You might have the best products and services in your industry, but if your brand doesn’t capture the right people’s attention your business likely won’t succeed.
Your brand is your identity. It tells people who you serve and who you don’t. Most importantly, a strong brand markets itself, making your job as an entrepreneur that much easier.
If you want to build a memorable brand you need to start with your website. This is the home of your business and likely one of the first touchpoints potential customers will come across. So, it’s important to make a good first impression.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about website branding, including nine tips that will help set your site apart from the competition.
Website branding is a strategy that involves creating a consistent look and feel across your entire site that’s in line with your brand’s identity. This includes colors, visuals, and content. A branded website has a clear purpose and is geared toward a specific audience.
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Why is website branding important?
From a visual standpoint, a website that maintains the same look from one page to another is obviously preferable. But there are plenty of other reasons why website branding is important for your business:
It differentiates you from your competitors. If you sell similar products and services to other businesses, a strong brand will show potential customers how you’re different and why they should buy from you.
Your audience will become familiar with you. When your branding is the same across all your channels you become more recognizable. If one of your social followers lands on your website they’ll instantly recognize your brand and will be more comfortable doing business with you.
It builds trust. A lot of your credibility is carried in your brand. As you start to gain a following your reputation will be associated with your logo, color scheme, and visual style. When done right, you’ll no longer have to tell people what your brand stands for—they’ll just know.
As the home of your business, establishing a strong brand on your website is critical. From there, you can carry that brand on to your other channels.
9 keys to effective website branding
Follow the steps below to build a website that embodies your brand’s personality and helps you grow your business.
Zero in on your target audience
Before you start creating your branded website you need to figure out who you’re speaking to. This will inform all aspects of your brand and site, and ensure you’re attracting the right audience for your products and services.
If you have an existing business then you likely have a good idea of who your ideal customer is. If not, check your data to see who’s buying your products and engaging with your social media.
For those starting a new business, you’ll have to do a little research. Answer the following questions:
What problem are you solving?
Who are you helping?
What types of people are buying your competitors’ products?
What demographics are most likely to use your products and services?
Use this information to create a profile of your audience. Once you have this you can start building a brand that appeals to that specific persona.
Consider your website layout and user experience
Your layout may not seem like a big part of website branding, but it actually says a lot about your business. If you’re a photographer or graphic designer you’ll likely opt for an image-heavy layout. On the other hand, a writer or someone in a more technical field would probably rely more on text.
Your layout will also have a big impact on user experience. Remember, every interaction someone has with your business impacts your brand. If someone lands on your site and is confused or can’t find what they’re looking for, that becomes associated with your brand.
Make sure to choose a layout that makes sense for your niche, while also creating an enjoyable experience for visitors.
The headline on your homepage will likely be the first piece of copy visitors read and will set the tone for the rest of your site. So, you need to make it count.
A lot of businesses use this space to display their tagline or slogan. This is a catchy phrase that embodies their brand and is often used across multiple marketing assets. Others use a headline that grabs attention and encourages visitors to keep reading.
Whatever approach you choose to go with, here are some tips to help you craft a powerful H1 for your homepage:
Make it benefit-rich. Sum up the primary benefit that users will enjoy when using your products and services.
Get specific. Create a headline that’s directed at the specific problem your audience is dealing with.
Be unique. Remember, good website branding means being different. Choose a headline that differentiates youfrom others in your industry.
Use clear language. Metaphors and similes are fun, but they can also be confusing. That doesn’t mean you can’t be clever, but just make sure your message is crystal clear.
Don’t overlook fonts. Your fonts convey your sense of style, have a big impact on readability, and say a lot about your brand.
Different fonts invoke different emotions. Some are more formal, others are exciting, and a few are even a little silly. Choose a font that’s geared toward your audience and suits your brand.
By using a distinctive font across all your media it will eventually become part of your brand and a way for people to recognize you.
A big part of website branding is choosing a color palette. This is a collection of colors that are used throughout your website, logo, and marketing materials.
A color palette generally consists of a primary color, and one or more secondary colors. For example, your site could be primarily black with some red used to highlight important words or phrases and yellow for your CTA buttons to help them stand out.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing a color palette for your website:
Learn about color psychology. Every color evokes a different emotion. Do some research and find colors that channel the right emotions for your brand and audience.
Keep it simple. Too many colors can be overwhelming. Stick to two or three colors that work well together.
Choose a contrasting color. While you want your colors to complement each other you should have at least one color that contrasts. This is usually your accent color and is perfect for elements like CTA buttons that you need to stand out.
Once you’ve landed on a color palette, use it in the same way on every page of your website to maintain consistency.
Develop a unique visual style
The best branded websites don’t just use random photos. They carefully curate their imagery to ensure it fits into their visual style. 55% of a brand’s first impressions are visual, so make sure to give this part of your website some serious thought.
Some sites prefer to use real-life images while others exclusively use animations. Others take advantage of different types of visuals like infographics and gifs.
Decide what type of imagery works best for your brand and be sure to stick to that. Using image-editing tools like filters can help keep your imagery in line with the look of your website.
Create content your audience will love
The type of content you create also impacts your website branding. You want to choose topics that are important to your audience, are aligned with your brand, and make sense for your business.
For instance, if you’re a business coach an article about “5 Tips for Launching Your Digital Product” is definitely on-brand, an article titled “How to Balance Family and Entrepreneurship” might be straying a little bit from your core brand, and an article around “5 Superfoods to Boost Your Health” would be completely off-brand.
When developing your content, it’s important to identify your niche and stay within it as much as possible. Stick to topics related to your products, services, and your brand to keep your audience coming back.
It might be tempting to jump on trends just to get views, but if you do this too much you might drive your loyal followers away. Plus, if your content isn’t related to your core business offerings you won’t be attracting the right kind of traffic to your website.
Use the right tone
It’s not just what you say that’s important—it’s how you say it. The tone you use for your copy plays a big part in appealing to the right audience, so you’ll want to choose your words carefully.
Here are a few examples of the types of tones you can use for your website:
Formal. A good choice for lawyers, accountants, and other professionals.
Informal. Better for appealing to younger audiences.
Motivational. Perfect for coaches, teachers, and consultants who are looking to inspire potential customers.
Humorous. Great for brands that don’t want to be taken too seriously.
The more you use the same tone throughout your website, the more it will become a part of your brand identity.
Be consistent across all your channels
Once you’ve established your website branding it’s important to use that same branding across all your other marketing channels.
Have you ever clicked on an ad only to land on a page that looks completely different? There’s a good chance you clicked away because you ended up somewhere you weren’t expecting. This is what happens when your website has different branding than your social media, emails, and advertising.
Utilize your branding everywhere you connect with your audience to take advantage of the trust and credibility that’s associated with your brand.
Ready to get started with website branding?
Leadpages makes website branding easy. Choose from over 200 professionally-designed templates and then customize your colors, imagery, and content with the Drag & Drop Builder. Launch your branded website in a few days or less, even if you have no experience with coding or web design.
