Your Online Presence – Web Design and Branding
The best investment a small business or entrepreneur can have is their online website. Not only is their website important, but their overall web branding is critical as well. Web branding is a great way to stand out within the World Wide Web.
Web branding is very similar to a company displaying their brand on TV, magazine or newspaper. A brand is classified as a symbol. Symbols are defined as designs which represent something else, and a brand is meant to package all of the associations, experiences and characteristics into an abstract construct.
To draw in customers, a company’s brand should have all of necessities to catch their attention. Whether it’s sound, phrases, logos or imagery, it should be something in which people come into contact with.
CODANK Charlotte Web Design has provided a few Web Branding tips below. Read them carefully and plan accordingly.
Character – Give your brand character. You can do this by introducing it with a little personality; something that your audience can associate their selves with.
Color – Choosing the right color is very important. Color stimulates emotions and carried with it subconscious associations to numerous things and characteristics.
Consistency – Make your brand memorable. Make sure to be consistent in your web design when you’re building it. Keep consistent colors, visuals and typography.
Size & Position – Position your logo in the upper left area of the webpage – that is the area most people look to see what site they’re on.
Uniqueness – Differentiate your web page and brand from your competitors. If you don’t, it won’t really be memorable!
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Web Branding & Design Tips
Establishing an online presence for your company can be very beneficial. Having a web site is very important, but actually creating a complete web brand is just as imperative. Developing a unique web brand is the perfect opportunity to stand out from the rest of the Internet world.
Web branding is a means of identifying a business’s web site by providing an image association. It is very similar to a company, such as Pepsi, running ads in newspapers, magazines, and commercials on television. Most brands come in the form of a symbol. The symbol is used for representation, while the brand is meant to package all of the associations with the company.
Your brand should draw potential customers in and encourage them to want to learn more. Whether it’s catchy phrases, bright logo designs, or imagery, it should be something in which people will show an interest in.
CODANK Charlotte Web Design has provided a few web branding and web design tips below. Read them carefully and plan accordingly.
Uniqueness – Differentiate your web page and brand from your competitors. If you don’t, it won’t really be memorable!
Color – Choosing the right color is very important. Color stimulates emotions and carried with it subconscious associations to numerous things and characteristics.
Clean Layout Design: A clean layout that uses a lot of white space enhances a site’s looks. Try to keep the focus on your content. Use fonts that will be available on all computers to prevent any errors.
Optimum Load Time: Make sure your load time is low.
About CODANK Charlotte Web Design
CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.
For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com
Branding Your Company With Social Media and Networking
If you are yet to discover the power of Social Media and Networking as a branding tool – then now is the time to research ‘the power of the poke’.
The five different means of social media that can help you to increase your brand exposure are as follows:
Social Networking
Video and Image Sharing
Document Sharing
Blogging
Social Bookmarking
If, at this stage, you are wondering how FaceBook and Youtube are going to help you to brand your company, then read on and discover how you can create your very own buzz online using social media.
Social Networking is connecting with people online and although use social networking tools like FaceBook for finding a long lost friend, the implications and uses for a business are endless.
Social Networking allows you to connect with people and tell them who you are and what you are all about. Take sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn and About Us. These three examples show how Off Plan Property Investment company Ready2Invest have used these sites to ‘plug’ what they do and get their name ‘out there’.
The fundamentals when looking at social networking is to make sure that you include your website URL, contact details, rich information about you and your team, pictures and anything else that you think is relevant i.e.: upcoming events or news. Make sure that you ‘tag’ everything with pertinent labels like location.
FaceBook is broad allowing you to connect with a wide spectrum of people, whereas Linkedin is a B2B version allowing you to connect with suppliers, people in the same industry and those who will be interested in your services. About Us is a website directory that helps you to link with others in related industries, increasing your brand exposure and connecting with your target audience.
Video and Image Sharing
Sites like YouTube and Flickr have massively taken off and if someone in your office is laughing right now, they are probably watching a clip on YouTube or someone’s pictures on Flickr.
YouTube is reported to be the 3rd most popular website in the world, with over 80 million users sharing around 3 billion videos from surfing to pension information. With 65,000 videos uploaded every day, if you are not already in on the action then you should be.
Flickr similarly has a growing popularity. Flickr allows you to share both photographs and videos and is home to more than 3 billion of them. Both YouTube and Flickr social media websites allow you to organise your photographs and videos by ‘social tags’ and therefore means that users can browse by Folksonomic means i.e.: collaborative and social tagging. This means that a photograph could be tagged by the destination or general subject matter, making it easier for people to find. Again, Ready2Invest have done the same with their video and photo sharing accounts.
Document Sharing
Most organisations have presentation documents whether it be about the company or specific projects – either way – have you considered that someone else would find these interesting?
Document sharing sites like Scribd give you the chance to gain brand exposure by sharing your company documents. A good example of this can be seen here, where Ready2Invest have again syndicated their documents. Make sure that you add the relevant tags to your document as well as your branding and contact information.
Blogging
Get your creative juices flowing and start ‘blogging’ about your company. Blogging allows you to keep your audience informed on what your organisation has been doing, your views on specific topics and get your opinions out there. Syndicate this blog then you can really increase your brand exposure and get a conversation started.
Websites like Twitter and Plurk publish your blog from your RRS feed, taking it directly from your website. This means that every time you write an article or post on your website it is also published to other sites. People then follow you and what you have to say and your voice reaches people that are highly relevant to what you do.
Ready2Invest have a very successful blog on their website and now because of the additional exposure achieved by Twitter and Plurk blog syndication, they now have several new members to add to their online community.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking sites allow you to show other people what you are interested and is like moving your ‘favourites’ tool to a place where everyone can access it.
Websites like Digg and Stumbleupon allow you to ‘book mark’ interesting pages from your website and share what you do with the world. You may not realise it yet, but your website could be a valuable resource for someone – so let them know about it.
Ready2Invest are Digging and Stumbling and letting people know that they are out there.
The options for brand exposure using social media are endless, but there are a few simples rules that should be followed.
1. Be consistent with your brand’s image and the message that you project. Stay true to your company ethos and watch as your brand exposure grows.
2. Tag, label and explain. The more information that you can give – the better and make it relevant.
3. KEEP GOING. Don’t just stop there. Keep adding pictures, blogging and raising your profile.
Better Branding with Social Media
One of the most important things to remember when promoting your company is consistency. Maintaining a steady image in your audience’s mind yields a better chance of them remembering it.
When thinking of a business, a person should be able to associate it with something – or at least that’s what we hope happens. For instance, when you think of Nike, the image that you recall is a giant check. Similarly, the name McDonald’s immediately paints those large golden arches within your mind.
Nowadays, with social media booming, companies have an opportune chance of branding with little to no cost! Utilizing some of the many social networks available such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, businesses now have numerous outlets to promote their company other than through their own website.
Each site that I have listed, as well as the others out there, allows you to add an image. This is your first step to creating a long lasting impression on your viewers. When a person stumbles upon your logo on Twitter and then the same logo on Facebook and LinkedIn, they will begin to recognize it from the previous source and the logo will linger in their minds.
Staying consistent with your company description, services and contact information is vital, too. Changing things around from one site to the next will only result in confusion. Branding is more than just about logos; every piece of information sent out to your viewers should remain the same.
There is no doubt about it; branding is necessary in the success of your business. But why buy in to so much paid advertising when the same tools are right in front of you…for free! Social networking sites get your name and logo out there in a cost effective manner.  All you need is time and the know-how.
The great thing about these sites is that you can target your exact audience. Companies and individuals are divided into industry-specific and region-specific subgroups allowing you to reach the best audiences for you.
With social media on the rise, and more and more people participating in the movement, it would be in a company’s best interest to utilize these tools to get its name out there. Branding can make all the difference in the success of your business and social media is the most convenient and cost effective way to start!
Twitter Marketing – More Twitter Followers, More Branding
Everybody is talking about Twitter and other Social Media sites. This is Web 2.0 Era and Marketing people are using Social Media sited as powerful Marketing tools. Here, Twitter is playing very important role because Twitter is easiest way to reach Targeted audience with your Marketing Message. For example – if you have 10,000 Twitter Followers and you are sending any message that means your Message is going to all 10K people instantly. So this is the way to promote your Website or service. Just Get Twitter followers and start promoting things.
But, what is the best way to get targeted twitter following?
Now you don’t need to spend time on Following people on Twitter, there are many companies which are offering “Buy Twitter Followers” service. You can buy twitter followers from these companies at very reasonable pricing.
Many companies have started this and they are getting very good results. This is the reason that so many companies jumped into Twitter Marketing Service. You just need to make a search in Google and you will get a list of around 50 companies, which are dealing in same service. They charge you around for getting 1000 people and within 5-6 days, you will get your desired numbers of followers. This is not a Spamming because these companies work manually on Twitter account and they follow all Twitter policies. They just save your time and remove your tension of doing manual and boring following work that you do in Twitter.
Buy Twitter followers from Newmarketingsense and start earning from the Twitter marketing explosion!
Social Media Branding – Why For You
A brand is a center stone for a company. Building a brand required a balance marketing efforts across various channels. As days are passing there are sign of new beginning of an era. In which opportunities are countless for businessman, companies, organization & etc to establish or mark their name & build a reputation of them.
Now a day’s Social Media Branding become a very useful & great tool for the building of brand.Social Media branding help you get high quality traffic from social media websites. It’s provides the opportunity to reach your target audience in a more effective and creative manner than ever before.
Role of Social Media’s in Branding
Right from the early age we humans have an ability or I say (if u agree with me) a quality to get socialized through which we are able to solve our lot of problems. Still now a day if we have any problem we tries to socialized, by meeting with our family member, friends or other people, who in their life once have face or successfully tackle that problem. So the term of socializing is not new for us. So if I say branding through social media it doesn’t seem something out of the world or new to us. To support my words I will take you back to the past.
“Few years back marketers just push their messages, what they want to say, about brand to consumers. (by just showing commercial adds etc) “
As people are getting more information & knowledge companies are more keen what consumers are discussing & saying about it. Social Media had a strong impact about public opinion & what they are expressing about the brand & products. So if I give thank to social media as they switch the control; as now consumers are driving the opinion about the brands not the marketers. I can support these words by giving you an example which my good friend (I will not tell u his/her name) uses to give me during our schools days;
“if u saw shaving trimmer add & its said that its easy to use, give good shave, having long lasting battery etc., you won’t buy that product at first place just showing that add even its market price is very low. But if any of your family member or friends gives good comments about that product you just purchase it without any problem. That is called Social Branding.”
For companies social media is important b/c it provides a way to get out there and get noticed. It’s an opportunity to go where the consumers are and create a presence and through social branding marketers now engaging with the potential users and involved in the conversations which are taking place about their brand or products. Instead of forcing yourself to your consumer social media gives you opportunity to hang out with them.
Social media however allows you to brand yourself long before anyone becomes your customer. In social media branding you are not the ad on the wall you are the guy telling stories about your brand which your audience finds fascinating and distribute it in its social circle. So don’t be afraid to participate in social media just because you don’t see the result quickly. But as the time passes you build your social reputation which leads you to credibility. And over time that credibility and awareness will very likely lead to an increase in your customer base.
As a dawn of social media is begun and companies have lot of expectation to get good results form social branding! 1 Social Media eagerly expects the challenges of social branding and has a commitment to fulfill your expectation.
Related Social Media Articles
Marketing professionals do not often agree whole-heartedly with each other. One thing they would most certainly see eye to eye on is the importance of finding and targeting an engaged audience. Because the internet is practically endless in size, it is often difficult to find the exact audience that is interested in what you have to say or the goods and services you wish to market on the web.
Twitter has become immensely popular in the past year and more businesse are using Twitter as a tool for improving their online presence as well as a networking mechanism. In order for a business to gain an engaged audience both in Twitter and in other social networks across the web, it needs to position itself within specific categories. Doing so would result in increased interaction with prospective clientele.
WeFollow is the invention of Digg founder Kevin Rose. It is a user directory for Twitter that allows each person or business listed in it to list themselves on the directory under five categories of interests and to include a location in the listing as well. Here at LookupPage, we are listed in WeFollow under the categories of Personal Branding, SEO, Google, Reputation and SEO expert. We feel that these categories represent some of the things we do extremely well online.
WeFollow is very user friendly when it comes to tracking potential new followers, similarly to the way Digg lists the most popular stories in descending order, WeFollow lists each category separately with the most popular users for each topic in descending order, where the popularity of each user is determined based on the relevancy of his followers to the category (read more here). If you are already signed into your twitter account, adding new people to the list of whom you follow is easy as pie.
Welcome to the GSCSC, Inc. Website, and welcome to the GSCSC, Inc. Website Blog. In this article we will be discussing the topic of Branding Your Twitter Profile. Just as you’ve spent money Branding Your Business, you need to take the time to Brand Your Twitter Profile as well. Branding Your Twitter Profile is important to your business image as an Internet Marketer. You need to present yourself as a professional to your Twitter followers. Read on to find out more!
Branding Your Twitter Profile
Twitter profiles are a window into the life and business of each user. Without a proper and effective profile, jobs can be lost, money can be washed down the drain and clients can be swayed to another Twitter profile that provides more of what they are looking for. A Twitter profile is just like a marketing campaign for a company. A properly developed Twitter profile should effectively provide a professional looking snapshot of your company brand to your Twitter followers.
Twitter is just another tool to implement your marketing strategy on the web. As such, the same branding rules apply to your Twitter profile. Your profile does not just include the wording on your Twitter account, but also the background on your Twitter page. There are applications you can use to develop free backgrounds for your Twitter account if you are on a budget, but in order to properly brand yourself, spend the extra money and develop a personal background the same way you would for a website. It will pay out nice dividends in the end.
Here are a few tips to follow when creating your profile on Twitter to help develop your company image and company brand.
• Be Consistent – Keep your message steady. If your business is about making the best athletic shoes on the market, make sure your Twitter profile falls right in line with it. As enticing as it might be to throw up a few pictures of you fishing with some friends, keep your message relevant.
• Add Pictures – Many people want to see actual pictures of who they are talking to, not avatars or logos. As tempting as it might be to put your company logo up as your profile picture, save your logo for your background and put a picture of you on the profile. This will let people know they are talking to a real person and this will help your marketing efforts tremendously.
• Frequently Update – When you have something new, make sure you update your profile. This lets people know your business is changing and growing. Your company image and brand depends on it. Remember to keep it a consistent message, but also to keep it filled with fresh content.
• Give Readily Available Contact Information – When branding yourself or your business on Twitter, one of the most important things is to make sure people know how to get in touch with you. Be sure to include applicable links to your website or any other methods of contact you might have such as E-Mail and phone. Specify how you prefer people to be able to reach you and list your business hours, if you use them.
• Stick with Simplicity – While you only have 140 characters to develop your profile, treat it as though it were SEO copy. You only have a few seconds to get your brand across before the potential client becomes bored and goes elsewhere, so be brief and choose your words wisely.
• Value Time – Take your time. Developing your brand on a new social media tool can be exciting and a lot of fun, but don’t let the excitement go to your head. Take your time and if you feel yourself getting frustrated, take a little 5-minute break and go grab some coffee or a soda. If you take your time, you will be able to get out exactly what you want to say. You won’t need to go back and change your message 10 minutes after you have published it because you left something out or didn’t get your point across to your potential clients.
Branding your business took time, possibly even months. Give your Twitter profile the same attention you did to the initial branding efforts of your business and it will pay off. Follow these steps and you will have a good understanding of how to use your Twitter profile to brand your business properly and effectively. Remember, Computers & Internet, Social Network Sites, and Computer Technology play an important role in our lives, so don’t blow it from the start. Another good example here: If you have a business that specializes in Computer Service & Repair, don’t talk about Shoes, Animals, and so forth. Stick to the topics of Computer Service & Repair. The same would be applicable for someone who runs a business specializing in Financial Services, Credit & Debt Services, Credit Repair, and Accounting Services. Stay with your target audience, and stay focused on them and their needs. If you enjoyed this article, pass it on to your Twitter followers.
Thanks for visiting Richard Goddeau – Global Software & Computer Solutions Centers GSCSC. We hope that you enjoyed your stay with us.
A lot has been said about how pay per click advertising can be used to drive targeted traffic to your website, but did you know you can also use pay per click ads to brand your business?
It’s true. One of the most often overlooked aspects of pay per click advertising is the powerful branding force it can be. I’m not just talking about Google AdWords either. I’m talking about the whole shebang.
Whether you write ads for Google, Yahoo!, MSN, one of the smaller pay per click companies, or a specialty or niche website, your company brand can be instrumental in getting you additional business and creating top of mind awareness among your target market. Even if you never get a click from an ad, just the ad’s existence by itself can be a useful branding tool. The next time someone sees your business name, website URL, or branded logo, they’ll realize they’ve seen you before. Get your brand in enough places and eventually those targeted consumers will be at your website seeing what you have to offer.
There are three ways to brand your company online:
• Use your company name
• Displaying your website URL
• Your branded logo
Since we’re talking about pay per click, we won’t discuss the logo. But your company name and website URL are very powerful tools in pay per click advertising.
Yes, you need keywords. Don’t give up on those. Ideally, you would have your primary keyword as a part of your company name and your website URL. That’s the most effective branding strategy. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible.
If you do have a company brand and a website URL that uses your primary keyword then you are in like Flynn. All you have to do is list your company name and website URL once each along with an effective use of your keyword in your pay per click advertising efforts and you have instant branding. But what if your keyword is not a part of your URL or company name?
Well, then you have other options:
• You can run ads based solely on your company brand name
• Your ads can focus on your website URL
• You still write keyword-based ads, but use your URL or company name in those ads
The first pay per click option allows you to write ads based on your company name. If it’s a recognizable name then this is easy, but if your company name isn’t well known then you have to brand it. I wouldn’t recommend this tactic with Google, MSN, or Yahoo!, but if your ads appear on websites within your industry then this is a good tool to use. You run a sponsored ad on a related website using your company brand name three times (once in the ad’s title and a couple of times in the body content of the ad). If your company name is also your website URL then you can run your company name again within your display URL.
The second option is to focus on your URL. Are you promoting a particular product or service at a specific URL? Some pay per click companies will allow you to have a display URL and a destination URL. Use the web page you want to send traffic to as your destination URL and your home page (without the index.html) as the display URL. You can also use that display URL in your ads title and once in the body of your ad’s content.
The best and most effective way to brand your company with pay per click advertising, however, is with keywords in combination with your website URL and/or your company brand name. In this case, you include your keyword as well as your company name or URL in the title and once or twice each in your ad’s content. It should look something like this:
Brick Marketing – Search Engine Optimization Firm
Brick Marketing offers Search Engine Optimization Services to drive customers to your website.
www.BrickMarketing.com
See how “Brick Marketing” AND “Search Engine Optimization” appear in both the title and the body of the ad? This is effective branding because it connects your company name and website URL with the specific keyword phrase you want people to associate you with. In the title, you can put your company first as above or put the keyword first and your company behind it. Either way, you are associating your company brand with the keyword phrase that you want people to remember when they think about you. It also works to get people to think about your company when they see the keyword phrase and the effect is to get them to associate both the company and the keyword any time they see either one somewhere else on the Web.
When it comes to branding your company online, pay per click advertising is one of the most powerful tools you have.
Brian is Principal of FutureWorks. He is co-founder of the Social Media Club, an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup, a contributor to the Social Media Collective and ConversationalMedia.org
Solis, in concert with Geoff Livingston, released, “Now is Gone” a new book that helps businesses engage in Social Media. He has also released a series of ebooks on new PR and blogger relations.
You may also find articles by Brian at the TalentZoo.com website under Very Public Relations.
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