You'd be hard pressed to meet someone who hasn't heard about Paypal today. It plays such an intrinsic and important role in our daily lives that we don't know how we could do without it.

But guess what?

Paypal cheated. What I mean is that they were never meant to become the powerhouse online brand they are today.

Now maybe I'm being a bit unfair but the truth is that Paypal used an online branding strategy like no other.

You may now be thinking, why am I saying "good competition." Of course, in an ideal world, you would prefer to have no competition in your category as this would ensure that you become the dominant leader.

However, on the Internet, having no competition may be a serious disadvantage. Why?

Firstly, it probably means that either there's no market or there's no money to be made in such a category.

To start off, I will talk about the single biggest mistake bloggers make. It's a mistake that all (existing and new) bloggers must avoid if they want to become successful.

It's also probably the hardest part to building a successful blog. What I am talking about is choosing the right blog topic.

The thing is, if you choose the wrong topic then you begin walking down the wrong path and it might be weeks or even months before your realize your mistake and change direction.

One of the most important aspects of a killer online brand is specialisation. We see it everywhere online.

There are sites focused on social networking, sites focused on sport, sites focused on current affairs and sites focused on many possible themes.

This first ingredient is known as contraction. The fact of the matter is that the most successful and well-known sites online are NOT sites that offer a variety of services from different industries or sectors.