Branding tips for your website

Websites have moved far away from the traditional FrontPage design and static information portals into a critical component of your marketing strategy. Your website should provide a great platform of opportunity to reach out to people, wherever they are, wherever you are. With billions of websites being hosted daily, the need to make your website stand out online is never of more importance than today. While not focusing on why you need a website (that should be clear by now), I will focus on quick tips to help improve your website.
1. Clearly define your objective:
Especially for those who need to actively promote their business online, the need to harness and meet the interests of your online audience. People visit websites because they are searching for information, making a buying decision or want to interact with your business, an objective is key so as to help you harness these opportunities. Most times your reason or objective will reveal the kind of form your website will take. For instance;
? If you want to sell your book online, build a customer list, promote an event ( you need a sales/ lead capture page)
? If you need to develop a news website or promote yourself as an expert in your field ( you need a weblog)
? If you need to build a website where people can directly buy products online ( you need an e-commerce website, )
? If you want to sell and market your products online ( you will need a landing page to direct your prospects to and not just your home page)
There are lots more, just get a pen and define what you want and the kind of online portal it needs.
2. Choose your keywords:
Keywords are those words that people are likely to type in search engines when they want to find your services. Potential customers are more likely to type ‘Cakes in Nigeria’ rather than ‘XYZ Confectionaries’. The truth is that people want their needs met so they only care for your website name only if it solves their needs. Your website content should be clearly positioned to project the commodity that you offer and not just what you are all about. It is important to also identify the keyword you want your website to be known for. Use keyword research tools to develop words to define words used to define the our products/services you offer?. This will help in optimising your site for search engines to generate more visitors, thus enhancing your business further.

3. Logos and Colours:
With the emergence of visual communications, which involves the use of colours, pictures and images to promote brands and business, the colours of your brand is now more important than ever. Have you ever considered the importance of color in branding? Color plays a huge role in memory recall. It stimulates all the senses, instantly conveying a message like no other communication method. This is why most brands spend fortunes to position themselves visually such that painting houses or a structure in particular colours reminds you of the brand. Until you see the signage on a building painted with orange, you will assume it is a GTBank branch. Same goes or the following so goes or Yellow – MTN, Red – Coke, Brown – UPS, Blue – Samsung. These corporations understand that proper use of colours is vital to creating a positive image among consumers. Being consistent is also important and should therefore be the same across promotional materials logo, product packaging and website. Colors can mean different things depending on the culture, situation and industry. For example, Cool blue is perceived as trustworthy, dependable as its message of stability inspires trust so hospitals and banks use them. Red is bold, aggressive and energetic which makes it the choice for the Cocacola brand. What colour clearly communicates your value proposition or positionoing to your target audience?

4. Content, Content, Content:
If you need to succeed online, content is king. This is the reason why most organisations are moving away from static websites into full Content Management Systems which helps position your content favourably. Most organisations even favour blogs which encourages frequent updating and which goes a long way in helping to promote your business and yourself as an expert in the field. People are likely to visit your website again if they know they will always get the latest and fresh content in the industry.
Content also includes pictures, videos and audio. You can have your adverts, An internal blog giving updates about your organization as well as the industry would be an asset. Keeping your website updated with all the latest information about your industry will also help in positioning your organisation as an authority in its industry.

5. Search Engine & Social Media Optimization and Marketing:
Communicating the value proposition of your business has taken a new turn with the advent o social media. Since a large number o prospective clients have found social media platforms as a past time, social media marketing and search optimisation has taken a new turn, Social media marketing is not about having a Facebook page, it’s a lot more. It involves customisation to meet your objectives, engaging your fans, analysing responses and measuring trends, advertising your products and services and running promotions that increase brand loyalty.

Above all, extending your brand online is more cost effective and measurable than offline.

Cheers.