Do It Your Self Brand Identity

There’s a lot to consider when building a brand identity.

Whether it’s the unpredictable economy or people’s own stubborn nature, the DIY trend has become increasingly popular. While DIY is great for fostering creativity, the fact of the matter is there are some things that you just shouldn’t do yourself. Building your own website commonly falls under this category. There may be an abundance of online tutorials and information-rich articles out there that run you through the steps, but the fact is you should really have a brand identity and website design expert to show you the ropes.

While doing it yourself might initially seem like a great cost-effective solution, unless you’ve some background with computers and design, you’re likely going to wind up with a web presence that doesn’t quite speak to or do your brand’s identity justice. All of your efforts will have been a waste of time and you’ll be back at square one, only now you’ll be kicking yourself in the butt for not investing in a web designer in the first place.

We’re not going to waste our time and yours with complex tutorials, because, like we said (and believe it or not we know what we’re talking about), if your goal in creating a website is to enhance your brand identity, you should really seek the advice of someone who knows the ins and outs of all the various platforms. However, for those of you determined to take the do-it-yourself approach to virtualizing your brand identity, we’ll humor you with some tips.

1. Choose a Platform to Compliment
First and foremost, you should research and decide on an appropriate site platform. If you’re writing a blog, WordPress is your best bet. You can even use this platform to build your company’s website, though keep in mind that it can get tricky with coding, widgets, and other features, so you might want to reach out to someone who has some expertise with the platform.

2. Brainstorm Brand Identity and Content
Before you launch your site, narrow down your vision. What are your goals? What do you want for your brand identity a year from now? This step can be hard for business owners because they have so many ideas and dreams. That’s why, here at Creativetopia, we work with you to really solidify your values and goals into a clear brand message.

3. Consider the Domain Name
Everyone wants to be cool and memorable but when you’re deciding on a URL, it’s important to think about wording, spelling, length, and pertinence. Having a URL that contains relevant keywords will really help with your search ranking so you may want to spend a little extra time researching and finessing until you find a URL that will be most likely to generate traffic.

4. Deciding What Your Brand Identity Should Look Like
If you’re making a homemade website then you should really stick to a simple, easy-to-use template. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up for problems. If you’re wanting a site complete with all the bells and whistles, then hiring a web designer and developer is, without a doubt, your best bet. Not only can they help with the overall design, but they can oftentimes see the vision more clearly than the business owners themselves. These people are often so close to their business or product that it’s hard for them to take a step back to look at the big picture which inhibits their ability to break things down into a concise message for their audience.

Once you’ve spent all of this time getting your website up and running (we’re rooting for you really we are!) what’s the next step? There is much more to your site than just a pretty display of information. For your brand identity to really benefit from your website, you need to track down, develop your audience, and figure out what in the world you’re going to say to them. Now we’re talking Google Analytics and social networking, and that, my fellow creative thinkers, is a whole other, yet equally as important, ballgame that we will have to visit another time.

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