Design Your First Branded Enterprise Web site

In case you’re of a sure age—let’s say 35 or older — you in all probability 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? A web 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. Many years on, a web site nonetheless offers unparalleled artistic flexibility and management over your model. It’s a spot the place guests can be taught extra about you in your phrases. An awesome web site helps you inform your story, construct belief, and even create group and followers for all times.

At this time we’re sharing a primer on branding and web site design for on-line creators and entrepreneurs. We’ll stroll you thru how you can 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 gained’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 Newbie’s Information to Branding might 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.)

Fairly, it is a area information to designing a web site that places your model entrance and middle and connects along with your audience.

Hand drawn website wireframes. — Picture by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

Why You Want a Branded Web site

So why a branded enterprise web site? Alongside along with your electronic mail checklist, a web site is a must have whenever you’re beginning out constructing your model. Like an electronic mail checklist, you’ve gotten extra artistic and administrative management over a web site than you do your presence on different platforms like Fb, Instagram, or Etsy. And excluding uncommon service interruptions or safety breaches, your website is way much less more likely to disappear the best way a social media account may 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 deal with our core focus of group constructing and make it cleaner and simpler to navigate.

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

Management your model: A web site offers you full management over the way you present your model to the world, with out the artistic restrictions of third-party platforms. It additionally diversifies your on-line presence, lowering 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, lowering the danger that algorithm modifications or platform shutdowns will harm your content material’s attain and visibility.
Earn cash: You need to use your web site to advertise and promote services or run advertisements.
Construct group: Web sites provide a devoted area for constructing a group and a following. You may seize publication and email-list sign-ups, and even hyperlink to your personal membership group.
Showcase your work: Use your web site to share case research, testimonials, and portfolios of your work along with your viewers.
Perceive your viewers: Web site analytics present helpful information on consumer 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 suppose brand. And true, a brand is a key a part of your creator or on-line entrepreneur model — however your model can also be much more than only a snazzy graphic. Since your web site is your own home base, it’s the perfect place to convey the essence of your model by means of the next key parts:

Patagonia's purpose statement on its website: "to save our home planet." — Patagonia’s objective assertion is straightforward however highly effective: to avoid wasting our dwelling planet.

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

Screenshot of Ali Abdaal's home page. — Ali Abdaal’s website makes use of a relaxing combo of gray, black, blue, and white.

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, retaining it approachable and jargon-free.

Screenshot of the Smart Passive Income home page: "Become the entrepreneur you want to be." — At SPI, we intention for a mixture of pleasant, even somewhat informal, however punchy.

Tagline or motto: A concise, memorable tagline helps convey your model id and worth in bite-size kind. It’s somewhat element that may matter rather a lot!

Dollar Shave Club's homepage: "Shave time. Shave money." — Greenback Shave Membership’s tagline is #dadjoke perfection, conveying the model’s irreverent nature.

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 id with its written one.

Example of SPI's signature font: Figtree. — SPI’s signature font, Figtree, matches our model voice by being approachable.

Unforgettable brand: Final however not least, an attention-grabbing brand offers instantaneous model recognition. Take into account enlisting a graphic designer for this one.

The emblem for Jay Clouse’s Creator Science model captures each parts (get it?) of the model title completely.

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 a couple of extra necessary concerns in the case of your website’s visible property. Be sure the pictures, background designs, and different visuals you employ in your website are:

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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 along with your model’s id, reflecting its values, character, and messaging.
Strategically positioned: Place visuals purposefully to information the consumer’s journey and emphasize key messages. Take into account the circulation of the web site and the way visuals can improve storytelling.

Gif of Paul Furey's animated website text: "We want to be honest, and yet ... we all find good reasons not to be." — Advisor Paul Furey’s web site makes use of textual content and pictures to inform a narrative in a fascinating manner.

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

Example of SPI's branded color palette and icons. — Icons representing totally different parts of our on-line group share the identical appear and feel, together with colour palette.

Prime quality: Use high-resolution, skilled photographs; grainy or pixelated ones can detract out of your model’s credibility.
Accessible: Not your whole guests shall be experiencing your branded enterprise web site visually, so be 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 properly to varied display screen sizes, significantly on cellular gadgets. They need to even be compressed to enhance loading instances (and search engine rankings).

Web design firm Nettl's ad campaign showing the humorous risk of not making your images mobile responsive. The full web page reads: "Badminton Scuba Breathing Apparatus" but the superimposed iPhone version reads "Bad breath." — Internet design agency Nettl’s advert marketing campaign confirmed the humorous danger of not making your photographs cellular responsive.

Authorized: All photographs ought to be both authentic, correctly licensed, or fall below honest use. Respect copyright legal guidelines, and get permission if that you must!
Timeless: As a lot as potential, select visuals that may evolve along with your model slightly than tendencies that may grow to be outdated.
Human: Human faces and expressions can create a stronger emotional reference to the viewers, so incorporate photographs that function individuals.

Screenshot from the SPI community: "Ready to find [crossed out] join your people and level up?" Smiling faces decorate the page. — The SPI group is made up of individuals, in spite of everything!

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

A Nice Creator Web site Wants a Nice Consumer Expertise: Format 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 parts your web site wants, out of your model’s objective to its voice, tone, and visible id, 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 id and message whereas making issues as seamless and intuitive as potential in your guests to navigate and discover what they’re on the lookout for. Listed here are some well-liked structure choices to contemplate:

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

Screenshot from Seth Godin's blog, showing the advantage of a single-column layout. — Seth Godin’s well-known weblog takes benefit of the simplicity of a single-column structure.

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 Format: Mimics {a magazine} or weblog with a number of columns — well-suited for content-heavy web sites.

Screenshot from The Verge's home page, showing the example of a magazine-style website layout. — The Verge’s website is a daring instance of journal structure.

Hero Picture or Video: Contains a hanging picture or video on the high, capturing quick consideration and infrequently used for product showcases or setting the model tone.
Cut up Display: Divides the webpage into two distinct sections, offering a contemporary and visually interesting design with room for artistic parts.
Parallax Scrolling: Creates a dynamic scrolling expertise with background parts shifting at totally different speeds, including depth and interactivity.
Card: Presents content material in modular and versatile playing cards, selling visible hierarchy and simple group, appropriate for varied sorts of data.

Screenshot of SPI's card-style testimonials on our Community page. — We use playing cards to share member testimonials on our Group web page, made utilizing Testimonial.to.

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

A fast word 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 pissed off and quit. You may as well assist individuals navigate your branded web site by means of cautious placement and group of menus and footers.

The Strategic Content material Your Web site Wants

You’ve discovered your model’s visible id and voice and chosen a structure for the location. Now that you must fill it with helpful content material that tells your guests who you’re, what you do, and how one can assist them!

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

House Web page: The house web page ought to provide a snapshot of your model, attractive 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 preferred approach to share helpful content material that positions you as an authority in your area of interest.
Podcast Web page: When you’ve got a podcast, it is best to undoubtedly have a devoted web page for it in your website. Though your podcast can technically exist with no web site, a podcast web page can promote your present and assist listeners be taught extra about your model and choices.
Credibility Part: Testimonials, case research, and press protection showcase the constructive experiences of others, establishing your model’s credibility and reliability and constructing belief. This content material can stay by itself web page or be positioned strategically at totally different locations in your website.
Product/Service Pages: Every services or products web page ought to present detailed data, advantages, and a compelling name to motion (CTA).
Model Story/About Web page: Your viewers connects with the individuals 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 straightforward navigation, clear product categorization, and a streamlined checkout course of.

Examples of On-line Creator and Entrepreneur Branded Web sites

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

Gnome Angel

Ange Wilson’s quilting-based creator enterprise web site has a powerful, vibrant visible id based mostly 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 study Gnome Angel’s assets and merchandise by way of a “patchwork” design type that evokes a quilt. The “sticky” navigation menu persists as you descend the house web page, offering quick access to the remainder of the location.

Piscari

The Piscari website is an organization model web site with a easy, clear, useful dwelling web page that serves as an About web page for the corporate and its founder, Mike Lander, with a hyperlink to affix the Piscari electronic mail checklist on the backside. A high nav menu that shows on each web page makes it straightforward to be taught extra in regards to the firm, its companies, and different assets. The “Contact Us” button, framed in daring inexperienced, highlights the principle 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 picture of Jette that humanizes the model. The straightforward single-column structure reduces distraction and guides you down the web page as you encounter a contented shopper’s testimonial and be taught extra about Jette’s companies. Graphic parts 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 a couple of reminders — and by debunking a couple of frequent misconceptions about making a branded enterprise web site:

Sure, you do want a web site. Web sites aren’t only for massive corporations, and social media isn’t sufficient.
Your web site doesn’t need to be advanced or aesthetically gorgeous. Easy, user-friendly designs typically carry out higher, so deal with readability and performance above all.
A web site wants consideration. Your web site isn’t simply going to draw visitors by itself. You should market it and commonly populate it with contemporary, Search engine optimisation-rich content material.
You don’t need to go it alone. There are many nice designers on the market who might help you craft a brand and construct a professional-looking branded web site. (We labored with the nice individuals at Rockbase for our redesign.)

In case you’re feeling daunted, don’t! We’ve bought all of the assist that you must begin constructing your model and designing a killer web site to point out it off to the world. Try our website’s Free Assets tab, the place you’ll discover content material for entrepreneurs at any stage. In case you’re able to take the subsequent massive step in your on-line work trip, head to SmartPassiveIncome.com/community to study our communities for on-line entrepreneurs. You may be taught from others such as you who’ve constructed their very own branded web sites, acquire entry to our full library of programs, take part in stay occasions, and extra.