The Branded Solopreneur

Where Cult Brands Are Born

A Rookie’s Guide To SEO: 8 Simple SEO Tweaks You Can Make In A Day

By 72 Comments

SEO Guide for Rookies

**This is a guest post by Luke Jordan from InterGeek.co.uk**

What’s crackin’ guys and gals?

As Dre BEGGED me on so many occasions to write for The Branded Solopreneur, I figured I’d eventually have to say yes – so here I am.

Note to Dre: if you ever fly over to the UK and turn up at my door demanding guest posts again, I’ll call the police.

I’m under strict instruction to Americanise Americanize this post, so if you see me slip up with an Englishism then please drop me a polite line over at Intergeek, or publicly abuse me on my Twitter – @LJordanOnline.

Right then, why am I here again?

Oh yeah!

Today I’m going to be talking to you about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I know, I know – everyone harps on about it, and it’s boring.

I also know that you’ve never seen success from SEO, and that you once read from an expert that you should ignore it completely.

Erm, what kind of crazy mofo would advise you to miss out on the greatest marketing method (in terms of ROI) the world has ever seen?!*

*Don’t quote me on that, but the long-term ROI is seriously f-in high.

Anyway, I realize that you don’t care much for SEO, because you already have 25 hours worth of work to do today and simply will never have time to learn.

However, whilst I’m a firm believer that SEO is a continual process; something that can never be finished and never truly mastered, I’m adamant that you are able to make huge strides towards SEO success in just a single day.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret:

The majority of good SEO isn’t about doing a range of complicated things in order to rank in search.

In fact, it’s much the opposite; it’s all about removing the roadblocks that are preventing you from ranking in search.

Most of these roadblocks are SUPER easy to remove. [Read more…]

Pin12.26K
Share115
+1310
Share57
Email
Shares 12.91K

The Blog Post Checklist And Resource Guide Every Badass Blogger Needs

By 11 Comments

The Only Blog Post Checklist And Resource Guide A Badass Blogger Needs

The secret to being a badass blogger is getting all your I’s dotted and T’s” crossed. It’s about systematizing your process into an easy to follow set of steps that you can repeat again and again. That is what will make the process of creating new posts easy peazy.

My blog post process follows a 10-phase workflow, that includes all the bells and whistles required to attain ‘badass blogger’ status. This includes everything from brainstorming, creating, publishing, promoting and beyond.

To help you fine tune your blogging process and make sure you’ve got all your bases covered, I want to share with you the 10-phase process I swear by and give you my personal 80+ point blog post checklist. [Read more…]

Pin3.06K
Share11
+1219
Share11
Email
Shares 3.34K

{Mini Course} How To Create Branded Blog Images

By 10 Comments

How To Create Branded Blog Images

Want to learn how to create branded blog images, like a boss?

Your wish in my command!

Look, I’m not going to sugar coat it for you…

Because of the fast paced, visual driven online world we live in these days having top notch branded blog images is no longer a ‘that might be nice to have’ kinda thing. You’ve got to step up your game and bring badass branding to the table if you want to get noticed and stand out online. It’s just a fact!

The good news is the playing field is evening out for solopreneurs and newbies, with image creation tools like Canva and +PicMonkey. You just need to understand the basics of image branding and put a system in place and you too can have badass blog images that stand out in the sea of bright lights on social media and across the web.

Which is exactly what I tackled in this mini course! [Read more…]

Pin4.79K
Share56
+1333
Share18
Email
Shares 5.21K

Killer Strategies For Upping Your Visual Social Media Marketing Game

By 8 Comments

Killer Strategies For Upping Your Visual Social Media Marketing Game

If you want to up your visual social media marketing game there’s no better way to do that than learning from the pros that are already out there crushing it.

Every Saturday I round up the week’s best branding and design badassery for a power packed weekly dose of visual mastery. BUT, I only publish it on social media. One of my best home dogs, Krista Wiltbank, gave me the idea of collecting the best of the best for one heavy hitting blog post. Brilliance, I say, brilliance!

I mean, what’s better than having all the visual social media gold nuggets you need in one super sized serving? Soooo, to help you get right to the mastery you need I’ve categorized the roundup by social platform. [Read more…]

Pin509
Share15
+1297
Share11
Email
Shares 916

7 Essential Ingredients For Branding A Blog

By 39 Comments

7 Essential Ingredients For Branding A Blog

Your blog is the crock pot of your branding. There’s a combination of ingredients that when combined results in a scrumptious recipe for your unique brand identity recipe.

It’s this unique recipe that will build brand recognition and foster that signature visual calling card visitors need to instantly recognize your content when they’re not on your blog.

In addition to breaking down the recipe for branding a blog, I’ve also rounded up examples of mouth watering blog branding from bloggers that are already reaping the rewards of their signature brand identity recipe.

The unique recipe for branding a blog calls for the following 7 ingredients:

[Read more…]

Pin1.20K
Share52
+1478
Share51
Email
Shares 1.92K

How To Get An Influencer’s Attention Without Being A Suck Up

By 40 Comments

How To Get A Influencer To Notice You

I’ve never much liked the term ‘influencer’, but for the purposes of saving word count I opted to use the term instead of a more aptly coined title of, ‘peer that is where you want to be’ or ‘individual that has leveraged their authority for the greater good’.

Make no mistake, when I use the title ‘influencer’ I’m not referring to those that have large vanity numbers on social media OR those with the most grandiose egos. To me an influencer is someone with a deep level of expertise, that has proven they get results, that practices what they preach and has a powerful ability to foster implementation and action in others.

Learning how to get an influencer’s attention online can lead to exponential growth in traffic, trust and authority, but it’s not as easy as one would think. Rightfully so.

If you want to win the heart of an influencer in your niche you need to show up and be seen, among other things, which we’ll get to in a minute. In fact, you need to be ‘seen’ by an influencer more often than you do by a potential client to get their attention. Why is that? Since influencers are bombarded by droves of people jockeying for their attention they typically have fiercely efficient visual and mental filters that block out hype, fluff and bullshit for them.

Most take that to mean they need to come at them with sugar laced compliments or blow smoke up their ass, as if killing them with phony compliments is going to win them over. If you’re like me you’re better than shamelessly sucking up to anyone, under any circumstance. If you’re not, get there! Contrary to popular belief, no one worth a damn likes a suck up.

Instead I’ve taken a very organic approach to building relationships with my peers that are ahead of me. Yeah, those we coin ‘influencers’. Today I’m sharing the recipe I’ve used to win the hearts of the badasses in my niche to help you attain the same results. [Read more…]

Pin201
Share44
+1421
Share45
Email
Shares 803

Stand Out Online With Help From The Tools Social Royalty Use

By 54 Comments

How To Stand Out Online

 

Your success standing out online boils down to….a pause.

It’s about that moment when something catches someone’s attention. That ‘thing’ they stop long enough to take notice of. It’s about fostering intrigue and deeper exploration.

Finding ways to create that coveted pause should be your primary focus. It should be what drives everything you do, everything you create, and every resource you use as a brand. There are several ways to garner these much needed pauses.

The 4 most effective ways to garner a pause are:

➽ Visual content
➽ Brand recognition
➽ SEO
➽ Emailing marketing

Sooooo, the question you really need to ask is, ‘What resources will help me garner the most pauses?’ No one can answer that question better than the pros that have already mastered the art of standing out online.

Important Disclaimer:

Many of the all-stars that have contributed to this post weren’t huge fans {to say the least} of being referred to as ‘royalty’. In fact, one said they’d only contribute if I put in a disclaimer! So here it is… [Read more…]

Pin460
Share107
+1534
Share784
Email
Shares 2.07K

A Blogger’s Guide To Branding Stock Photography

By 31 Comments

A Guide To Branding Stock Photography

The only thing more annoying than the hunt for royalty free stock photos is how vanilla they can be. They’re meant to be a ‘one size fits all’ visual resource. Now, while that sounds great in theory, it’s far from reality.

There’s one critical element of visual content that’s not taken into account in this train of thought. Style! Take jeans for example. How many of us wear the same kind of jeans, let alone the same way?

You’ve got:

➽The skin tight, wiggle yourself in them fit.
➽The hip hop, 4 sizes too big, sag off your ass fit.
➽The form fitting country crooner fit.
➽The high rise, pleated mom fit.

You get the point.

One person’s perfect fit is another person’s fashion nightmare. Our preferred styles of jean, the way we wear them, and the items we pair with them is dictated by our personal style.

Versatility is one of the reasons jeans have remained a wardrobe staple for decades now. They’re a staple that bridges cultures, body types and social class, but they certainly aren’t a one size fits all kind of thing — something any parent who has tried to buy jeans for their teenager has learned real quickly.

Alright, so I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent. It happens. Let’s circle this back around to style deficient stock photos.

Stock photos are the jeans of visual content. Using stock photography is one thing, seamlessly branding stock photography so it blends with your overall brand look and style is a whole other. It’s the difference between an image and an image that oozes signature style. [Read more…]

Pin753
Share15
+1276
Share13
Email
Shares 1.11K

How to Create Custom Seamless Patterns With Your Color Palette {without Photoshop}

By 17 Comments

How to Create Seamless Patterns With Your Color Palette

Seamless patterns are a great way to create stunning backgrounds for your images, videos, website and more.

The 15 Most Image Friendly Seamless Patterns Are:

Top 15 Most Popular Seamless Patterns

 

Creating custom seamless patterns with your color palette is now easier than ever, thanks to a website called PatternCooler.com

PatternCooler has been one of my go to design tools for years so it’s about time I stop hoarding the awesomeness and share it with the rest of my fellow badasses! [Read more…]

Pin181
Share9
+1180
Share3
Email
Shares 393

A Blogger’s Guide To Creating A Branded Watermark

By 39 Comments

A Blogger's Guide To Creating A Branded Watermark

Gone are the days that watermarks are only for photographers protecting their images. These days knowing how to watermark your images is crucial for anyone creating visual content. Why is that?

There are 3 MAJOR benefits of watermarking blog images:

➽It’s a unique identifier that builds brand recognition
➽It can elevate the perceived quality of your visuals {if done right}
➽It can ensure you get credit when those thieving trolls strike

The easy {but incredibly stale} way of watermarking a photo is simply adding your url or brand name via text somewhere on your image.

The problem with that is that you don’t foster brand recognition OR elevate the perceived quality of your content.

And let’s be honest, it’s really easy to crop out a line of text from an image, so the watermark is easy to eliminate.

Rather than wasting your time with stale and ineffective ways of watermarking, I want to show you 5 ways you can create a branded watermark for your images so you’ll get all the benefits mentioned above. [Read more…]

Pin896
Share36
+1446
Share49
Email
Shares 1.50K

About Andrea Beltrami

I’m a straight shooting, wine guzzling, shoe hoarding, sassy Italian, born and raised in California whose favorite word starts with an F and rhymes with “tuck”.

There’s not much I won’t say or do for a laugh, even if (and it usually is) it’s at my expense. I’ve spent most of my life pinging and ponging between the black and the white, searching for that perfect shade of grey.

Click here to hear my story…

Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter YouTube