When it comes to designing a website, it is important to keep everything about the website in line with your brand identity. With the prevalence of phishing schemes and other fraudulent activity, having a website that doesn’t mesh with the rest of your brand could actually scare customers away from a valuable resource. Here are a few ways you can make sure that doesn’t happen.
Creating a Brand Identity
In order to make sure your website follows your brand identity, it’s important you have a strong brand identity in the first place. Your brand identity is made up of a combination of physical and conceptual pieces that make your brand what it is. The physical side of your brand identity can include things like color schemes, logos, typefaces and other design elements that make each piece of marketing feel cohesive like they belong. The more conceptual ideas that make up your brand identity are things like your company culture, goals, mission statement, and core values. A huge portion of your brand strategy should focus on building trust.
Translating It
Transitioning your brand identity over to a website can be a bit messy, especially when it comes to those less tangible parts. The physical side of things is fairly simple. Make sure the color schemes and typefaces all fit your brand (usually sticking to your style guide) and making sure your website looks the way it should. Nailing those less tangible portions comes with determining what content to add. Your most important section will be the about page, as that will have your mission statement and goals.
To keep yourself focused on the right content also set goals for what you aim to achieve with your website and build your content around that. If you are looking to build more of a community around your business, focus on creating additional content like blogs or videos which users can comment on and discuss. If you plan on a more sales-heavy approach, optimize your customer service system and contact pages.
Keep It Simple
Unless your business is all about pushing the boundaries of traditional design, keep your website simple and easy to navigate. Customers go to your website looking for specific information, and if they can’t find it quickly they’ll become frustrated and move on. Keep your navigation menus consistent and uncluttered. You can always add more in-depth links on the subpages, not every single item needs a place on the drop-down menu.
Following these key principles, you’ll have a website that embodies your brand, and your customers will feel right at home using it to shop, look up new information, and communicate with you.
Do you want to implement this web design advice? Contact our professional web development agency to get started!