Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

10 Branding and Marketing Tips For Any Website

February 23, 2009 | Feature, Marketing

This is a guest article sent in by Firas Steitiyeh of Weblist. He gives his top 10 tips on branding and marketing your website (including blogs).

As a marketing guy, I would like to stress on the actual definition of marketing which a majority of people might not know. Marketing, in plain English, is the backbone of any company where all products, offers, pricing, policies, strategies and business development are done under the huge umbrella of marketing. A lot of people mix between Marketing and Communications, where communication is the advertising activities that any company does in order to deliver a specific message to the targeted segment of customers, including Branding, Above The Line (ATL), Below The Line (BTL), Sponsorships, Exhibitions, Online Marketing and much more techniques.

Today, I am going to feature 10 tips that I think should be taken into consideration by every website (including blogs), that will help increase the awareness and branding of that website:

  1. Your brand (name) should be easy to remember, pronounced over the phone and should be the same as your domain name. You may be asking why I use Webli.st when my brand name is Weblist, that is because I have been wanting to use a hacked domain ever since I was a little kid and I am just making that happen.
  2. Your slogan should say exactly what you do or at least what field you are operating in. If not, your logo design should handle this task.
  3. Your website should have a unified brand identity, which includes the Logo, Icon and a Favicon (most preferably the same as the icon). All these items should walk together, they should be using the same colors, fonts and concept. Your Favicon is an important item which most webmasters ignore. The Favicon is used as an icon for your bookmarked links when your readers bookmark your pages, also it is viewed beside your title and URL when viewing your site.
  4. Use your @website e-mail, do not use free e-mails (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc…). I personally use my @webli.st e-mail and have e-mails forwarded to my Gmail account. So, I use Gmail for sending and receiving my @webli.st e-mails. Every time you send from a free e-mail there is a lost opportunity that, the recipient is visiting your site and that, the word about your website is being spread. What’s better than word of mouth?
  5. Include a Link to your website within your signature in every single e-mail you send, you can also try Feedburner’s Email Signature, it’s pretty cool.
  6. Don’t tell me you do not use Twitter! You have to; it’s a great social tool that helps you in many ways. You can check what people are saying about your brand (search option), you can spread the word over Twitter (Tweets) and also keep in touch with the external world, whether customers or partners. These are the least and very basic things you can do with Twitter.
  7. Make sure you have custom made business cards that also walk in line with your brand identity. Most businesses have their own business cards but bloggers tend to not. You should, since they do not cost much. You will realize their effect and the good image a business card will reflect on your brand in addition to the awareness it will create.
  8. Other giveaways that are branded and include your URL won’t harm at all, if affordable. Pens are a viral giveaway tool, post-it notes as well.
  9. Presence on related communities will help you build your brand. Commenting on competitors’ blogs and forums will create huge brand awareness to your targeted segment.
  10. Finally, to a have a well written “About” page and Bio, where it will point out and clarify what it is you do. A FAQ page will help a lot as well, if necessary.

There is one thing you have to all know, I myself have not done all of the above, remember I am using a hacked domain which is not well pronounced over the phone, and still haven’t got have a well written “About” page but I am working on them.

Firas Steitiyeh, the one behind Weblist, owns a passion for Marketing, Internet and Technology; has dedicated the past 15 years of his life exploring the never ending trends of the Internet.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. 9 Simple Tips For Personal Branding
  2. The Importance of Branding And Why You Might Be Screwing It Up Badly
  3. Usability Tips for Your Website
  4. Video Marketing Tips and Tricks
  5. 6 Tips to Secure Your Website

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  • The article on10 Branding & Marketing Tips for Any Website is really going to help me as well others who are planing to launch their products through website.
  • Baldchemist
    Nice post. You know, this FAQ thing is a real block to business. When people have questions let them ask you! Pre-empting or guessing what a punter wants is a sure fire way of them buying elsewhere!
    How do you know what the individual wants? When they are talking, they are buying!

    Make a question or a request for further information a buying sign!p
  • Great tips, this would help anyone promote their websites.
  • #1) is easier said than done when your name is Janet Johnson! Great ideas, though.
    Thanks again!
    Janet Johnson
  • Some great tips David, thanks.
  • Do you have a points system to review the effectiveness of someone's blog brand?

    For example the blog brand scores:

    54 out of 100 which is: "average/poor"

    78 out of 100 which is "excellent but still scope for improvement"

    I have been looking for something like this where I can clearly evaluate the brand effectiveness of my blog.
  • Hi Firas,

    Great post, am certainly in agreement with all the points raised. Something equally important, raised by the Geek Entrepreneur, is the value of a consistent tone, especially when embarking on a social media campaign.

    Your Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed and other blog related materials should ideally be streamlined and made to reflect the core aims and tones of your brand. (ie: no use being branded as an extreme adventure / adrenaline pumping product, and then using your Twitter account to Tweet about the peanut butter and jello sandwich you just made)

    I think corporates and individuals are now realising the benefits of a strong online brand, and are actively embracing the various tools available in order to achieve it.
  • Strong advice. Branding as a kind of "uniform identity." Taking some cues from the military - very wise, indeed.
  • My tip, do not use free themes for you website,it might make people feel you are not serious, get a customized theme and be sure it is really impressive. If possible extend your domain validity time as long as possible.
  • Thank you both Firas and David for this great post!
  • Loool Mike, honestly you're not the first one to suggest that :)

    I have learned a lot in the offline marketing industry and I am working on transferring it to the Online Media where sometimes we need to amend the techniques used, but they both still share the same basics.

    I am glad that you found the article beneficial.

    @Wesley, of course consistency is the key behind all that since branding wont be done in one or two campaigns, it's a long term activity. Thanks for your addition, I missed to make it clear in my article.

    Regards,

    Firas Steitiyeh
  • Thanks Firas pasha for those tips ;)
  • Good post...

    Thanks for the info..I will work on it as soon as i get my paid domain http://www.adesojiadegbulu.com live
  • William
    David,

    I advise you to buy www.davidRISELY.com and have it forward those that misspell your name to this site.

    William
  • Benjamin Reid
    Great post! I'm just re-designing myself as a brand at the moment and those tips are a great help.

    I love Twitter at the moment, getting people to 'RT' you as well is a great! :D
  • Hi Firas! Good to see you doing a guest appearance on one of my favorite blogs. First thing you need to do is change your name to one we can all spell! Only kidding!
    Good points in your post, I would guess most of us have the online stuff covered, but we tend not to think about the bus cards, pens etc. Not only do they act as great brand awareness tools, but they also add a good deal of prefessionalism.
  • Some great tips. I would add one key ingredient when marketing or building a brand is consistency. You have to be consistent in not only what you do (to build your reputation which is also part of your brand) but also in your marketing / advertising actions.

    If you use social media and social networking, then it is a must to have a consistent image so people can easily recognize who you are or what the company is. I see people do this a lot with their Twitter icons. They switch their icons around so much I don't recognize who they are which can consequently lead to me not reading their Tweet.

    Wesley
    The Geek Entrepreneur
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