How to Design Your First Branded Business Website

Should you’re of a sure age—let’s say 35 or older — you most likely bear in mind the awe and immersion you felt the primary time you spun up Netscape Navigator and visited your favourite model’s enterprise “web site.”

Now fast-forward to this age of AI, Uber, Roblox, Meta, Snapchat, and a lot extra… And guess what? An internet site continues to be one of the best ways to share your model with the world.

That’s true whether or not you’re a mega model or a humble creator, solopreneur, or small enterprise proprietor. A long time on, a web site nonetheless gives unparalleled inventive flexibility and management over your model. It’s a spot the place guests can study extra about you in your phrases. An ideal web site helps you inform your story, construct belief, and even create neighborhood and followers for all times.

Right this moment we’re sharing a primer on branding and web site design for on-line creators and entrepreneurs. We’ll stroll you thru tips on how to design a web site in your model, whether or not you’re a creator, solopreneur, or small enterprise proprietor with a workforce of staff.

This text received’t perform as a step-by-step information to launching a web site or go into an excessive amount of depth on the subject of branding itself. (For that, The SPI Beginner’s Guide to Branding may also help you outline your model’s mission, imaginative and prescient, and extra, and resolve if it ought to be a private model or an organization model.)

Slightly, this can be a subject information to designing a web site that places your model entrance and middle and connects together with your target market.

Why You Want a Branded Web site

So why a branded enterprise web site? Alongside together with your email list, a web site is a must have while you’re beginning out constructing your model. Like an e-mail checklist, you might have extra inventive and administrative management over a web site than you do your presence on different platforms like Fb, Instagram, or Etsy. And except for uncommon service interruptions or safety breaches, your website is far much less more likely to disappear the best way a social media account will be banned or suspended.

Your branded web site is like your own home base, a focal place for shaping your model picture and narrative. At SPI, we not too long ago revamped our web site to concentrate on our core focus of neighborhood constructing and make it cleaner and simpler to navigate.

Right here’s what a well-crafted small enterprise web site may also help you do:

• Management your model: An internet site offers you full management over the way you present your model to the world, with out the inventive restrictions of third-party platforms. It additionally diversifies your on-line presence, decreasing dependence on any single platform.

• Construct belief: A well-designed web site lends an air of professionalism and legitimacy to your model, instilling belief.
• Personal your content material: You personal and management the content material in your web site, decreasing the chance that algorithm modifications or platform shutdowns will damage your content material’s attain and visibility.
• Earn cash: You need to use your web site to advertise and promote services or run adverts.
• Construct neighborhood: Web sites supply a devoted area for constructing a neighborhood and a following. You possibly can seize e-newsletter and email-list sign-ups, and even hyperlink to your individual membership neighborhood.
• Showcase your work: Use your web site to share case research, testimonials, and portfolios of your work together with your viewers.
• Perceive your viewers: Web site analytics present invaluable knowledge on person habits, serving to you higher perceive your viewers and optimize your content material to succeed in them.

Your Web site Ought to Categorical Your Model Persona

When lots of people hear the phrase model, they assume brand. And true, a brand is a key a part of your creator or on-line entrepreneur model — however your model can be much more than only a snazzy graphic. Since your web site is your own home base, it’s one of the best place to convey the essence of your model by the next key components:

• Colour scheme: Make the most of a most of 4 brand-reflective colours. Align colours with professionalism; keep away from mismatch. Discover colour psychology—the research of how colours have an effect on perceptions and behaviors—for steerage.

• Tone of voice: Past aesthetics, your branded enterprise web site wants a definite voice — a tone that informs all of your written content material. Adapt your tone to your character, area of interest, and viewers, protecting it approachable and jargon-free.

• Tagline or motto: A concise, memorable tagline helps convey your model identification and worth in bite-size type. It’s slightly element that may matter quite a bit!

• Signature font: Select one or two readable fonts that replicate your character, for consistency throughout all the things you write and to bridge your model’s visible identification with its written one.

• Unforgettable brand: Final however not least, an attention-grabbing brand gives instantaneous model recognition. Think about enlisting a graphic designer for this one.

Optimizing the Visible Expertise of Your On-line Enterprise Web site

For essentially the most half, guests will expertise your web site visually, so there are just a few extra necessary issues in terms of your website’s visible property. Be sure that the pictures, background designs, and different visuals you employ in your website are:

• Related to your model and content material: This may increasingly appear apparent, however your web site visuals ought to make sense within the context of your model and the encompassing content material. Every visible asset ought to complement and improve the content material it accompanies and align together with your model’s identification, reflecting its values, character, and messaging. 
• Strategically positioned: Place visuals purposefully to information the person’s journey and emphasize key messages. Think about the circulation of the web site and the way visuals can improve storytelling.

• Constant in model: Sustaining a constant visible model throughout all photographs creates a cohesive and harmonious look and helps with model recognition. Use these model colours!

• Prime quality: Use high-resolution, skilled photographs; grainy or pixelated ones can detract out of your model’s credibility.
• Accessible: Not your whole guests will probably be experiencing your branded enterprise web site visually, so make sure that any visible property are accessible by including descriptive alt textual content to your whole photographs.
• Optimized and responsive: Visible property ought to adapt effectively to varied display screen sizes, significantly on cell gadgets. They need to even be compressed to enhance loading instances (and search engine rankings).

• Authorized: All photographs ought to be both unique, correctly licensed, or fall underneath truthful use. Respect copyright legal guidelines, and get permission if it’s essential to!
• Timeless: As a lot as potential, select visuals that may evolve together with your model slightly than traits that may change into outdated.
• Human: Human faces and expressions can create a stronger emotional reference to the viewers, so incorporate photographs that function folks.

By ensuring the visible and written expertise of your web site is constant, skilled, and aligned together with your model identification and voice, you’ll foster a way of familiarity and belief together with your viewers.

A Nice Creator Web site Wants a Nice Person Expertise: Structure and Navigation

Your web site isn’t only a static show; it’s an interactive expertise in your viewers. When you’ve established the important thing model components your web site wants, out of your model’s function to its voice, tone, and visible identification, it’s time to start out designing the precise website structure.

As you’re selecting a structure, take into consideration what is going to greatest convey your model identification and message whereas making issues as seamless and intuitive as potential in your guests to navigate and discover what they’re in search of. Listed below are some standard structure choices to contemplate:

• Single-Column: Clear and simple, with a single column for simple navigation.

• Grid: Organizes content material right into a visually interesting grid construction, appropriate for showcasing a number of objects effectively, like portfolios or product shows.
• Journal or Weblog Structure: Mimics {a magazine} or weblog with a number of columns — well-suited for content-heavy web sites.

• Hero Picture or Video: Includes a hanging picture or video on the high, capturing speedy consideration and sometimes used for product showcases or setting the model tone.
• Cut up Display screen: Divides the webpage into two distinct sections, offering a contemporary and visually interesting design with room for inventive components.
• Parallax Scrolling: Creates a dynamic scrolling expertise with background components transferring at completely different speeds, including depth and interactivity.
• Card: Presents content material in modular and versatile playing cards, selling visible hierarchy and straightforward group, appropriate for varied sorts of info.

• Full-Display screen Background: Incorporates a full-screen picture or video background for a visually immersive expertise.

A fast be aware on navigation: No matter structure you select, your customers’ ease in navigating your website will decide how lengthy they stick round and whether or not they’ll discover what they want—or in the event that they’ll get annoyed and quit. You may also assist folks navigate your branded web site by cautious placement and group of menus and footers.

The Strategic Content material Your Web site Wants

You’ve discovered your model’s visible identification and voice and chosen a structure for the positioning. Now it’s essential to fill it with helpful content material that tells your guests who you might be, what you do, and how one can assist them!

These are a few of the key pages to contemplate in your branded enterprise web site—some are must-haves, whereas others will rely upon what you are promoting and choices:

• Residence Web page: The house web page ought to supply a snapshot of your model, engaging guests to discover additional, speaking your distinctive worth proposition, and guiding customers to key sections of your web site.
• Weblog: Past selling your services or products, blogs are nonetheless a well-liked strategy to share invaluable content material that positions you as an authority in your area of interest.
• Podcast Web page: In case you have a podcast, it is best to positively have a devoted web page for it in your website. Though your podcast can technically exist with out a web site, a podcast web page can promote your present and assist listeners study extra about your model and choices.
• Credibility Part: Testimonials, case research, and press protection showcase the optimistic experiences of others, establishing your model’s credibility and reliability and constructing belief. This content material can dwell by itself web page or be positioned strategically at completely different locations in your website.
• Product/Service Pages: Every services or products web page ought to present detailed info, advantages, and a compelling name to motion (CTA). 
• Model Story/About Web page: Your viewers connects with the folks and the story behind your on-line enterprise. Use this web page to speak your mission, values, and the journey that led to the creation of your model.
• Store Web page: If you wish to use your website to promote issues, you’ll want a store web page with simple navigation, clear product categorization, and a streamlined checkout course of.

Examples of On-line Creator and Entrepreneur Branded Web sites

For slightly inspiration, right here’s a number of nice branded enterprise web sites created by on-line creators and entrepreneurs identical to you! These people all occur to be members of our SPI Professional neighborhood, which you’ll study extra about at SmartPassiveIncome.com/neighborhood.

Gnome Angel

Ange Wilson’s quilting-based creator enterprise web site has a powerful, vibrant visible identification primarily based round a palette of pinks and blues and a playful header font. The Gnome Angel worth proposition greets you as quickly as you open the house web page, and as you scroll you find out about Gnome Angel’s assets and merchandise through a “patchwork” design model that evokes a quilt. The “sticky” navigation menu persists as you descend the house web page, offering quick access to the remainder of the positioning.

Piscari

The Piscari website is an organization model web site with a easy, clear, useful house web page that serves as an About web page for the corporate and its founder, Mike Lander, with a hyperlink to hitch the Piscari e-mail checklist on the backside. A high nav menu that shows on each web page makes it simple to study extra in regards to the firm, its providers, and different assets. The “Contact Us” button, framed in daring inexperienced, highlights the primary name to motion guests are inspired to take.

Jette Stubbs

Profession and enterprise coach Jette Stubbs’ website introduces her choices proper off the bat, adopted by a pleasant photograph of Jette that humanizes the model. The easy single-column structure reduces distraction and guides you down the web page as you encounter a cheerful shopper’s testimonial and study extra about Jette’s providers. Graphic components and pictures are interspersed all through, together with refined font colour modifications to spark consideration. The parallax scroll impact with Jette’s face within the background provides extra human dimension and a little bit of novelty. A easy high navigation menu is duplicated on the backside, with hyperlinks to an About web page, Jette’s podcast, and testimonials.

Nonetheless on the Fence about Constructing a Web site for Your Small Enterprise? 

We’ll finish with just a few reminders — and by debunking just a few frequent misconceptions about making a branded enterprise web site:

• Sure, you do want a web site. Web sites aren’t only for large firms, and social media isn’t sufficient.
• Your web site doesn’t need to be complicated or aesthetically beautiful. Easy, user-friendly designs typically carry out higher, so concentrate on readability and performance above all.
• An internet site wants consideration. Your web site isn’t simply going to draw visitors by itself. That you must put it on the market and commonly populate it with contemporary, Search engine marketing-rich content material.
• You don’t need to go it alone. There are many nice designers on the market who may also help you craft a brand and construct a professional-looking branded web site. (We labored with the great folks at Rockbase for our redesign.)

Should you’re feeling daunted, don’t! We’ve acquired all of the assist it’s essential to begin constructing your model and designing a killer web site to indicate it off to the world. Try our website’s Free Sources tab, the place you’ll discover content material for entrepreneurs at any degree. Should you’re able to take the subsequent large step in your on-line work trip, head to SmartPassiveIncome.com/community to find out about our communities for on-line entrepreneurs. You possibly can study from others such as you who’ve constructed their very own branded web sites, achieve entry to our full library of programs, take part in dwell occasions, and extra.