Your website is often the first point of contact with your audience. As such, it’s crucial to make a strong impression that accurately reflects your brand’s identity. Website branding that stands out from the crowd can be a daunting task, but with a solid strategy in place, you can create a website that not only looks great but also resonates with your target audience. A cohesive brand identity on your site can establish not only the site’s identity, but also can help you build trust with customers and inspire a sense of community around your brand.
In this guide, we take you through the essential elements of website branding, from defining your brand’s voice and visual identity to crafting a consistent user experience that enhances your brand’s reputation. Whether you’re a startup or an established business, your website should effectively communicate your brand’s story and values, and ultimately, drive conversions.
Why is Website Branding Important?
In the oversaturated e-commerce space, brand loyalty is no joke. Almost 60% of American consumers say that once they’re loyal to a brand, they’re loyal to it for life.
Proper website branding effectively and effortlessly encourages brand recognition and, thus, brand loyalty. If visitors to your site can easily recognize your website and brand, they will be more likely to remember you in the future, returning to purchase your products or services rather than those of your competitors.
Website branding also establishes trust with potential customers. Your site should feel authentic to your core values, serving to develop trust with its visitors through credibility or relatability. Both your copy and imagery should clearly display these values. Even subtle design decisions such as color and font can have an impact on how customers perceive your brand and develop a relationship with it over time.
Lastly, website branding fosters a dedicated community around your brand, boosting customer longevity. In the age of social media, securing a solid community is key to building brand awareness. Even for personal websites, unique and thoughtful branding can set you apart from your competition and showcase your credibility through a consistent and thoughtful online presence.
6 Steps for Website Branding
Successful website branding requires an intentional and comprehensive approach to content and design that stem from a clear brand identity. Below, we break down the six key components of memorable website branding.
1. Determine your target audience
Your target audience will help you develop your brand identity, or how you would like to be seen by consumers. It is crucial to understand your target audience because it allows you to use resources more efficiently, increase engagement and better understand customer needs.
It is essential to prioritize the correct audience for your brand and reflect the tastes and interests of that audience through your site branding. Your brand identity should relate to both the mission of your company and your website’s visual branding. Particularly for millennial and Gen-Z audiences, developing a compelling brand story that displays on your site is crucial to securing a supportive and consistent customer base. Looking at competitors and their demographics can be a useful way to determine whom to target with your own website branding.
2. Devise a mission statement
It’s likely your business already has a mission statement, or a formal summary of its aims and values, which makes site branding even easier. Your site should act as an extension of your existing brand. If you don’t currently have a mission statement, you’ll want to outline the purpose and values of your company to develop one. From there, your mission statement will help guide your branding decisions and ensure that your website stays true to its core values over time.
3. Register a domain name
In order to take your website live, you will want to connect it to a domain name. Your domain name should be easy to remember and relevant to your brand and business. It is useful if your domain name contains a keyword that relates to your business but that it stays short, unique, and voice search-friendly (ex. Avoid hyphens or numbers). By working with a registrar like NameSilo, you can easily search for domain availability and find your desired name at an affordable price.
4. Create a logo
Logos are essential elements of website branding. A logo should be simple, memorable, and easily recognizable for site visitors. It should also function against a variety of backgrounds and in a variety of circumstances (for example, on desktop and mobile).
NameSilo’s logo maker helps you conveniently create unlimited web-ready logos that look professional. You can download your logo in multiple color variations and as a high-res PNG. Our logo maker also provides a brand guide and social media kit.
5. Select colors and fonts
Developing a consistent color palette is essential to creating a memorable and striking brand. Depending on the voice and perspective of your company, you’ll want your site to reflect an appropriate color scheme, as colors can evoke very specific emotions. You might choose to use vibrant colors to connote a whimsical, carefree tone, for example. On the other hand, classic colors can signal a formal or professional tone.
Font is another subtle way to signal a brand, as web pages are full of text. In fact, there is an entire psychology behind font choice that will subtly or overtly influence what site visitors think of your brand. Often, rounded fonts signify friendliness and warmth, creating an approaching and less formal brand. Heavy geometric fonts, on the other hand, can evoke strength or assertiveness and make for powerful headlines that command attention.
Depending on your goals, you will want to choose fonts and colors that build upon your brand rather than conflict with it to avoid confusing site visitors.
6. Set up a website
Setting up a proper website is crucial for new businesses or businesses hoping to gain e-commerce traction and solidify cohesive online branding. After designing the initial brand elements, you will need to decide upon a hosting service. Selecting a reliable hosting service like NameSilo can help you save time and money. Ideally, you will want to work with a hosting provider that offers and pre-integrates as many services as possible, including price structure, domain name management and security.
Keep in mind that site layout can influence brand experience and affect overall website branding. Think carefully about the amount of white space in your design, meaning the space between page elements. The less white space, the more overwhelming or energized your site might feel. Background colors, texture, and gradients can also influence the overall feel of your branding. When constructing your site, you’ll want to pay close attention to layout to take into account the user experience (checkout flow, for example) and your brand.
Consistency is Key
Developing a cohesive branding strategy across channels solidifies your brand in the eyes of consumers. Be sure to carry your branding over from your website to your social media channels to present a cohesive and memorable brand voice to consumers. You not only want to make use of your chosen logo but you also want to maintain a clear visual identity that your target audience can attach to whenever they see your brand.
At NameSilo, we can assist throughout your website branding journey, from domain name selection to hosting and logo making. To register a unique domain name for your brand, visit our website today.