Learn how to take advantage of creative website design in order to create a unique brand.

 

Your website serves many purposes. It’s your salesman, customer service department, store, your gateway to the Internet and so much more. It’s the portal that lets customers come to your business, and for many of them it will be the only way that they ever interact with you. That’s why building a website that is effective, captivating, and powerful can involve a lot of planning on your part.

Use your time in front of a potential customer to establish your brand.  Embed your business in your audience’s minds! Here are some tips on how to do just that through the look and feel of your site.

1. Choose your website’s colors wisely.

The world would be a forlorn, dull, and emotionless place without color. The same goes for your website.


The color you choose for your website design can be used to evoke specific emotions. By using specific colors, website visitors can get “hooked”---staying longer, browsing through different pages, getting in touch with you for more information, and ultimately becoming a loyal client.


According to the Seoul International Color Expo, 92.6% of customers consider visuals as vital factors when they purchase products. 87.4% said that the products’ color is why they decided to buy the product in the first place.


What emotions do you want your viewers to experience? Check out this article on how color creates an emotional impact within your website.

2. Include content that represents your brand and products.


Content defines the “soul” of your website. Remember, content is not limited to just text. It is the entirety of what you put on your website---videos, images, graphics, animation, and of course, text.

Your content should have a unique voice, look and feel so your viewers can readily identify your brand as soon as they enter your site. 


Let’s say your business involves selling outdoor camping equipment. You may want your website filled with photos of people camping in the outdoors, images of breathtaking mountains, and colors that are more neutral to remind your visitors of the outdoors. The “atmosphere” and character of your website can help transport people from their computer or phone, out into nature!


No matter what industry your business is in, your content is king. And the right content is the key to making your website and brand stand out from your competitors.

3. Your content should have personality!

 

When someone talks with a monotone voice, it’s boring, right? But what about if you’re having a conversation with someone whose passion flows out of them, just by the way they talk? You get excited too; his tone is contagious! That’s the same principle you need to apply to the tone of your website text.


Text content is how you “talk” to your audience through your website. Because text is your “voice,” you need to put some personality in your text content. Write it in a way that projects the tone that you want. Remember that you want to truly engage with your audience, get your ideas across and make them feel what you want them to feel. Just like in a conversation, you do this through the tone of your writing.


Think about how you talk to someone? For example, if you’re selling widgets to teenagers, the tone and voice of your content is going to be much different than if you’re selling wheelchairs to elderly people. How you present your business online can be the difference between making a sale or losing a potential client. 


Always remember to match the voice and tone of your text to your audience.


Also, check out this article about creating excellent blog posts and refining your content. The articles in this story are about composing blogs, but their techniques can be applied to website content in general. In addition, here is a useful blog post about techniques on how to write effective content.

 

PRO TIP - Having the right and natural voice and tone in your content has become more important than ever. That’s because Google recently rolled out a new algorithm called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers). The newest update involves a machine-learning algorithm that aims to better understand searches and the contents of a web page. BERT helps Google understand queries that are human-like, natural, and conversational, analyzing word context and nuances to better match those queries with more relevant results.

4. Keep your design consistent.

 


What makes brands successful? The common denominator is that people remember them. The brand becomes etched into their mind. One of the ways to do that is to be consistent with your branding.

 

Every page on your website should use the same color, formatting, and style. Your writing tone should have a consistent personality, tone, voice, and style across the entire website. Images should ideally have a consistent theme as well.Your aim is to make people remember your brand. You want to give them something simple and powerful that will cut through all the clutter we are exposed to every day.

5. Address your audience directly.


While you can write using any point of view in your writing, it is usually suggested that you use the second person narrative voice. It’s personal and familiar. That means, using “you”, “yours”, “you have”, and similar words or phrases. In doing so, it seems to the reader that you are actually talking to them.


The same goes for your videos and images that are composed to “talk” to the audience. Look at the camera straight in the lens and try to  establish a strong connection between you and your viewers.

6. Display your logo in a prominent place.


Your logo is an important part of branding. Therefore, you should put it in a prominent place such as the header and footer of your website. If your website design makes this impossible or impractical, place it at the left corner of the page; that’s the area that people see first when they visit your website.


Your logo should be large enough to get noticed right away, but small enough to not be obnoxious or overwhelming. 


Pro Tip: Remember to link your logo to your home page!

7. Don’t forget to present your value proposition.

The first time people visit your website, two questions usually come to their minds:

What are you offering?Are your products and services the right solutions to their issues?To answer these questions, you need a value proposition. This is a short sentence that answers why someone should do business with you or buy your product. It should answer why your product or service is more beneficial to your viewers.


Your value proposition should only consists of a few words, so ensure that you are being clear, short, concise, and answering “what” and “why” people should choose to do business with you.


Here are some examples of effective value propositions:

  • Zoom – Flawless Video. Clear Audio. Instant Sharing
  • Mailchimp – All Your Data in One Place
  • Tortuga Backpacks – Bring everything you need without checking a bag


As you can see, a great website design is not only attractive but it’s also effective. It enables your audience to identify your business as unique and different. With a unique brand, you’ll have a better shot at catching the eye of new customers and retaining your current clients.