Tuesday To-Do: Secure the Branding Basics

Welcome back to Tuesday To-Do, a weekly column on SPoT where I share a quick tip to help you get your week back on track, even if Monday was less than productive.

I have a very specific group of readers in mind today, and I feel like I’m writing this tip just for you guys. You know who you are!

Today’s Tuesday To-Do is written for those of you who have been long time blog readers, post planners and almost content creators who haven’t taken the plunge to claim your space online and start doing the thing.

Yeah, I’m talking to you. Hey there!

I know the process of launching something online and putting a piece of you on the web for everyone to see (and judge) can be a daunting task. It’s nerve wracking, and just getting to a clear enough point in your notes and ideas and can taxing. Where should you even start? What do you even want to share? Is this a hobby or a business venture?

All of the answers to those questions will come, but before you can even start to break those things down, you have to tackle the basics.

My challenge for you today is to tackle one or two of these branding basics below. You’d be surprised how motivated you get and how empowered you become to launch your brand once you take a simple first step.

Buy a domain name

For some, this might also mean settle on the name of your blog, site or brand. It’s time to make some decisions and make it official. I’ve been using Namecheap to register all of my domains since I first started putting things on the internet and I’ll never use another domain registrar.

Even if you don’t start developing a full blog, site or even coming soon page right away, owning your site name is a huge first step that will save you stress down the line.

Order business cards

Networking is key when it comes to growing the impact of your brand. Even if you have an online hub for what you do, all of you efforts can be concentrated to the web. Eventually, you’ll have to make some IRL connections, too. I order my business cards through Moo and I love the quality and options they give for uploading custom or using their designs.

I haven’t ordered new cards since rebranding the blog, so I’ll be doing this soon.

Start an email list

Even if you don’t have a plan to send a single email. Create a list using whichever email platform you prefer (I use MailChimp) and start sharing a link where people can sign up for your update. When you’re ready to launch, you’ll have a list to share the news with. You won’t be promoting to an empty room, which is a time suck.

Secure your social handles

Nothing worse than buying mysite.com only to find that your social handles will have to be @my_1site because your username is taken. As soon as you decide on a brand name and buy a domain, secure the social handle on every social platform, even the ones you don’t want to be on.

This will insure they’re available for your use but also unavailable for anyone who would ever try to maliciously copy your brand. It also makes it easy for readers and customers to find you anywhere online, which will lead to more eyes on your content.

Which of these branding basics will you be working on implementing this week? What other branding basics are you working on securing to help maximize your impact?