How To Brand Your Website

One of the most important steps to building a successful website is incorporating plenty of branding. Your website’s brand is what makes it unique and recognizable. If it doesn’t have a unique style and look, visitors might think it’s just another generic site and not take it seriously.

Strong branding involves a lot of separate elements in combination. This includes logos, company mottos, colors, and much more. All of these work together to create a unique identity, and if you know what the most important elements are, you can use them to set your website apart.

In this article, we’ll go over five steps for how to brand your website. We’ll talk about why each task is important, show some outstanding examples, and more. Let’s get to it!

Step 1: Design a Unique Logo (And Use It Everywhere)

If you take a look at your favorite websites, we’re willing to bet that they all feature unique logos. That’s because logos aren’t just for show – they’re visual elements that represent your brand and impact how people perceive it:

What type of logo you use will depend on your website’s content and voice. Whichever design you choose, you’ll want to keep the following tips in mind:

• Include your logo on all of your site’s pages and documents.
• Add your logo to social media accounts as well, so followers can easily recognize you.
• Include your logo within email newsletters and other types of external communications.

Simply put, your logo represents your website, so it should be included everywhere. That will help people learn to recognize it (and associate it with your brand) more quickly. If you don’t have a logo yet, you can either hire a designer to help you out, or try creating one on your own.

Step 2: Choose Your Brand Colors

Color can be essential in shaping people’s perception of your brand. If you use the same colors consistently, your audience will come to associate your website and brand with them. Consider Facebook, for example, with its famous blue color palette:

When you’re working on your website’s brand, you’ll want to pick one or more colors that will represent it. Your goal will be to use those colors throughout your designs whenever possible, so they should meet some basic criteria:

• The colors you choose should look good when paired alongside your logo.
• Your color pallet needs to remain consistent throughout your website.
• Whichever colors you pick should look good together.

To implement that last tip, you’ll need to know some basics about color theory. In addition, once you pick your brand colors, we recommend saving that information in a style guide for your site, so you and others have a clear document to refer to if needed.

Step 3: Follow a Consistent Theme When Selecting Your Site’s Images

These days, most websites are packed with images. That’s because photos and other media help to convey information effectively, and grab visitors’ attention.

One key consideration when working on your website’s design is what type of images you want to use. Ideally, all of your site’s media will follow a similar pattern or theme. That way, you’ll maintain a consistent design throughout every page.

On our own blog, for example, you’ll notice that we use a similar theme for all of our featured images:

By following this approach, we can reinforce our unique brand. Plus, the type of images we use scream ‘tech blog’, so readers will know what to expect.

Your website’s theme will depend on what type of content you’re working with, and who your audience is. Some websites can get away with cartoons, others will rely on highly-professional images, and so on.

Step 4: Set a ‘Voice’ For Your Website’s Content

For your brand to be successful, you’ll need to build it with your target audience in mind. If your website will cater to web developers, for example, you’ll want to use a technical voice within your content. On the other hand, if you want to make people laugh, it’s better to use a more casual, humorous tone.

Before you start working on your site’s content, you should have a clear idea of the audience you’re writing for. That way, you’ll be able to choose the right tone to connect with them. Most importantly, you’ll be able to keep that tone consistent.

Consistency is key, and not only when it comes to your website’s voice. All of your branding elements should remain the same throughout the entire site, so people can get to know and associate them with your content.

Step 5: Create a Brand Style Guide

Creating a brand identity for your website is one thing – implementing it successfully is something else entirely. Just because you have all the elements you need doesn’t mean they’ll be used properly.

To make that happen, you’ll want to put together a comprehensive brand style guide. This is a document that explains all the parts of your branding strategy, such as your chosen logo, colors, image theme, and voice. Each element should be explained clearly, with examples that make it crystal-clear how it should be used:

This document can be in any format you like, and it can be stored online or offline (or both). What’s important is that it’s shared with everyone who works on your website, and your other content and marketing materials. That way, you can ensure that your brand is implemented consistently everywhere it appears.

Important Tips for Website Branding

Above all, when it comes to branding you’ll want to focus on what makes your website unique. All of the best websites have something that sets them apart from the rest. It might be their highly-specific niche, the quality of their writing, a fantastic design, or something else entirely. In many cases, it’s a combination of all those elements and more.

Ultimately, branding is about creating a unique identity for your website, one that visitors can identify with. For that to work, you’ll want to take some risks with the elements we’ve discussed so far. In other words, don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to developing your logo, brand colors, and so on.

For this approach to work, however, you’ll first need to have a very clear idea of what your website’s goal is, what your audience wants, and how you can put both into action. With that information, building a brand becomes much easier.

WP Engine & Your Brand

Creating a successful website requires you to do a little bit of everything. You’ll need to generate engaging content, work on your site’s branding, and make sure things always run smoothly on the back end.

To accomplish that last part, you’ll want to use a web host that offers amazing performance, and has your back if something goes wrong. Those are two things every WP Engine plan can guarantee, so check them out!