idbd:focus

Your Business Brand and Your Website

Having an established, credible and trustworthy brand is paramount to having a successful business. This brand needs to communicate its message effectively to the target market across all media platforms – in print, on-air and online – in order to connect with customers, grow revenue and, ultimately, increase profit. This includes your website, which may be the first point-of-contact a potential customer has with your business... and having a strong, effective and well-branded website will make all the difference.

Developing a highly branded website is an extremely tedious task as many factors are involved. All these factors – and more – work together to achieve what we ultimately want from our website... to communicate clearly, stand apart from competitors and convert viewers into customers. Investing in professional design, creative content and site structure is the basis of having your business brand shine through.

1. Design. Your website design needs to communicate what your website is about (the who, what, when, where and why of your brand) and demonstrate how it can add value to the user in a quick and efficient manner. Website design should strategically work to maximize the impact of the content. Incorporate a professionally-designed logo, tagline, color scheme, custom fonts and theme that help to define your brand's message visually.
2. Content. By creating engaging content (headlines, copy, images, video, etc.) that best communicates your message, a very effective, branded website will result. Written content should be crafted focusing on the user benefit and targeted to the market you wish to connect with. Speak in easy-to understand terms, and connect on the emotional level. Incorporate testimonials/reviews to build credibility, and include accolades, associations, white papers and e-books to demonstrate your expertise. To encourage user interaction, create calls-to-action that will trigger a user to act and move through the website. Include your blog and social media links for more brand awareness and to spread your message appropriately.
3. Site Structure. Having a website that focuses on the user experience – specifically, ease of use, content organization and navigation – will only benefit and enhance your brand. Navigation must make it as easy as possible for your users to complete their immediate goals. Streamlined, organized content will enable users to easily flow through your site and find what they're looking for. Keeping your site structure up-to-date with current standards (responsive, optimized design) will make your site accessible on various devices.  

Following these simple website guidelines will provide for clear, concise and consistent communication with your target market and strengthen your overall business brand.