Make your mark with website branding: 8 web branding tips.

The best website branding conveys the right message to your target audience. It makes an excellent first impression. And it gives website users all the reasons they need to stick around on your site and get to know your products or services better.

Web branding is the foundation of good web design. And it’s something we love doing here at Radical. We love getting to know a new company — finding out everything there is to know about them. Then creating a visual identity that reflects who they are as a brand.

So what elements go into web branding? And how do you go about creating a brand from scratch? Here, we share some web branding tips and examples to show you how it’s done.

In this post we’ll be covering the following:

• What is website branding?
• Why is website branding important?
• How to brand a website: 8 branding tips
• A few distinctive website branding examples

What is website branding?

Website branding is the process of creating a distinct and consistent visual identity for your website. This identity reflects your brand’s mission, values and personality.

Work with a brand and web design agency and they’ll create site branding guidelines. These guidelines include the following brand elements:

• Brand overview — a summary of your mission statement, core values and brand personality
• Company logo — in formats and colour configurations to suit your website and other marketing materials
• Typography — the fonts you’ll use on your website, along with guidance on sizes, weights and styles
• Colour scheme — the combination of colours you’ll use on your website and guidance on how to use them
• Imagery — the style of photos, images, icons, illustrations, animations and graphics you’ll use across your website
• Voice and tone — the voice and tone you’ll use to communicate with your audience, including examples

Using these brand guidelines, web designers and developers can create a beautiful, on-brand website. You can also apply these brand guidelines to your social media posts, emails, ads — anywhere you come into contact with your target market.

Why is website branding important?

Website branding helps to develop a consistent visual identity for your site. It makes your site cohesive — and nice to look at. But branding is about more than creating a pretty website.

A branded website communicates who you are as a company. And it does this in an instant. This helps to create a connection between your brand and your target audience. Your website evokes emotions in users and helps to establish trust.

A strong website brand also helps you to stand out from competitors. By choosing a unique brand identity, you’re more likely to make a memorable impression and stick in the minds of customers.

How to brand a website: 8 web branding tips

So a branded website is important. But how do you go about creating one? Follow these eight website branding tips and learn how to brand a website.

Web branding tip #1: Start by defining your brand identity

You shouldn’t leap straight into logo creation and colour schemes. Instead, when developing branding for a website, you need to think carefully about who you are as a brand.

Consider your brand mission, values and vision. Think about what makes your business unique. Also, think about your brand personality. How do you want customers to think of you? As friendly, professional, innovative, funny, bold?

To boil your message down to its bare essentials it can help to think of a doormat. The doormat is the first thing someone sees when they walk into your office. What phrase would you write on yours to show them who you are, right from the start?

Your target audience should sit at the centre of this process. You may gravitate to a certain type of brand identity because it appeals to you. But if it’s unlikely to resonate with your customers, you need to rethink.

Also, consider the competitive landscape. While it may feel like a bold move, choosing a very different brand identity from your main competitors can help you stand out.

Web branding tip #2: Be authentic

The best website branding combines style and substance. It’s important that your branding accurately represents who you are as a company. So while it can serve you to stand out, only do this if it feels authentic.

For example, if your branding centres around sustainability, make sure you back up this visual identity with concrete action. You could then weave these sustainability initiatives into your brand story for extra branding points.

Authentic branding helps to build trust and credibility. It’s also easier for you to sustain. When you’re true to who you are, consistent and transparent messaging comes naturally. This boosts your chances of winning loyal customers.

Web branding tip #3: Develop brand guidelines

Once you have a clear idea of your brand identity, you can start developing the visual elements that help express that identity. Different visual elements impact a website user in different ways.

For example, serif fonts (like Times New Roman) come across as traditional and professional. Sans serif fonts (like Arial) convey a sense of modernity and informality. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Many brands — including Airbnb and Coca-Cola — have fonts that have been customised to perfectly represent their brand identity.

Similarly, colours communicate a lot more than you might think. Without diving too deeply into colour psychology here, different colours prompt different emotions in a viewer. For example, blue conveys a sense of security, strength and wisdom. Yellow creates feelings of optimism, happiness and warmth.

At this stage of the website branding process, you need to choose a logo, colours, typography and imagery that reflect your brand. You should also develop a distinctive tone of voice that connects with customers.

Web branding tip #4: Keep it consistent

So you’ve decided on your brand identity and key elements. Now it’s time to put it all into a brand style guide. This document will inform your web design and marketing materials. It also helps keep things consistent.

Consistency is a crucial part of good website branding. Consistent branding is reassuring. That’s because, when you consistently show up in the same way, it’s easier for customers to get to know and trust you.

So apply your branding consistently across all pages of your website. Of course, some pages can have their own unique flavour. Just don’t veer too far from your brand guidelines — and from what customers have come to know on other pages.

Web branding tip #5: Create on-brand website content

To bring your brand to life, you need lots of engaging, relevant, on-brand content. We’re talking:

• Written website content
• Professional photographs
• Videos
• Animations

Written content should reflect your brand personality. Perhaps you want to sound friendly, professional, blunt, empathetic or irreverent. The words you choose help to convey these characteristics

Carry your brand tone of voice across all elements of your website. Use it in website copy and micro-copy (places like your menu titles and calls to action). Use it in blog posts, email newsletter sign-up forms, chatbots and downloadable content, too. When you apply your brand voice consistently, it’s easier for customers to recognise and remember your brand.

You’ll also need high-quality visuals, designed with your brand identity in mind. So invest in professional photos, videos and animations that convey your brand ethos and personality.

Web branding tip #6: Keep it simple

Clean and elegant web design is more likely to engage your audience. So the best website branding uses a refined colour scheme. It doesn’t overdo animation or motion graphics. It takes a less-is-more approach, for maximum impact and minimal user overwhelm.

This approach fosters a sense of trust between a brand and its customers. It also provides a better user experience as it’s easier for website visitors to find what they’re looking for and absorb content.

Some top global brands, including Apple, Netflix and Tesla, have harnessed the power of simplicity for their own websites. These brands show that you don’t need a huge colour palette and fancy website animations to create strong website branding.

Web branding tip #7: Get users to believe in your brand

The visuals and text on your website help to convey your brand. But to get users to really believe in you, it’s wise to add a few other website features into the mix.

Trust signals are things like guarantees, a transparent returns policy and security badges. Put these things on your website and you show website users that you’re a reputable and reliable brand.

Social proof includes things like customer reviews, client logos, media mentions and case studies. When website users see that other people believe in your brand, they’re more likely to follow suit.

Similarly, showing the people behind your brand and sharing a brand story helps potential customers relate to your brand. When writing your brand story, be sure to include challenges as well as successes. The more human you sound, the easier it is for customers to connect with you.

Web branding tip #8: Optimise the user experience

Website branding is unlikely to make the desired impact if the nuts and bolts of your website aren’t working as they should. So make sure user experience design principles are at the heart of your site.

Create a carefully crafted structure and strong calls to action to guide users through the website seamlessly. Ensure your site is mobile responsive and accessible. Prioritise top site security and fast website speeds.

And don’t stop there. Once your site is live, work to understand how people are interacting with it and where they’re experiencing points of friction. Then, make changes to provide the content and functionality users need.

A great website provides a satisfying and enjoyable user experience. This means customers are more likely to form positive associations with your brand and business.

A few distinctive website branding examples

Now we know how to brand a website, let’s see some of these website branding tips in action. The best website branding is distinctive and memorable. Here are a few brands showing us how it’s done.

Innocent

The Innocent website has a really clearly defined brand. Curved, lowercase typography, childlike illustrations and bright colours indicate simplicity and playfulness. Lots of images of fresh fruit show us this is a brand that uses natural ingredients.

Cotswold Company

The Cotswold Company website has clean design and high-quality photographs. It immediately communicates that these are quality furniture products, built to last. The colour scheme is natural and muted, reflecting Cotswold’s commitment to natural materials and classic British aesthetic. Serif font headings convey a sense of tradition and heritage.

Mailchimp

The bright, bold yellow colour used on Mailchimp’s website helps to convey energy and creativity. The copy is clear and conversational, which suggests that this email tool is effective and easy to use. Mailchimp’s branding, with its serif headings and unusual layout, is also very different to that of other email software brands. This helps it to stand out from the competition.

Guinness

Guinness’ website branding is steeped in heritage and sophistication. It’s clear right from the homepage that this is a product with a long history of expert craftsmanship. The website’s colour palette is primarily black and white. This, along with big, capitalised headings, creates a sense of big, bold flavour.

Etsy

The Etsy website has a warm colour scheme and lots of high-quality photographs of real makers and their quirky creations. This serves to highlight the brand’s focus on creativity and community. It also helps to build a connection between shoppers and the artisans behind the products.

Website and branding design from Radical

Developing distinctive branding for your website helps you stand out from the competition and cement your brand in the minds of customers. It also helps you communicate who you are as an organisation within seconds of a potential customer landing on your site.

By applying the website branding tips above you can create a branded website that resonates with your target audience. You also set a strong foundation for your other marketing efforts.

When it comes to website and branding design, Radical can help.

We can create a strong brand identity and brand guidelines for your business. We’ll then put your brand identity into practice, developing and designing a website that perfectly reflects who you are. We can even help with the creation of on-brand written content, animation and videos.

Want to create a branded website you can be proud of? Then get in touch with the friendly Radical team to chat about your project.