It's all about Style

When I first started on Steemit 4 months ago the most important thing on my mind was getting my posts up. I focused on content creation and less on how my posts looked. It was simple, write - add pictures - submit post.

For some time now I have been working on the style and layout of my posts. I have been trying to get a good standard layout so that I can "frame" my writings and make my posts look better. Why do you ask ? Well....

If you look at successful Steemians and analyze why they are successful there are a couple of thing you'll notice. First thing is that they write good and interesting posts, have a great network and are really involved with the community
But they also have something distinctive , something that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Like any successful company these Steemians have a brand. Something recognizable and unique.
For example, there is almost no one in the world who does not immediately recognize the McDonald's or Coca-Cola logo. When we see the logo we also have certain associatioons with the brand. The companies behind the successful brands have a vision, a mission statement and by advertising these characteristics they link their positive messages to their logos and brands.
When you see the McDonald's logo you immediately think of things like Happy (positive aspect) Meals, french Fries, hamburgers, fast service and quality.

The well known author/successful authors on steemit are just like those companies. They advertise their unique selling points through their distinctive posts by adopting a recognizable style. You can immediately pick out a post by an well known author from your home page because they have a recognizable style.

You can broadcast your brand through your posts. An appealing layout and style for your posts, engagement, interesting subjects, all these will all have a positive effect on your brand.

For the last couple of weeks I have been busy trying to build my own brand. I started with developing a look a distinctive style. One of the first thing I did was that I created a template for the layout of my posts. I tried to achieve a housebrand of sorts with a standardized color scheme and font. I added recognizable features like my shark rewards and mini manga-Xervantes.
The thing I am going for is a tech look mixed with a manga cartoony flavor, Geek style.

My rebranding is based on the following concepts:

Audience knowledge - Know your audience
Uniqueness -Stand out from the crowd
Passion -Be involved with the community
Consistency - Post regular
Recognizable - Be distinctive with your layout and style
Quality - Strive to bring your best game

Last night I finally finished with my "little" rebranding project and completed the new layout for my posts.

I also changed my cover picture to emphasize my reoccurring theme, the Shark. No dolphins here mate, only sharks.

To reflect the consistency part of my rebranding, I decided on a couple of series for my posts.

If you have read my posts, you might be familiar with a couple of these subjects

- IT Stuff
I will discuss IT related items in a non tech way, like networking, the cloud and online security

- Steemit Statistics
I will post statistics and graphs about Steemit and analyse the numbers.

- Xervantes' Picks
I will post a list of my recommended posts and give my opinion about why I think they are worth reading.

- Where are they now?
I will discuss gaming related items like retro consoles and give my thoughts about why they were (or weren't) successful.

- Retro Gaming
Here I will discuss anything related to retro gaming, like my favorite retro games and consoles.

- Unappreciated posts
I will ask the community to give me their best but most undervalued posts so that we can give those posts the attention they really deserve.

- It's all about Style
In this series I will look at successful Steemians and analyse their style and branding to see what makes them unique and a favorite here on the platform.

After some time adjusting to this new platform it is time to take it up a notch. Developing a brand for me is the next step to becoming a worthy contributor to the success of Steemit.

Read more about: successful Branding | Brand Building |

Be sure to also check out Cryptocurrency Mining For Dummies - lesson 1 and 2 by @gregory-f.