Everything you do as a blogger can be duplicated by others on just about every level. The one thing you can do to help protect your blogs identity and separate it from the others is to build your brand. Having a strong brand is what makes products in the world successful. Its the thing about a product that really connects to people on a singular level.

When you build your blog it is a good idea to create a brand for it as soon as you can. This doesn’t mean just creating a snazzy logo but rather the whole look, feel and tone of your blog. Think of some of the biggest brands on the Internet. eBay for example will only make small digestible changes to the Yellow and gray shades on the site because of the strong brand they have built over the years. Yahoo, until resent had pretty much the same look for over 10 years and even now it still has that same feel they’ve always had.

Here are a few things to think about when creating your brand.
A free WordPress theme is economical but it doesn’t really set you apart. Nothing says you can’t modify a theme to make it look your own though. A logo or picture of yourself will also help create strong brand. The font you use can even be used to help create your blogs brand. Its really up to you as to how far you want to go with your branding.
Now that you are creating your brand don’t stop with your blog alone. Use the brand whenever possible. Things like your avatars should use your brand so that whenever you leave comments others will identify that comment with your blog. Likewise when you leave a link you can use a certain anchor text to help identify your brand.