No wonder thousands of businesses are actually LOSING money online. It's like a mine field. Thousands walk through field, thousands get blown up and disappear, and only a few people actually make it safely to end. WAKE UP EVERYONE!

You want to know WHY I'm still here after this time, owning a successful business that I run from home office? Want to know WHY I haven't joined rat-race that I see clog up roads at 9am and 5pm every day? Want to know WHY I don't quit, throw in towel and say goodbye so all of this HYPE?

The Answers:

1. I don't listen to any of it! Although I'm NEVER skeptical of life's possibilities, I am realistic. Sure, you CAN become a raving success online. But why take advice from self-proclaimed guru's that haven't achieved it?

2. I keep a VERY open mind to my own possibilities and have confidence in my own judgements. I know that by thinking in a successful and positive frame of mind, I can achieve it.

3. I DRIVE myself with a burning desire of true success, and will absolutely stick to that at all costs. My tenacity (persistence) grows every day, I stay focused at ALL times.

4. I work like heck and learn everything I can. Over past few years I've learned more than my entire school education taught me in terms of real-world practicalities and skills.

5. No matter what life throws at me, no matter how much circumstances can hurt, I stand up and say "I'm not affected". I NEVER give up. I NEVER quit. I keep striving for success.

So What Will You Become?

I'm going to tell you something now that I wish I'd been told a long time ago. Internet success doesn't come from a few search engine submissions, worthless FFA postings and a site plagued with affiliate links. It comes from UNIQUE ideas, with UNIQUE creations, fueled by an over-powering ambition to SUCCEED.

You have two choices. Join FEW who discover that Internet (like so many things in life) takes hard work, smart thinking and a positive attitude for success... Or join THOUSANDS that follow hype, waste time and money, and die Internet death.

Those two paths await. Which route will YOU take?

That's third important factor in a healthy branding strategy: communications consistency. Being consistent means delivering your brand's message using a tone-of-voice that becomes recognisable as voice of your brand: that communicates brand's values to its target audience day after day, year after year, everywhere, anywhere! A good rule of thumb to consider is this: when you start feeling sick and tired of your brand's message and voice, its connection with consumer's recognition is probably just beginning. Remember, you are exposed to your brand thousands of times more frequently than your customers are. So don't let your own frequency of exposure affect your communications decisions.

Consistency is applicable in every facet of your brand's consumer communication strategy: ensure your brand targets its audience consistently, that it communicates same message to it, that it personifies and transmits same values, that it is exposed with same vocabulary, nomenclature, design elements and graphics every time.

Many companies fail on consistency prerequisite, even big ones which you'd think would know how to handle this fundamental branding challenge. Take Swissair for example. I bet you know name, but do you know that Swissair is also known as Crossair, Flightline, Jumbolino and Swissair Express? Each of these sub-identities are accompanied by a version of Swissair logo, even though they all fly internationally. I'm sure there's a logical reason behind airline company's divergent branding strategy. But I wonder if Swissair's customers understand it.

So, why didn't I define design consistency as a factor in its own right: graphic design, logo, look that surrounds brand? Well, because these elements are not what creates brand. They support it and can help accelerate recognition and therefore, speed up branding process. The "look" is a necessary element in consistent communication strategy, but it's just an element. If your brand possesses most beautiful logo and is associated with perfect identifying design, yet it has no clear audience focus, no value focus and no tone-of-voice focus with which to deliver its well-honed message, I doubt you'd ever succeed in building your brand. However, by following guidelines established by these three principles, you're likely to score brand-building goal, even without a fabulous logo.

Strong branding has nothing to do with a beautiful logo. But it has everything to do with your brand's message.