Visual Branding Elements for Bloggers

Branding, Graphic Design

July 12, 2020

When you think of visual branding, you may think, “Oh that’s a logo!”. However, there are many other visual branding elements for bloggers to include. If you want to look like a professional brand and blogger, you’ll need more than just a logo.

On top of visual elements, there are other aspects of branding such as; knowing your ideal client, brand story, and brand voice…just to name a few. This post will just be going over visual and graphic elements of branding.

Keep on reading to find out all the visual blogging elements that you can include in your branding.

Plus…download a FREE checklist too!

Branding for Bloggers

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something.

WEBSITE

  • Logo
  • Submark
  • Blog Header
  • Favicon
  • Colors
  • Fonts
  • Photography
  • Patterns/Textures
  • Blog Signature
  • Social Icons
  • “Pin It” Button

I am first going to go over branding elements for your website. Later, I will cover social media branding which is also very important.

Depending on your niche, you may not need some of these elements. That’s ok! This is just to give you an idea of branding that you may not have thought about or heard of before.

Logo

I mentioned earlier that branding is more than just a logo. However, you don’t want to forget about your logo since it does play a major part in visual branding.

Submark

A submark is a version of your logo but in a simpler format. Sometimes your logo may not look as legible in a smaller format that is needed. This gives you an alternate option if you need it.

Favicon

Favicons are tiny, so usually these are comprised of a symbol or only 1 or 2 letters. Keep it simple.

Fonts

Fonts are an important part of your website’s branding. They need to be visually appealing yet legible. Also, you don’t want to use more than 2-3 different fonts throughout your site. My favorite place to find fonts is Creative Market. There is an endless amount of options for any kind of style you may need.

Related Reading: Must-Have Fonts for 2020

Photography

There are a lot of great places to find stock photography to make your website look profession and put together. A few of my favorite stock photo sites are Haute Stock and Creative Market.

For FREE stock photography, check out Unsplash and Pexels.

Blog Signature

Not all bloggers use a blog post signature, and that’s ok. But it can add a little personal touch to the end of your blog posts.

Branding for Bloggers

Social Icons

Social icons can be included for others to share your content on their social media, and also to link to your social media. It’s important to make sure your content is sharable so others can find it and so that it reaches a larger audience.

There are many plugins that let others share your content that uses normal colored social media icons. However, you can also create custom colored icons that match your branding. I find this option much more visually appealing. Custom social icons can work for both sharing your content and linking to your social media. Here are some examples below.

social icons branding

PRO TIP: Use Canva to create branded social media icons. They have all the icons available and they’re customizable!

“Pin It” Button

I suggest having a “Pin It” button so people can easily pin your blog posts! This is also an icon that you can customize to match your branding instead of having a red button for Pinterest.

Pinterest is a huge traffic driver for bloggers so make sure you have a “Pin It” button along with pinball images on your blog post. I use the jQuery Pin It Button for Images plugin so my images are easily pinnable all over my website.

This is my “pin it” button I made myself. You can also see it if you hover over images and pins below.

Related Reading: Pinterest Tips to Drive Massive Traffic

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is very important for bloggers. This is how you reach your audience, gain new followers, share your blog posts, update your followers, and so much more. You want your social media branding and website branding to be cohesive and recognizable.

Instagram

  • profile picture
  • bio
  • highlight covers
  • story templates
  • story stickers

Instagram is a huge platform that everyone and their mom are on and scroll through daily. It’s important to focus on your Instagram branding so you look like a professional brand and blogger

To be honest, when I come across a new profile, I decide if I want to follow that account within seconds. It is mainly due to their Instagram aesthetic. I like to look at feeds that look put together and visually appealing. You can achieve this by using an Instagram pre-set or filter so all your posts look like they go together and are from the same account. You can find presets on Etsy or Creative Market.

Highlight covers are another part of Instagram branding that helps your profile look more cohesive. If you’re struggling to find covers that match your branding, check out my shop where I have TONS to choose from. I also create custom covers if you’re interested – shoot me a message.

Branding for Bloggers

Right now, lots of people watch Instagram stories more often than scrolling through their feed. At least, I know I do. This is another opportunity to brand your Instagram. Story templates are an easy way to do this. You can include your brand colors and logo.

social media templates for canva

As you can tell from this post, there are many elements that you can include in your visual branding as a blogger. It’s a lot more than just a logo. Visual branding creates an experience for your audience. It can really sway your audience in staying on your site or not. Don’t forget about all the other elements to brand yourself as a professional blogger!

If this is overwhelming or you’re just not design-savvy, I love creating branding for bloggers! Send me a message and let’s chat!

Get your FREE visual branding checklist for bloggers

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} .fd-ef-5f0a521ed832e40026fdcfa7 .fd-has-success .ff__success { display: block; } .fd-ef-5f0a521ed832e40026fdcfa7 .ff__success>*:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } .fd-ef-5f0a521ed832e40026fdcfa7 .ff__error { margin: 10px 0 0 0; display: none; } .fd-ef-5f0a521ed832e40026fdcfa7 .fd-has-error .ff__error { display: block; } .fd-ef-5f0a521ed832e40026fdcfa7 .ff__error>*:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; }

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  1. Ruthie says:
    July 14, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    Thanks a lot.. I really enjoyed the post plus what you said about using instagram.. I have a question which is: I have a logo at my header(though it is a large space), is there any need to still add something like a writeup or picture at the header?

    Reply
    • Brooke says:
      July 14, 2020 at 6:03 pm

      Glad you enjoyed the post! I took a look at your logo and I think your it works perfectly as a header, so you shouldn’t have to add anything else 🙂

      Reply
  2. Tracy says:
    July 16, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    This post is filled with a lot of great info! I’ve been wanting to find a way to make my blog stand out more. I have an idea of what I want it to look like but it’s challenging for me to put it all together!

    -Tracy
    Find Your Dazzle

    Reply

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