A Website or Blog is Worth a Thousand Brochures
A Website or Blog is Worth a Thousand Brochures
A website or blog is a powerful way to create a dynamic brand identity and a community of loyal brand fans. A website is the ultimate branding. It can build a powerful visual and verbal identity quickly and affordably for you and your business. It can reach everyone you want to target and create a brand community. A website allows you to display your own brand personality and always be up-to-date and relevant. It allows you to be accessible to your customers or audience.
You always need to approach the web site design as powerful packaging and advertising for you, your business or your ideas. Here are the first five principles for developing a great website or blog from my new book, U R A BRAND, How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success:
1. Get a Great Domain Name. Get the best, most memorable URL you can. It’s got to be easy to remember and spell. Make it as short as possible. Think of domain availability when choosing your business name if you are a new entrepreneur. Even if you’re part of a hosting weblog, choose a url for your blog that imparts your point of view or personality. Originally, the name of my new book was going to be, You Are a Brand, but we switched text messaging because of the availability of www.urabrand.com. You should always buy your own name. (Buy your kid’s names for the future.)
2. Have a Clear Focus. Obvious? Maybe, but maybe not given the challenge many websites present in figuring out what they are selling or promoting. View the top of the home page as the headline on an ad. Make sure you include an identifying phrase or tagline so visitors will know immediately what the site is about. And choose all the possibly relevant meta tags so that your site will turn up on web searches.
3. Have a Distinct Brand Look. You have just seconds to make a first impression, so make sure your site has a great look. Don’t use a template design. You’ll look like everybody else – like a generic not a brand. To get inspiration for your web designer, cruise around the web for sites that appeal to you. Develop a distinct brand look but keep it simple and uncluttered.
4. Have a Different Message. Use short, pithy copy, but say something. Too many website are full of jargon or don’t say anything at all. You website is your chance to sell, so sell your USP – a different idea than what everyone else is saying.
5. Convey a Brand Personality. Use color, design, imagery, graphics and verbal messages to create a brand personality. Bring your personal DNA into the equation by writing in a personal not impersonal style that engages visitors and builds a web community.
A Website or Blog is Worth a Thousand Brochures - To learn more about this author, visit Catherine Kaputa's Website.
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The minute you print a brochure, it is out of date. Production is expensive. Distribution is expensive.
A website or blog is a powerful way to create a dynamic brand identity and a community of loyal brand fans. A website is the ultimate branding. It can build a powerful visual and verbal identity quickly and affordably for you and your business. It can reach everyone you want to target and create a brand community. A website allows you to display your own brand personality and always be up-to-date and relevant. It allows you to be accessible to your customers or audience.
You always need to approach the web site design as powerful packaging and advertising for you, your business or your ideas. Here are the first five principles for developing a great website or blog from my new book, U R A BRAND, How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success:
1. Get a Great Domain Name. Get the best, most memorable URL you can. It’s got to be easy to remember and spell. Make it as short as possible. Think of domain availability when choosing your business name if you are a new entrepreneur. Even if you’re part of a hosting weblog, choose a url for your blog that imparts your point of view or personality. Originally, the name of my new book was going to be, You Are a Brand, but we switched text messaging because of the availability of www.urabrand.com. You should always buy your own name. (Buy your kid’s names for the future.)
2. Have a Clear Focus. Obvious? Maybe, but maybe not given the challenge many websites present in figuring out what they are selling or promoting. View the top of the home page as the headline on an ad. Make sure you include an identifying phrase or tagline so visitors will know immediately what the site is about. And choose all the possibly relevant meta tags so that your site will turn up on web searches.
3. Have a Distinct Brand Look. You have just seconds to make a first impression, so make sure your site has a great look. Don’t use a template design. You’ll look like everybody else – like a generic not a brand. To get inspiration for your web designer, cruise around the web for sites that appeal to you. Develop a distinct brand look but keep it simple and uncluttered.
4. Have a Different Message. Use short, pithy copy, but say something. Too many website are full of jargon or don’t say anything at all. You website is your chance to sell, so sell your USP – a different idea than what everyone else is saying.
5. Convey a Brand Personality. Use color, design, imagery, graphics and verbal messages to create a brand personality. Bring your personal DNA into the equation by writing in a personal not impersonal style that engages visitors and builds a web community.
A Website or Blog is Worth a Thousand Brochures - To learn more about this author, visit Catherine Kaputa's Website.
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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