Our winter intern, Laura Turnage takes a look at the importance of branding your website.
The first impression of your business is critical to creating a successful brand. In today’s business climate, the Internet is connected to everything. All the information potential customers or clients seek to find is just a click away, which is why your web presence needs to make your brand stand out. It can be a daunting task, but here are a few tips to keep in mind when branding your business website.
Go Easy on the Eyes
A recent Harvard study suggests that visually appealing stimuli is related to user satisfaction and perceived usability. Users make decisions regarding your business’ quality within a second of visiting your website. Therefore, it is important to choose design elements wisely. Colors should reflect your brand image and evoke an emotional response. Fonts should be clear and easy to read. These themes should be consistent throughout your site to avoid distractions and maintain a professional image. Potential clients should feel some kind of connection or emotion that makes them want to interact with your website, so it needs to be easy to navigate. Clearly labeled tabs or drop-down menus are user-friendly and still foster additional engagement with the brand. It’s good practice to avoid using noisy ads or anything that has an auto-play feature, because in many cases, it invokes a negative response.
Craft Captivating Content
Prospects may be drawn in by the visual appeal of your website, but it’s the content that will seal the deal. The content should be relevant to your customer’s needs. Brainstorm questions that your team is frequently asked and cater your content to answer those questions. Remember to update your content regularly, as this demonstrates your consistent industry expertise and encourages web visitors to keep coming back. Although regular updates are crucial to maintaining a strong web presence, quality is better than quantity. Each piece of content should have a clear purpose and be pertinent to your customers.
When creating content, think outside of the box. If the nature of your business is highly visual, try including a portfolio to showcase your work. If not, consider including employee profiles or client testimonials to emphasize the vast knowledge your business has to offer. And don’t forget about social media. According to a 2014 survey, 72% of all Internet users are active on social media. Your business can capitalize on this phenomenon to expand outside of local networks and engage with even more possible clients.
Dominate the Search Results
The business potential of the Internet is seemingly limitless. Once you’ve mastered the basics, your business can harness the true power of the Internet. There are so many tools and tactics available to business owners to boost their web presence and increase brand awareness. One of the most common strategies to increase web traffic is utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO strives to optimize your website for popular search engines like Google, by editing content to include search-relevant keywords or evaluating original content to see how it performed.
With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones, your business can gain a competitive edge by choosing to create a mobile-friendly website, as well. A recent article from ASEOHosting, a leading provider of SEO services, suggests that mobile web users outnumbered those who accessed the Internet with a computer. When searches are performed on mobile devices, pages that are optimized for mobile browsing appear first. Considering that the starting point of most mobile Internet usage starts with a search, it could lead to a serious boost in web traffic.
Keeping these key tips in mind, you can help increase your web presence and gain valuable brand awareness. If you have further interest in strengthening your brand with an improved digital strategy, connect with us! We’d love to help!
