Most of us know that creating a website is a fundamental part of any small business strategy. A website establishes your company鈥檚 online presence and is an important resource for attracting leads and guiding customers through the sales funnel.
While a website is meant to transmit practical value about your business and your brand, it鈥檚 also the place to build emotional connections with your target audience. Your website鈥檚 look, feel, and personality are just as powerful as the information on your site when it comes to drawing in prospective customers.
The secret to crafting an online presence that intuitively resonates with your audience is to create a branded website. You can think of a branded website as your business鈥檚 personal profile, with a combination of visuals, colors, and strong written copy that together create a cohesive picture of your brand鈥檚 personality.
A website consistent with your brand image and personality is vastly more effective than a website that simply looks good. A website that either ignores or is inconsistent with your brand image is a missed opportunity to shape public perception of your brand.
Take a step back from your company for a second, and think about yourself. You probably have a personal Facebook or Instagram account, right? Both social media platforms have space for you to add a short bio, and Facebook even encourages you to select featured images.
As you contemplate what to put in your bio, you鈥檙e probably thinking, What captures the essence of me? Are you funny and lighthearted or serious and professional? Do you have a hobby or interest that best embodies your personality鈥攍ike 鈥渂asketball fan鈥� or 鈥減roud father鈥濃�攐r do you prefer to focus on something more abstract, like 鈥渄aydreamer鈥� or 鈥渃reative thinker.鈥�
And, which images should you put on your profile? Pictures of yourself with your family? Pictures of you at work conferences? Photos of partying with friends?
The point is that the photos, information, and tone of voice you choose to include (or exclude) on your profile shape people鈥檚 perception of your personality. Company branding works the same way. The content and design of your small business鈥檚 website and social media pages determine how your audience perceives your brand.
The benefit of a branded website is that it strengthens customer connections and builds trust. If your brand has a personality that resonates with your target audience and speaks to their values and needs, your brand can become your customer鈥檚 best friend.
US grocery store chain has a powerful branded website that establishes its personality as a friendly (and funny) neighborhood store. Avoiding seriousness and formality, the website鈥檚 list of suggested recipes is simply labeled 鈥淭J鈥檚 Test Kitchen.鈥� The blog post 鈥淎 Tale of Two Cheddars鈥� not only informs customers about new products, but also builds brand loyalty with a humorous, engaging narrative about sourcing their new cheddar cheese.
Driving emotional connections like Trader Joe鈥檚 is not only an important part of attracting new customers; it鈥檚 also crucial for retaining a loyal customer base who will buy time and time again.
On top of that, a powerfully branded website builds brand recognition. Trader Joe鈥檚 branded website makes it stand out as being more than just another supermarket.
Now that you know why a branded website is so important, here are some actionable tips for effectively branding your small business site.
The first step in creating a branded website is defining your brand. After doing market research, think about your target audience and the kind of brand personality that would resonate with them most.
Your brand personality is the human element of your brand. It鈥檚 made up of a consistent set of traits and behaviors that you apply across your brand鈥檚 image and voice.
There are five main types of brand personalities. While there鈥檚 definitely room for variation and overlap, these traits can help get you started:
As you build your website, your choice of visuals and text should be consistently rooted in your brand鈥檚 personality.
Let鈥檚 dive into the specifics of how to create branded visuals and written content for your site.听
Website visuals are a way to build recognition of your brand image. Every visual element on your site should touch back to the way you want your audience to perceive your brand.
Unless you鈥檙e coding your website from scratch, you鈥檒l probably need to choose a website template (or theme, if you鈥檙e using a content management system like WordPress).听
It鈥檚 important to conceptualize what type of site you鈥檒l need before deciding on a template, so that you end up with one whose design supports the point of your site. For example, an eCommerce site will need much more capabilities, pages and functions than a simple 鈥淐oming Soon!鈥� landing page.听
Note that you can find website templates and WordPress themes on digital design marketplaces like , which offer all sorts of website graphics, designs, and HTML-based templates that are affordable and easy to edit. You can also use these sites to access design “bundles” that include fonts, icons, and illustrations for special occasions, to help you keep your site on-brand during holidays or seasonal changes.听
Your logo is the face of your brand. Because of this, it plays a prominent role in determining your website鈥檚 aesthetic style overall.
You鈥檒l want a logo that represents your company鈥檚 product, mission, or values. Choose icons and typography that symbolize your company. A pool company, for example, might choose a wave, sun, or fish icon, while a sportswear company might choose a basketball.
You should also choose colors that represent your brand personality. Color psychology is a well-researched field that can have an impact on customer perceptions of your brand. Green, for example, tends to be associated with nature or the environment, while red and yellow are youthful, energetic, and bold. A black and white color palette, on the other hand, comes across as sophisticated and timeless.
Designing a logo involves choosing a combination of icons, typography, and colors that best represent your company鈥檚 products, values, and personality. Once you have a logo, be sure to place it on your website鈥檚 homepage. We also recommend you place it in the top lefthand corner of each web page.
Your color scheme should be based on the brand colors of your logo.
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As you choose colors for your website, consider which colors to use for your site鈥檚 background, navigation bars, and prominent text such as CTAs and headlines. While you shouldn鈥檛 overuse color–black and white is always a safe choice for a clean and professional site–you should use pops of color that match or complement your logo鈥檚 existing color scheme.
Your brand imagery鈥攊mages and illustrations鈥� should also complement your brand鈥檚 color palette. Take your own photographs or create your own images (stock photos are a big no), and be sure your use of color doesn鈥檛 clash with your site鈥檚 logo or background.
You should also consider your images鈥� content and style when branding your website. If you work with a designer, try creating illustrations and infographics in a distinct, uniform style that your brand can embrace as its own.
Your website layout is a more subtle way to teach your audience about your brand. If your brand shines most in visuals鈥攑erhaps you run a photography business or a travel blog鈥攃hoose a website layout that accommodates large photos and prioritizes visual elements.
Regardless of your brand, your website should be clear, with plenty of white space, and should have a straightforward navigation bar that facilitates user flow.
Once you have your basic visuals down, you may want to consider various website add-ons or plugins depending on what you鈥檙e using your site for. For example, if you want your site to double as a lead magnet for email marketing, you鈥檒l need a form builder to easily collect email addresses from your site visitors.
Or, if you want to optimize your site for search engines, you鈥檒l need access to SEO features that will help improve your site鈥檚 rankings in Google.
Luckily, there鈥檚 a DIY answer for most web-service needs. Sites like can help you find and compare the best web services offered in each category, whether you need form builders, email marketing resources, social media management tools, etc. Try to think about all of the ways your website can serve your brand, and then compare between relevant services until you find the right ones for you.
Lastly, it鈥檚 super important to have a domain name that matches听 your brand. Customers who are familiar with your brand will search for you online using your brand name, and your website is more likely to show up if your domain name matches the search.
And, any time you share a page from your website, you鈥檒l want to make sure that your brand name shows up in the URL, in order to promote brand awareness among your current audience and new customers.听
If you already have a domain name that doesn鈥檛 match your brand, or if you鈥檙e planning to have a lot of internal webpages with long URLs, don鈥檛 fret! You can use a to help you enhance your brand visibility every time you share a link.听
Now that you鈥檝e learned about the visual elements of branding your website, it鈥檚 time to focus on your brand language. The way your brand speaks鈥攜our words, sentence structure, voice, and tone鈥攅stablishes its personality. All across your website, it鈥檚 critical you use your brand voice in every piece of text, whether in headings and CTAs or long-form blog posts.
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While not every business has a tagline, taglines are a useful way to highlight your company鈥檚 product or your brand鈥檚 personality or values. Think about Nike鈥檚 鈥淛ust do it鈥濃�攖he catchy tagline makes the brand memorable, and it鈥檚 encouraging and motivational, conveying the company鈥檚 values and connecting customers to the brand.
Some brands place taglines in their logos, while others simply place them on their business cards and website. On your website, a great place to put the tagline is on your home page so that users see it as soon as they enter your site. You can also elaborate on your tagline in your site鈥檚 About section (more on that later).
Blog posts are another opportunity to reveal your brand鈥檚 personality through written voice. Because blog posts directly address searchable questions and are indexed on Google, a blog post might be a reader鈥檚 first encounter with your brand.
With that in mind, it鈥檚 important that your blog post not only conveys information, but that it does so in a voice consistent with your brand鈥檚 personality and tone.
If your business doesn鈥檛 already have a blog, it鈥檚 high time you create one. Long-form content is one of the most important and effective organic marketing tools, since it allows you to reach new users through SEO.
It also gives voice to your brand, strengthening your brand鈥檚 authority in the industry. Be sure to link to your blog on your website so that users can find and access it with ease.
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Your brand story is a simple, concise narrative about your brand that explains your brand鈥檚 reason for existing (its origins, ideation, and the problems it sets out to solve) as well as its vision for the future.
Your brand story is the place to explain your brand鈥檚 mission, purpose, and values鈥攁ll while doing so in a voice consistent with your brand鈥檚 personality.
is an example of a brand with a powerful brand story that focuses on its customers. The eyewear company explains that they got started when one of their founders noticed that a single eyewear company dominated the market鈥攁nd that glasses were prohibitively expensive as a result.
Looking to help customers who wanted fashionable eyewear but couldn鈥檛 always afford the high price, Warby Parker was founded with everyday people and social consciousness in mind.
Just like Warby Parker, you can place your brand story on the About page of your website. Feel free to also occasionally touch on your story wherever relevant in your blog posts, social media pages, and marketing materials.
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All other website copy should also be written in your brand voice. This includes your website鈥檚 headers, such as navigation bar headings, general website copy, calls-to-action, landing pages, and FAQs.
Even microcopy鈥攖hose tiny, hardly noticeable elements of web copy鈥攎ake a huge difference in changing the voice of a brand and its relationship to customers.
Think about the difference between Get It Free and Sign Up (It鈥檚 Free). While the former makes a more aggressive sale, the second is softer and more conversational. Which one would you prefer to represent your brand?
Remember, every single interaction you have with your customers鈥攆rom long, involved blog posts to teeny tiny website copy鈥攕hapes their perception of your brand. The more consistent you are in sticking to your brand鈥檚 voice and tone across all your written content, the more powerful your brand will be.
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Branding your business website goes hand-in-hand with content and SEO as one of the best ways to attract and convert leads. Website branding involves making every aspect of your site consistent with your brand鈥檚 personality, from your images and layout to your web copy and blog posts.
Ready to create a branded site? Head to the 91吃瓜 studio and start creating!听
This portion of our website is for informational or educational purposes only. 91吃瓜 is not a law firm, and the information on this website does not constitute legal advice. All statements, opinions, recommendations, and conclusions are solely the expression of the author and provided on an as-is basis. Accordingly, 91吃瓜 is not responsible for the information and/or its accuracy or completeness. It also does not indicate any affiliation between 91吃瓜 and any other brands, services or logos on this page.
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