6 Tips to Improve Your Website Branding

There’s more to website branding than just a flashy logo. Your website should ensure visitors view your brand in the way you want it perceived. A well-branded website will increase the overall value of your company by allowing you to easily acquire new customers.

Branding – be it consistent tone and visual elements, active social media accounts or something as simple as an appropriate choice of font – is key to standing out among your competitors. With a solid strategy in place, your brand will benefit from an increase in and consumer perception and, consequently, credibility.

There’s no single correct way to present your brand online, but there are some elements which are universal. This article will explore some simple, yet effective, ways in which you can improve the branding of your website online.

1. Keep it simple

Make sure your website has everything it needs, but nothing more. Too many bells and whistles, or an excess of content, can be problematic. Your customers don’t care how clever your site’s design is – they want things to be clearly laid out in a way which is easy to digest. Keep your website simple, and in doing so you will make it easier to navigate.

On a similar note, your customers don’t want to wait. Too many unnecessary videos, plugins or add-ons will make your website load slowly. If a website takes too long to load, customers will simply leave, and try to find what they’re looking for somewhere else. That isn’t good for website branding.

2. Show your customers who you are

Remember that there’s more to a website than visual elements and navigational tools. What is your brand all about? Your About or About Us page can change how potential customers see your brand; if you can inject your unique identity into this page, it will be easier for visitors to relate to you, and as a result, easier for them to engage with you.

Try to tell your customers a story; your story. Share your values and what you stand for; you can also share some photos and testimonials, your company’s value statement or simply the business principles you follow. Just make sure that you are consistent. When your customers know what you’re all about, they will feel as though they can trust you. Trust is one of those crucial things that a website branding can help you earn.

3. Keep your focus clear

What do you want your customers to do on your site? What constitutes a conversion for you; a product purchased? An appointment set? A contact form submitted? This point goes back to ‘keep it simple.’

Your customers need to be clear about what you’re offering, and how it is going to benefit them. Have one goal in mind, and guide your customers toward taking a specific action. Your website branding should be consistent with this goal. If you distract your customers with too many options, offers or alternatives, you will paralyse them with indecision. And they will leave.

4. Be consistent in your style and visual elements

In a similar vein to the point above, the visual elements of your site also need to be internally consistent. Your logo, for instance, is a very powerful branding tool; a visual representation of your brand.

Displaying your logo prominently on your site – in your header and footer as well as your favicon, or even on contact forms. You want your customers to identify with it.

Visual branding doesn’t end with your logo, however. The rest of your website should be consistent with your logo and theme. Fonts, in particular, can lend you credibility, provided that they match your brand.  Is your brand playful? Elegant? Professional and dignified? Find a font which represents what your brand stands for.

5. Showcase your customers and their successes

It’s acceptable, even expected, for your brand to focus on itself to a certain extent on your website. It’s perfectly fine for you to brag a little, but don’t forget the kind of success customers want to see is the success they can have for themselves.

Testimonials and review can sway potential customers toward conversion; they would rather hear from a third party, someone like them, that what you offer is worthwhile. They already expect you to say your product or service is good, as you’re the one attempting to sell it!

If a product or service that you offer has had a lot of positive feedback in the form of reviews and comments, that can go a long way. This shows that you are trustworthy, which is especially important for businesses functioning online. Your customers may even be inclined to pay a little more as your product or service is already proven to be valuable.

6. Stay active on social media

A great way to trigger customer engagement is to have a strong presence on social media. Ensure that you keep these social accounts active. By displaying social media widgets on your website you not only allow your customers to see consistent updates, but you provide them with a means to reach out to you.

Engage with your customers. Respond to their questions and comment. Regularly update your social account with new content, offers or information. While social media activity can be time-consuming, it’s well worth the investment.

Wrapping up

If you want to improve your website branding, you ought to try and think like a customer. What information would you find useful, and what could you simply ignore?

What makes your website easy to navigate, and what just gets in the way?

What would you want to know – and how can you find it out?

You work hard on your website, so don’t neglect your branding. Your website is a powerful tool for generating conversions; use it to improve the perception of the brand!