How to Brand A Small Business Website

Branding of your website is important because it contributes to the long term value of your business.  It creates a sense of customer confidence.   For a small business - your brand is the niche value you bring to the market.  Its the expectation of value in the customers mind about your product.  Part of building a brand is creating an impression in the market.   There are a number of ways you can do that with your website.

• Memorable Logo - a logo is not a brand although it represents one.  All great brands have a memorable logo.  Your website should have one too.  Its not the most important thing - but it can symbolize the value you bring consistently.
• Email List - You have to have a way to engage your customers.  Email is one of the easiest.  You can start having a small relationship by sending short emails to your customers.
• Press Releases - You should publish anything of interest about your brand as often as possible.  There are many free online press release sites.
• Free Content - Give away something of value.  This could be an small e-book or a pdf file.  The kinds I appreciate the most are things that are of real value - not just sales pitches.  Many online businesses use free content to get email addresses.  I personally lean toward just giving material away without requiring an email address.  You might try a combination if you must.
• Blogging - Having a blog is a great way to demonstrate your brand.  Google loves blogs and indexes the pages quickly for blogs that are updated regularly.  
• Twitter - Twitter is becoming a premier search site.  If you have a truly unique offering - making updates about it on Twitter can drive traffic to your website.   You can set up a Twitter account for your business.
• Compelling Content - You will have to be prepared for your visitors by having interesting pages.
• Newsletter or Ezine - Offer to your email subscribers a periodic newsletter.   Your logo and brand slogan should go out with the email if you can.  Try something like MailChimp.com
• Auto-responders - Send an email out to any one who requests it - night or day.  Most hosting companies provide this.
• Domain Name - Use your domain name everywhere.  Make sure its in your email signature and all your correspondence.

Twitter Tips For Personal Branding

I have been reflecting on how to be most effective on Twitter – and to use Twitter to convey my brand. Since my primary trade is a software architect – I immediately recognize what I think are best practices – in fact are probably patterns for success on Twitter. So here they are:

• First start with an interesting design. You can customize the Twitter page using what Twitter gives you. Or you can upload a custom background. I uploaded a simple image of the ocean – an image large enough to cover the entire background even when the browser is enlarged. Many others seem to upload images that have a lot of personal information about themself. See Chris Brogan’s page for example. Try viewing the background image to see what he is uploading. Im not entirely certain how these images are actually created. I have to report back later.
• Include a concise (Ha Ha Ha) profile that describes your brand. Make these words count. Sometimes, I use these words to make entire judgments about fellow Twitterers. Expressions like “Having Fun, Hanging Out” do not promote your brand. Say something significant so that others can follow you easily.
• Customize your Twitter ID. Mine is http://twitter.com/jeffrey_blake. I recommend that you use your own name – but without the underscore. (There seems to be some other jeffreyblake out there who grabbed it before me). So it behooves you to capture your name sooner than later. This is good advice for all the social networking sites. You are the brand – use your name or at least your tagline.
• Enter your real name so that when you are listed people don’t have difficulty identifying you.
• Upload a clear professional image of yourself. As a rule I don’t follow people who have goofy avatars or don’t wear shirts in their image – In fact, just like on linkedin I have a habit of removing those connections to protect my brand.
• Dont protect your updates. I think its important to share your ideas and fully take credit for them.
• As for Tweets – say something pertinent. Have a conversation. Add value when you can. Have a hundred relevant comments before you tell me what you are having for dinner.
• Follow everyone relevant to you. I started twittering because of Guy Kawasaki after hearing him talk about his new company alltop.com. Ideally, have real conversations with these people. In time these connections can expand to Linkedin or Facebook and beyond.
• Learn the Twitter Etiquette whatever that is. I enjoyed this one which had some relevant points.
• Cross advertise yourself in your blog, your website or in your social net profiles. Add your twitter address into your emails.

Go forth and converse!