7 website branding tips plus examples to learn from

Your website is often the first thing potential customers see. With stellar website branding, your site quickly and easily communicates what your company is about, what you stand for, and what you offer. Here, we’ll outline basic strategies for creating a quality branded website so you can put those tips to work with our simple website builder.

Why branding your website is important

Website branding may well be a potential customer’s first interaction with your company. Think about it: When you’re interested in buying something, one of the first places you go is to an internet browser to search for that product. And if someone finds your website in a search and clicks on it, they’ll see your homepage or landing page. That’s where your branding will first appear, and what your brand tells potential customers could prove to be a make-or-break factor when it comes to sales.

The impact of website branding goes beyond your website, which is just one part of your larger internet presence. The management of your social media pages and blog content also play an important role in how your company is perceived online. Branding consistency across these digital channels, not to mention your actual products, enhances your company’s public perception and reputation. Both this overall perception and the initial glimpse of it on your website can build connections and trust with customers.

7 tips on how to create a quality branded website 

To fortify your connections with customers, make sure your website branding checks all the following boxes:

1. Define your brand and make a logo before designing your website.

A brand is more than a logo (though logos are a big part of branding!). Your brand encompasses your company’s core values and clearly communicates your message and what you do. To establish your brand, you’ll go through the process of branding, which includes online reputation management, brand awareness initiatives, and other strategies. Designing your logo is just one of these strategies, though it’s among the most important steps toward building a branded website.

Once you decide which of your values matter the most and figure out how to establish your desired reputation, create a logo that reflects both. All content and visuals on your website should reflect these values, and your logo should appear at least once per page. It’s especially important to display your logo at the top and bottom of each page. Before you do that, though, you should figure out how the rest of the page will appear.

2. Craft your brand voice.

Building a brand also includes your language choices, both on your website and when you create business cards and other collateral like flyers or brochures. That’s where brand voice comes in.

Your brand voice may prioritize the use of words and phrases that excite or inspire customers. It could also seek to convince customers that your company is uniquely qualified to address certain pain points. It could even comprise words and phrases that elicit feelings of luxury or sophistication. There’s no such thing as an incorrect brand voice. As long as your voice reflects your values, matches your products, and is applied consistently throughout all your brand’s touch points, you’re doing it right.

To find some great inspiration, turn to the team communication software Slack. Known for its fun and friendly brand voice, all content throughout the website serves to reinforce its purpose as more of a helping hand than a software full of commands. For just one example, head to their chatbox on the homepage. Instead of simply asking if you need help, they entice you to click with a playful “Want to know something cool?”

Slack

After you create a brand voice for your company, you should ensure that all content on all your website pages meets your brand voice guidelines. To do so, you’ll need to decide exactly what kinds of writing your website will contain.

3. Determine which types of written content you’ll include.

Some websites include only a homepage, a page with a list of services, and a contact page. Others include a homepage alongside many additional pages for the brand story, individual services, staff details, contact information, blog entries, and more. Each page you include is an opportunity to elevate your brand and unify how it appears across all channels.

Of the above content types, blogs and brand stories are perhaps the best ways to make your brand voice concrete. Your website’s blog is a space where you can write — in your brand voice — about all kinds of topics that pertain to your audience. Blogs are also great for content marketing, as people reading them may realize that their interest in the topics you’ve covered means they should keep paying attention to you.

Your brand story is just as powerful for branding. That’s because brand stories tell customers how you identified a problem, solved the problem, and benefited from the solution — and think others can do the same. These bits of information all attest to your values, meaning they put your brand front and center. What a seamless way to combine your website with your brand — especially if you make it all look great.

4. Use the right visuals.

For effective website branding, you’ll want to create a website that smartly, carefully implements the following elements: For effective website branding, you’ll want to create a website that smartly, carefully implements the following elements:

Templates or themes. Many business websites start from templates or themes which guide how your content looks. Once you choose a general look and feel that you like, this template or theme can be customized with your brand’s colors, content, photos, and more.

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Colors. Logo design involves color choices that convey certain messages to your audience. Your brand colors appear across all assets of your brand, including your logo and print collateral. This primary color palette guides your main colors, and complementary shades can be used alongside them on your website.

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Your logo. A good branded website keeps the company’s logo front and center. With a quick glance, any visitor can tell whose website they’re on without needing to double-check the URL. It also serves as the “north star” that visitors now know intuitively that they can click on to return home. For a demonstration, check out organic food delivery service Misfits Market. As you scroll down the page, their logo stays pinned to the upper-left corner. There’s no question who you’re shopping with.

Misfits market

Layout. Your layout plays a key role in conveying your brand as a helpful one. User experience (UX) design involves ensuring that your website is easy to navigate, and layout plays a key role in that. Examples include placing the menu where most people would assume it goes and adding key quick links to the footer, such as a customer service page. By prioritizing what your visitors need, you further enforce the kind of friendly and approachable company you want to be.

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Photos. Inspiring images that show your product at work, happy customers, or engaged employees can do wonders for showcasing what you’re about to the world. Similarly, stock images that properly illustrate your brand’s message have an important role to play in your website branding. Explore several image libraries, both free and paid, to find the best images for your site and brand.

pexels.com

5. Be mobile-friendly.

In 2020, 68.1% of website visits were mobile rather than desktop, and search engines now prioritize mobile view over desktop view. Ensure that your website is responsive, which means that it adjusts automatically to whichever screen size people use to view your website.

6. Minimize text.

Often, website visitors leave after 10 seconds. That’s certainly not a lot of time for someone to read text. Instead, your goal should be to make as strong and quick an impact as possible. Replace big blocks of text with short phrases that more succinctly make the point. This way, your most important messages get across quickly.

7. Optimize your website.

Search engine optimization (SEO) practices help your website rank more highly in searches for terms that relate to your company. By including such phrases on your web pages and especially in your blogs, you show that your values align with the search in question. SEO is thus as good for increasing your website exposure as affirming your brand.

Brand your company, then your website

Once you develop your company’s brand, you can shape your website to reflect your core values. Crafting the items you need to advance your brand is easy when you use Namecheap’s brand design maker. The Namecheap Visual design suite transforms your needs and ideas into business logos and websites that reflect your values, plus it requires no graphic design experience. It’s the easiest way to show your new customers what makes you special.