Branding your Online Business
In this post, I’m going to lay the necessary foundations towards having a well-branded online business.
You see, a brand is much more than your logo or the layout of your site. A brand is the personality that identifies your business. It is the way your audience FEELS and thinks about your business and it’s message.
Just think of a famous person that you really like. This is someone you’ve never met, but are aware of the personality that creates that individual’s brand. What you think and feel about them that creates an emotional connection and bond between the two of you.
A business brand is not different.
Think about Apple for a moment. Their products and the organization has a brand which includes characteristics such as:
– high end products
– innovative design
– intelligent and sophisticated
– rebellious and polished at the same time
People who identify themselves with these characteristics are drawn to the Apple brand, which in turn, creates a sense of belonging to a tribe, of connection, of feeling pride when they buy an Apple product.
This can be extremely powerful.
Apple’s fans become advocates of the brand. They share their enthusiasm with their friends and the world, and they help build buzz around the company.
You don’t want to miss out on the power of branding!
Step 1 – Defining Your Branding Personality
1. When you imagine your ideal brand, what’s it like? What’s the personality? Is your brand innovative like Apple? Adventurous like Richard Branson and Virgin? Funny like Conan O’Brien?
2. What are the main components of your own personal brand? What do you stand for? What do people like about you?
3. How can you express your uniqueness through your brand?
Step 2 – Your Brand Name
Let’s get more specific and delve into tailoring your business personality to the different elements of a brand.
Naming your online business is the first and arguably the most essential step in establishing your brand. It is what people remember and identify you with.
Here are some broad guidelines for picking a great brand name:
A great names is short and easy to remember, preferably 3 words or less – brevity helps with memorability.
A great name includes relevant keywords. People will be searching the internet for topics related to your business and having a keyword-rich name can be a factor in ranking higher on Google and other search engines.
A great name evokes emotion. It resonates with your audience and make that all-important connection.
More than anything, a great name puts the essence of your business into a handful of words. It delivers your message clearly and gives your visitors a hint of what your business is all about.
Let’s use a business related to barefoot running as an example.
Consider “No Shoes Running Expert” as a possible brand name. The name includes a few relevant keywords and gives an insight into what the business is about. However it pretty much misses on everything else we mentioned above.
Now consider instead, “Barefoot Running Warrior.” You now have a more concise and memorable name that evokes emotion through effective word choice – warrior implies imagery with emotions related to power, action, and standing up for strongly held beliefs. Plus, the keywords are better. “Barefoot Running” is a more searched-for term than “No Shoes Running”.
Another example is “Better Barefoot Running”. Notice the alliteration with better and barefoot. Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. CocaCola, PayPal, and Bed, Bath & Beyond are other examples of this.
Now that we have covered some basics, brainstorm some possible brand names.
Step 3 – Pick a powerful domain name
Before you pick a domain name, let’s address a few things regarding the relationship between branding and your domain name.
1. Your domain name (e.g nanowrimo.org) and brand name (e.g National Novel Writing Month) do not necessarily have to be the same, although it’s often a good idea if they are. By registering your brand name as a domain name, your business online image will benefit – each time your domain name appears on-screen, your brand name will gain exposure.
2. Using your personal name (e.g chrisguillebeau.com) as the domain name instead of your brand name (e.g The Art of Nonconformity) is an option, however you want to think of the implications. When you brand yourself, you make the whole business about you, and that might make it more difficult to add other angles or sell it in the future if you choose to.
3. A .com domain has more prestige than the other extensions but having a great name with another extension (e.g .net or .co) is much better than sacrificing for a mediocre “.com” name. Online users are more likely to Google your brand name anyway rather than type it in the address bars of their browsers. Remember, your first priority is to get yourself a killer domain that you absolutely love.
4. It’s quite frustrating to come up with a killer brand name just to find out that it’s impossible to get the domain name for it. In this case, consider adding one word in the beginning (e.g “my”, “the”) or the end (“secrets”, “warrior”) if it doesn’t really change the overall meaning of your brand name. Alternatively, see if you can alter your original name by slightly modifying one of the words. (e.g Passive –> Passively).
5. Last, but not least, don’t be afraid to be different. Originality and self-expression are positive things. Separate yourself from the crowd and make your voice heard – It’s your business at the end of the day so find something that inspires you.
Now that we covered some conceptual grounds, conduct a short research and see if the brand names your brainstormed in the previous step are already been used or trademarked.(If you’re in the U.S. you can use uspto.gov to conduct an online search for trademarks. Otherwise simply google “trademark” + your particular judicial district in order to find the governing trademark authority)
Then, head over to a reliable domain name registration service provider like Godaddy.com or mydomain.com and check if the brand name is available. If the “.com” domain is available then good for you. If not, consider the “.net” or “.co” extensions as a second option, or explore other avenues.
Step 4 – Your Tagline
A tagline is a powerful way to further communicate your brand. It is an opportunity to express your brand’s personality in a few impacting and compelling words.
A tagline is also an opportunity to convey your unique selling proposition and show you’re different in every interaction with your prospective clients.
You can display it in the header at the top of each page, put it on your business cards, or use it at the bottom of every email as your signature.
In fact, the more you use it, the better.
Now, any copywriter or marketing consultant will tell you that constructing a tagline is no easy task. Most are bland, generic, and forgettable.
The key is to get your target audience see themselves in the message.
You basically want to elicit an emotional response from them such as: “I truly identify with this message” or “finally someone speaks my language”.
Think of Apple’s tagline, “Think different”.
In just two words, apple managed to evoke the feelings of being unique, savvy and innovative, and at the same time position themselves as different from the masses.
Your tagline obviously does not have to be that short but it must have the following features:
– Communicates your most important benefit, advantage, or point of distinction
– Memorable – something that will stay in your visitor’s head.
– Short and succinct – No more than 10 words.
– believable and truthful – Don’t overpromise.
– Most importantly, emotionally connecting – getting your visitors to see themselves in the message.
Now that you know the characteristics of a great tagline, get those creative juices flowing and construct your cores message.
And don’t worry if you don’t come up with the perfect tagline that everyone is going to love right away. Instead, pick something and run with it. Inspiration and creativity will come to you as you go.
Step 5 – Your Visual Identity
Many new entrepreneurs jump into designing a logo without doing all the key things you’ve done to prepare for developing a well-branded platform. This is because logo design is highly overrated.
To illustrate my point, take a look at the Facebook logo. It’s just a white font on a blue background. That’s it.
How about Google? Avis? These are all successful businesses that didn’t need a “fancy logo” to represent their brand.
Now, this is not to say logo design is not important. It is. Your logo is the first point of contact with your business, so it’s important to create a strong visual element to identify it.
However, my approach is that you don’t need to spend hours upon hours and valuable resources to create an effective logo.
A text based logo is just fine. And If you elect to add a graphic, go for something SIMPLE.
Think of the world’s’ biggest company’s logos. Most of them are extremely simple. McDonalds, Apple, Nike, Amazon, Adidas, BBC, Youtube, and Samsung just to name a few. A simple logo is easier to recognize therefore it’s more effective.
A good rule of thumb is that if you can’t look at a logo for just a few seconds and then draw it with pen and paper, it’s too complex.
Final words
Remember that branding is not defined in any one action. Everything you do shapes your brand – the name you choose to identify it, the logo you use to symbolize it, the tagline below it, the design you pick for your website, and even the style and personality you convey through your writing.
* If you’re seeking extra motivation and inspiration on your journey of personal growth, I recommend taking a look at my SMART growth goals page, This page offers thousands of goal ideas that can assist in the establishment of new aspirations and the attainment of greater heights in one’s life. In fact, it was instrumental in my creation of a list of 100 goals, which I pursued for a decade.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an impact-driven creator at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 life goals around the globe. Tal's journey and recent book, The Art of Fully Living, inspired him to found Elevate Society.
