Get a Logo Designed for Your Blog? 

So, now you have made up your mind to give your blog an upgrade by giving it a professional logo. Then comes the big question- how do you get this logo of your dreams? 

1. Use an online logo creator 

This is one of the easiest options and also a very accessible one. There are some free and some paid services that let you design the perfect logo for your brand. It is quite convenient and most tools are easy to use even for people who know nothing about design. 

You can easily find inspirations for your blog logo from multiple sources and then create a design with these logo creators. There are standard templates, standard visual elements, and even fonts that you can mix and match to create a logo design for your blog. But it is also this simplicity that makes this a tricky decision. 

Let’s take the baking blog example again. You have decided that your blog logo will have the symbol of a cake and your blog’s name on it. So, a quick search will give you tens or even hundreds of cake symbols. But there is the undeniable probability that another baker in some other corner of the world might also be considering the same symbol for his or her blog. 

The purpose of your blog logo is to give your blog a unique identity. So, you do not want to create a logo that is easy to replicate or one that looks very similar to something that is already there. There are also logo copyright issues that can be bad for your blog’s reputation. 

So, you need to be extra careful in doing your research when you choose to create blog designs with an online logo creation tool. You also should not risk using stock elements in your logo. Instead, you can leave it to the professionals and save your blog from intellectual property violations. 

2. Hire a graphic designer 

When you decide to outsource your logo, hiring a freelance designer is perhaps the first idea that comes to mind. But when you do, remember that you are entrusting the identity of your brand to the hands of an individual who does not know your blog well. 

To avoid hurdles along the way, here are a few things to do:

  • Choose designers from a credible freelance platform
  • Understand the scope and have a clear design brief in place 
  • Pay attention to the nuances in the design contract like the number of revisions supported

Despite these careful measures, things might go wrong once in a while. And if this happens, a design agency might feel like the closest alternative. But again, the quality of designs might be better with reputed design agencies. However, a few other limitations, like a strict design contract, remain. 

You, therefore, need a more reliable design outsourcing option that you can trust for long-term collaborations. Like unlimited graphic design services, for example. 

3. Work with an unlimited graphic design company 

When you choose an unlimited graphic design service for your blog’s logo design and branding, here are some of the benefits. 

  • There are no design contracts. So, the collaboration feels easier to understand. 
  • Since you get unlimited revisions, you can tweak your logo to perfectly resonate with your idea. 
  • Design subscriptions include a wide range of graphic design services. So, it’s not just logo design. You can also work with the same team to get your blog images and social media images and ads designed. So, you get all the help you need both with content creation and promotion. 
  • When you have an experienced team of designers working with you, you can explore a wide range of designs. For example, can have you need interactive animations designed for your blog. Or custom illustrations to demonstrate your topic. Or even infographics to deliver content crisply. 

Working  With Kimp’s Graphic Design Services to Get Your Blog Logo Designed 

When you work with a graphic design subscription, all types of designs required to maintain and promote your blog will be in one place. Most blogs these days try to create a better customer experience through motion graphics, easily shareable blog images, and more. The best part about choosing a graphic design subscription is that you can have the same team take care of all these marketing designs and your blog logo design as well. 

Want to know if a design subscription will work for your blog promotion? Sign up for Kimp’s free trial and find out.