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Optimise Your Websites Content

Website content can be tricky, some people are great at writing copy but have no idea when it comes to illustrations and imagery, and vice-versa. It’s important to find this balance in order to get the best out of your website, prioritisation of certain aspects of design is key.
Starting your website design without a plan is a poor decision, having an unattractive, dysfunctional website will increase your bounce rate and reduce audience engagement. Optimising both the way your page is set out and its functionality is crucial, but can be hard if you don’t know what to aim for. Luckily, here are some key points to get you informed!

Write for SEO

SEO is the foundation for every website’s visibility on the internet. Writing your copy without regard to SEO can significantly hinder your opportunities to be seen in search queries. Keyword analysis is the process of discovering which keywords are popular and relevant to your website, these keywords should be used as often as appropriate within your text. This would include small variations of your key phrases, as you never know what users will search for.

High-Quality Images and Illustrations

When choosing imagery to use on your website, it’s important to ensure each image is a suitable resolution to prevent pixelation or sizing issues. High-quality imagery and attractive illustrations reduce your bounce rate and make your page generally more attractive. You also should avoid having huge images on your website as it affects performance and loading speeds, find the optimal size.

Say a Lot, but Say a Little

So, you’re including all your keywords and you’ve got some nice imagery. Now you need to break up your text effectively so your page doesn’t look overloaded with content. It can be good to mess around with a few different layout styles before your website goes live, so you can see areas of text you can cut out, or perhaps an image may look better somewhere else, etc. Assuming your keywords are accurate and relevant, a few small paragraphs per page would suffice in terms of text, you can always include sections of text within your illustrations to highlight things you want to stand out.

CTAs

CTAs, or Call To Actions, are buttons, links, etc. that encourage a user to check out a service or another section of your site. These are great for boosting your engagement and improving the visibility of the subpages on your site. Rather than a user visiting your homepage and checking other pages on their own accord, you can direct them to your other sections before they get disinterested and keep them engaged on your site.

Consistent Tone

Writing in a mix of passive, active, formal, informal, etc. can get confusing and awkward to read. Keeping a consistent writing style improves your readability, selecting a tone based on the topic or related subject is important to improve trust in your knowledge. For example, a website for a law firm should be written with a formal and active voice, whereas a creative design site may have a solid split between the styles.

In summary, pre-planning your content in depth should be a high priority as it can have a great effect on the performance of your website in the long run.

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Five Key Ways To Spice Up Your Written Content

When it comes to effective content writing, constantly looking for a new and innovative angle is absolutely key.

In order to avoid producing a slew of repetitive and uninspired posts, and in turn driving down potential audience engagement, it’s important to take a forward-thinking approach to maintaining your website at all times. If that sounds a little daunting, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. Stick around as we discuss some tried-and-tested techniques for spicing up your written content online.

1. Stay On Trend

Perhaps one of the most pertinent aspects of navigating social media as a brand is making sure you’re staying up-to-date with the latest popular trends and topics that will call attention to your content. Appearing out of touch or behind the times is really off-putting for audiences of all demographics, and so making a concentrated effort to modernize your written work is always both necessary and effective.

2. Embrace a Friendly Tone

Customers love feeling connected to the genuine people and presence behind a business, especially in digital spaces. This can be achieved in a multitude of ways, but one of the most impactful is curating the right tone behind each and every one of your posts – across all social media platforms. Keeping it casual, open and amicable with a little sense of humour mixed in to lighten the mood is always good practice when it comes to content creation.

3. Experiment with New Ideas

Keeping it fresh is another key component to successful website curation, the effectiveness of which can not be understated! In the digital age, where competitive brands are always finding new and meticulous ways to attract clientele, it’s not enough to stay stagnant on your company’s digitals anymore. Creating polls, memes, interesting visuals and thought provoking content is the way to go. Ultimately, staying creative is what is really going to consistently engage consumers.

4. Incorporate Different Media Into Your Posts

Your website isn’t a novel – don’t make it look like one! It’s generally a good idea to consistently incorporate different types of media into your posts, to avoid monotony and discouraging the audience from connecting with your brand’s message. Pictures, videos, graphics and memes – there’s a ton of ways to appear more interesting to potential customers, especially if you stay innovative.

5. Interact With Your Audience

Ultimately, nothing can replace the efficacy of really getting to know your demographic in order to understand their needs and wants. Making sure that you are creating an open dialogue with your consumers, and that your brand is willing to honestly listen to their experiences and desires, is what will allow your company to remain truly ahead of the curve.

To summarize, it’s clear that there’s a lot of work that goes into keeping your content exciting and enticing, as a company. But if executed correctly, remaining light hearted and expressive on your brand’s digitals can genuinely elevate your business in the eyes of the public and take you to new heights.

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How You Can Build Trust With Your Website Content

Many of us nowadays are worried about potential scams, and economic risks. Which means it is now more important than ever for your website to be reputable, reliable and trustworthy to win potential clients over. You may already have a loyal and strong following of customers, but if you are not thinking about your trustworthy image, you are less likely to gain more customers for the future. For example:

  • 84% will not consider buying a product if it does not pass their trust standards
  • 89% of customers worldwide will read reviews before purchasing a product

With this in mind, one of the best things you can be doing for your business is to make sure your website looks trustworthy, engaging and has the customers best interest in mind. And there are many ways to do this, which focuses on transparency, engages the reader, demonstrates your expertise and shows your history.

One website, which ticks all the right boxes is Norvic. They are transparent, provide testimonials, certificates, team videos and news involving aircraft engine overhaul. And this is only a few examples. With reliable sources and news concerning their business, customers instantly possess a sense of familiarity. Your website too can have the same sense of trust. Here we will go through some tips so your content can do just that.

1. Be Honest

First of all you need to be honest and provide the answers your customers are looking for easily. Don’t keep them hidden in a minefield of clicks away. One of the best ways to go about this is to be clear and up-front about what your business offers, and answer all the common questions of your industry. For instance, what do your potential customers want to know? Prices? Opening times? Past clients? Answering these questions will make you an expert voice in your industry as well as respected for your honesty. You can also provide the following to meet your customers needs further:

  • Blogs
  • ‘How to videos’
  • FAQ section
  • Photos and videos
  • Case Studies

When you understand your clients needs and go that extra bit further, the credibility will go up in their eyes.

2. Showcase Expertise

Before purchasing a product many buyers need the reassurance that they are making a justified and valued choice. Demonstrating your products through the use of video on your website is a great way to help potential clients feel reassured and know you are credible. In fact, 54% of consumers would like to see more video content from a business or brand they support.

3. Show Happy Clients and Testimonials (use authentic images)

When you see a photo of someone smiling, how do you feel? Chances are you yourself feel happier, and want to see yourself reflected in that person. So, providing a happy and authentic photo of your clients will help drive the positivity even further. Seeing a happy client will allow your potential customer to feel a sense of comfort, security and congruence. However. Make sure the photos you use are authentic and are not stock photos. It is always better to opt for real life photos of your team and/or customers, so your authenticity shines.

4. Embrace Your Prices and Make Sure it is HTTPS Secure

When your prices are easy to find, it shows that you have nothing to hide. Even if you feel your prices are slightly higher than your competitors, be proud of what you charge as you will be trusted more for it in the long run. You should also explain exactly what they are getting with those prices, if there are any varying factors, is it a subscription and where they can opt out if needed. Before your homepage even loads, customers can judge your reliability just by viewing “HTTPS” in the URL. This stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, protecting the integrity and confidentiality between the user and site.

5. Add alternative Ways For Customers to Contact You

Not all of us like to contact people in the same way. Some like to talk to someone over the phone, some like to email, and others like to send a direct message via social media. Due to this it is a good idea to make sure you have multiple options for a potential customer to reach you. If the desired communication is not available, they may be less likely to reach out to you.

All in all, there are many ways for your website to be trustworthy and even build authority. Try to imagine what your customers are looking for, and present this content to them in an easy and direct way.

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Getting In Touch With Your Audience

So you’ve created a business and it’s on the rise – great! There’s a lot of hard work and sleepless nights that go into creating a successful business, but luckily, there are small things you can do to help you stay on top.

Why Should You Stay In Touch?

Long gone are the days of hoping that selling your products and service was enough. With a market saturated with just about everything you can think (and even dream) of, you’re going to need a way to stand out from the crowd.

You may be thinking that you just simply don’t have the time, or that you just don’t want to, and that’s fair enough. If you’re happy to float along.

But if you’re really wanting to push your business and get your name out there, it’s vital that you deal with the customer service aspect of things.

If you’re still not convinced, here are 3 reasons why:

It Helps Them Feel Heard

I think everyone can agree, there’s nothing more frustrating than not feeling heard. Unsurprisingly, this feeling is definitely not restricted to your personal life.

Yes, you may be listening to your audience and what they want. But it’s not enough to merely listen anymore. You need to let them know!

It Keeps Your Audience Engaged

Have you ever tried talking to a brick wall? Would you like to sit and spend your precious time talking to a brick wall? Exactly. And your audience doesn’t want to either.

Your audience needs something to bounce off so they know that you haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth.

Did you know that nearly 3 out of 5 customers said that good customer service is vital for them to feel loyalty towards a brand? Trust me, if you don’t put your time and energy into checking your audience every now and then and keeping them engaged, someone else will. And just like that, goodbye loyal audience.

It Puts A Face To The Business

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to be in a job where you’ve taken complaints both in person and over the phone, you may have noticed there can be quite a big discrepancy on how the complaint is… explained. It’s no coincidence that complaints can be harsher when the complainer can’t put a face to a name.

By reaching out and keeping in touch with your audience, you can not only remove the faceless corporation mask, but if done well, you can even add a personable touch to your business.

How Can You Stay In Touch?

Hopefully, you’ve now been convinced that there is merit to getting in touch with your audience. But how do you do this you ask?

A simple way of being heard is by – funnily enough – reaching out to your audience and making yourself heard.

This doesn’t have to be anything difficult, and it can be done in a number of different ways.

Keeping An Up To Date Blog

If you already have a website – this is a no brainer!

There are many benefits to having a blog or news section on your website, and it can be used for many different things. Not only is it good for keeping your audience up to date with the latest in the business, but it also has SEO value, as Google eats up original, fresh content.

From opening hours updates to a simple Merry Christmas – Sound Inc always makes sure that their audience knows exactly what’s going on, all of the time.

Sending Out Newsletters

If you don’t have access to any form of blog, sending out newsletters also gets the job done.

With plenty of free software options (Mailchimp being a big player here), it would almost be rude not to indulge.

As well as keeping them up to date, sending out newsletters to your audience lets them know that hey, you’re still alive and kicking – so that product/service that they nearly bought last week? Why not go ahead and treat yourself.

Staying Active On Social Media

Hand down the easiest and quickest way of reaching out to your audience is via social media.

It’s something that you’re most likely using already – but are you using it to your advantage?

Social Media can be a great way to connect with your followers. With Instagram story features such as polls and comment boxes, there really is no excuse to not connect.

In Conclusion

It’s important for any business that you stay in touch with your consumer base. Whether you’re a one person band in your business or you’ve got 10,000 employees, how you choose to come across to your audience and how you choose to each out to them can make or break a business.

Just remember: a happy audience is a happy business!

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Three Simple SEO Tips to Drive Traffic to Your Site

A great way to drive more traffic to your website is through Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short. This essentially means optimising your site, so it becomes more discoverable through search engines.

Updating your site to boost SEO can feel like a long and daunting process, which is why a few simple tips have been listed below. These can almost guarantee an increase in organic traffic, that is, visitors who find your website through search engines. It also means that you’re not just reliant on one medium, e.g Instagram, for users to discover your website.

Conduct keyword research

This is a vital step towards driving more organic traffic to your website. Once you’ve brainstormed a few topics related to your brand, use tools such as Google Trends and Answer The Public. These will help identify what people are currently searching for that’s similar to what your business or products are about, so you can tailor your site accordingly.

It’s also useful to consider long-tail keywords. These are longer, more specific keywords, ideal for websites that don’t have many visitors yet. So, rather than searching ‘cupcake shops,’ where bigger websites are likely to appear, users might search for ‘cupcake shops in Cornwall,’ where there is likely to be less competition, making it easier to stand out. Hence, it’s additionally a good idea to add your location. For example, Cabin Solutions states, “container conversion, accommodation units & cabin containers north east” on their site.

Add alt text to images

When uploading images to your website, don’t forget to add alt text. If you use WordPress, this can be found in your media library once an image has loaded. For the alt text, describe what your image is, in a few words. For instance, ‘Christmas tree with colourful lights.’ This will provide better descriptions to search engine crawlers, allowing them to properly index an image. Hence, this will enable your website to be placed among the image search results.

Optimise images

Ensure your website loads fast enough by optimising images. If it takes ages to load, even with fast wifi, it can negatively impact your SEO rankings. It can also mean that those who do find your site might get frustrated waiting for it to load and end up going elsewhere. Photoshop is a great tool to use for optimizing images, where you’ll need to reduce the file size while maintaining its overall quality. Take a look at this handy guide to help you do this.

Concluding Thoughts

We hope you have learned a few simple methods that you can use to boost your website’s SEO ranking without any complex processes involved.

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Essential Features to Include on Your Website

When it comes to making a new website, it’s important that all the crucial elements are included which will help to attract more clients to your business.

There’s so much to consider when creating a new site. It can be a tiring job and you might want a rest after you’ve finished the planning, design and content stages. However, after these steps are completed, ensuring that you have the key features that your website needs to function properly is arguably the most important factor. Without them, you could be losing potential clients without even realising it, so take time to carefully plan these out.

Here’s a list of the essential features that you shouldn’t forget to include on your site:

1. Calls to Action (CTA’s)

A Call to Action can be defined as a particular command that requests users to take a certain action and will be linked to a specific page on a website. For instance, this virtual and serviced office space in Gateshead has used these on their homepage such as ‘book a viewing’ and ‘contact us,’ which takes visitors directly to a contact page when clicked. CTA’s are important because they make it easier for the audience to find a certain page once they’ve decided that they are interested in finding out more about what your brand offers.

2. Social Media Feeds

Including a social media feed on your website, whether that’s your Twitter, Facebook Instagram or Pinterest, when clicked, should help your audience gain a further insight into your business, whether that’s through behind-the-scenes posts or even infographics talking about your services. Having a social media feed embedded on your page shows visitors that you’re eager to interact and engage with them on multiple online platforms. Take a look at this helpful guide explaining how to upload a social media page to a WordPress website.

3. A Description of Your Company

When someone visits your website it’s likely because they are interested in what they see and want to learn more about your business. This means that it’s vital to include a description of the products or services that you offer. You should, therefore, aim to include two or three short paragraphs based on what your business is about, where customers can find it and why they should choose your company (don’t forget to mention your unique selling point/proposition). If you have a particularly interesting story about why you founded the company, this might be worth including but it should be brief and to the point.

4. A Mobile Friendly Layout

It’s one thing having a website suitable for a laptop but, as research from Statista points out, last year there were over 4 billion mobile internet users, which means that over 90% of the world’s population uses their phone to go online. It’s therefore important to ensure your website is mobile friendly, particularly if you have a link to it on your social media platforms, where visitors are likely to be using their phones to access it and see what you’re all about.

5. A Gallery/Portfolio

Finally, it’s important to showcase your work so that customers know exactly what they’re getting. For instance, if you own a bakery, including pictures of doughnuts, cakes, etc. are absolutely essential as you’ll want to make your audience’s mouths water! Likewise, if you’re a portrait photographer, clients will want to see your previous work so they can get to know your style. Be selective over the images you choose as you’ll want them to see your best work. It might be helpful to check out our tips on how to sell with an image. Photos also improve SEO rankings if they are optimised and include keywords in the descriptions.

Concluding Thoughts

We hope these features have helped to point you in the right direction when it comes to creating a website that your clients will notice. You should always ensure that you’re capturing what’s great about your brand and what makes it stand out from competitors.

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5 Key Benefits of using an Automated Booking System on your Business Website

1. Centralized Management enables Customised Customer Experience

Automated booking systems will allow your company to apply changes across your entire network with just one click of a button.

This centralized management will allow your company to customize various factors including package types, promotional details, prices, and so on. This allows your business to provide a more smooth and customised experience to your customers as well as a chance to increase your revenue by adding additional add-ons to your service.

For example, if you were a tour van hire company, this process may allow you to customised touring and event support packages to increase your revenue with each sale. You could use this process to identify additional promotional details and packages that might be suited to the needs identified by the customer.

For example, if a customer wanted available entertainment you might include a package with High Definition Smart TV’s, Xbox One or PS4 Console with games and movies. If a customer identified a good night sleep as vital, you could include a package with luxury memory foam beds.

2. Get Paid Quickly and Securely

Your payments system will be eased with an online booking platform. You can compel your guests to pay when they book, further increasing your income.

Another benefit is in case of a no-show, you can keep some money as compensation to reduce overall financial loss.

Automated booking solutions also feature secure payment gateways that lead directly to your website. By avoiding redirecting potential customers to third-party agents, rest-assured the money will go directly into your businesses account, meaning your business is more likely to get paid faster.

3. 24/7 Booking Availability

As online booking systems work any time around the clock, this provides freedom to potential customers to book a service anytime they want, potentially after work or at night time. This could maximise your sales and avoid limiting sales to the working hours of the business.

4. Convenience for the Customer

In this day and age, where consumers can quite literally access any business, service or product rapidly with one tiny click of a button – convenience is key.

Including a booking system on your website enables convenience for the consumer by allowing them to type their main wants and needs of a service in a small message box and providing their email and contact number for a quick response in their inbox from the company.

This gives a great opportunity for your business to then list different packages and services which will be most suited to their needs and makes the customer feel listened to.

Automated tech can enhance your client experience by enabling companies to serve customers better than the business could before when done with thoughtful, human-like copy. It is no surprise that companies of all different sizes and value propositions are using it to improve their features in both simple and innovative ways, as explained by Business News Daily.

5. Save Money and Boost Revenue

Automated booking solutions are designed with saving money and increasing sales in mind. This service can be argued to streamline your business operations, task management and communications.

It also boosts efficiency and allows your business or services to make personalised and immediate decisions based on present enquires, further increasing overall efficiency for everyone involved.

In Conclusion

Given the benefits listed above, an automated booking system on your business website can increase your overall business revenue and increase potential sales by making the paying system more direct and quicker, being readily available to customers 24/7 and boosting overall efficiency of payments.

Another benefit your business will receive from using an automated booking system on your website is gaining more control over offering your services as you will be able to apply changes across your entire network.

This in turn, will allow you to give a more streamlined service, making this customer journey seamless and convenient which will increase chances of happy returning customers. Therefore, it is clear both the customers and your business will reap different benefits from this aspect of your website.

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Where to Put Your Business Logo

So you’ve just spent days, or even weeks designing a new logo that perfectly reflects your brand’s identity and now you are ready to start incorporating it into your marketing strategy. Great! The pressing question is, where do you put it?

There is an astronomical amount of visual advertising in modern-day society and at times consumers can feel overwhelmed. That being said, logos both shape consumer perceptions of a company and affect their purchasing behaviour, so it is important that you get the balance right.

Think strategically before sprinkling your business logo here, there and everywhere and make sure to prioritise the places that will attract potential customers and generate the most exposure for your business. Here are the top 5 places to show off your new logo:

Your Website

It’s 2021, which means your company probably (and hopefully) has a stylish website on which to display your new logo. This is a vital platform for both potential customers and repeat customers, therefore it is important that these valued visitors have a visual logo that conjures up the right thoughts and feelings about your business. There is a lot of existing research out there about whether you should put your logo on the left, right or centre, but first and foremost make sure it is clearly visible on the homepage.

Your Email Signature

Clear brand communication and recognition is paramount, therefore there is no excuse not to have your logo embedded in your email signature. Make sure it is responsive on all devices too, as smartphones are now the primary place for email correspondence. Not only is this a clear sign of professionalism but it will also save precious time spent explaining who you are to the recipient.

Social Media

Consistency is the key to branding, therefore having your logo on all social media profiles is crucial. Of course, make sure that you are creating relevant content to go alongside your logo, but having this visual branding in the same location and in the same size format across all social media platforms is a sure-fire way of making you recognisable to followers.

Company Documents

So you’ve remembered to have your logo printed on T-shirts, mugs and all other types of office merchandise and décor, but you have forgotten something a lot more important – making sure all documents are branded with the company logo. Not only will this help with administration, but having the logo in the header is a classic marketing tool for when you are sending out physical letters to customers.

Business Vehicles

Have you ever read the visuals on a business vehicle beside you whilst stuck in traffic? There is no denying that busy roads and car parks are a perfect place to advertise your business. When executed right, a vehicle featuring branded colours or an eye-catching logo can do wonders for brand recognition. If you are looking at investing in vehicle graphics to spruce up a business car, just keep in mind that your logo design needs to be one that can be read easily in moving traffic.

A logo is a visual mascot for your business or brand – an image that reflects your company’s values and makes you easily identifiable. It is essentially a marketing strategy, and when placed tactically in both online and offline spaces, it can become an effective branding and promotional tool for your business.

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How to Sell With an Image

I often think when it comes to selling a product, the photography can sometimes be overlooked. You may think it’s not necessarily that important, but with people forming their first impressions within 50 milliseconds, every (milli)second counts – quite literally!

Why Use Images?

So why are images so important?

Humans are very visual beings. Images naturally attract our attention and keep us engaged, even drawing emotion in fact.

If your website has appealing imagery, people are more likely going to want to invest their time into looking at your website and not going elsewhere. More time spent on your website = a higher chance of making a sale!

The old saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ also comes to mind when talking about the use of imagery. Once a potential customer is on your website, you can use images to present information in a more digestible, easy to understand way. There’s a reason instruction manuals come with diagrams.

Photography Tips

It’s all well and good knowing that photography is important for your website, but how do you go about creating fantastic imagery?

There are a few tips that you can keep in mind, that can help you capture that perfect shot you’re looking for.

Create a Scene

Plain product shots are handy, there’s no denying that. They show customers exactly what it is they’re paying for. However they’re not necessarily going to be the image that converts potential customers into customers.

You need to create a scene.

And no, not that type of scene.

This is something that TEC Bike Parts has down to a tee. Throughout their website, they use high quality, full width visuals showing bikes in action in their grungy, industrial setting. The perfect advert for a motorbike.

Setting a scene and putting your product within that helps customers to visualise how the product would fit into their lives.

Close Ups

Close up shots, or macro shots, are especially popular in the food industry. We’ve all seen the slow melting butter shot on a scrumptious bit of steak. It’s no surprise then that macro shots are typically used to awaken our senses and draw a emotional response.

These evocative shots are also good for drawing up deep memories, which you may think are irrelevant until you realise you’ve clicked ‘checkout’ on that guitar that you won’t ever play but you used to as a child.

Show your Variations

When selling a product, it’s also useful to have at least one shot where all or multiple variations are shown.

It’s likely when making an online purchase, that customers are going to want to look at multiple images before deciding they want to buy. And even when they’ve decided they do want to buy your product, they then have to make the decision of which variation.

If we know anything by now, it’s to not leave it up to the customer’s imagination.

The last thing you want it a disappointed customer because your red isn’t as red as what they had thought it would be.

Give it a Human Touch

Are you selling to a specific audience? Use them!

Similarly to creating a scene, adding people of your demographic to your photographs can really help them imagine what it would be like to own the product.

If you’re selling a bike helmets, use images of people biking with your helmets on a family holiday. If you’re selling alternative clothing, using images of people with a more alternative sense of style will do the job. If you’re selling a large, expensive barbecue, use images of a father figure in the summer. Selling a disposable barbecue? Use images of a group of young adults gathering around in someone’s garden.

The trick is to target your audience by using images of people they can relate to.

Inject Personality

It’s unlikely that you’ll be the only company selling your line of items. Even if your items are handmade and bespoke, there is likely to be other people out there on the internet selling if not the exact same, a very similar service to what you provide.

So how do you stand out from the rest?

By showing your personality of course.

When potential customers identify with the personality of your brand, you’re far more likely to not only convert them in the first place, but to also keep them returning, time and time again.

For example, if you’re selling Gothic prints, your product is more likely to shine in darker surroundings as opposed to a bright white room.

Experiment!

Most of all – feel free to experiment and have fun with it!

Trying different angles, surfaces, backgrounds, textures can truly do wonders for your photography. That one difference can take your photograph from OK to intriguing – and can you really put a price on that?

Even something as simple as using unusual props can add a sense of mystery and adventure to your product images.

You never know, you could find the next best thing when it comes to your photography.

The Takeaway

Not only should your images be helpful and informative, but they should also be an extension of your brand personality.

Capturing the essence of your brand in your images can go a long way with creating brand loyalty with your customers. And it won’t hurt that you’ve got a beautiful online portfolio!

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Creating a Style For Your Website

With web design, consistency is key and creating a style can help build and shape your brand. This may seem like a difficult task but once you have the basic elements of your website style, you can really just re-purpose these to create a style.

Usually, when creating a website, you will have a logo for the company and maybe even a colour pallet/ brand guidelines to accompany this. These can all really help when getting a head start on designing a website because you can use these elements to influence how you will design. However, if you only have a logo, you can take a lot from this as it may contain fonts, shapes and colours you can use throughout your website design.

Typography

Typography is key when designing anything with text because it is a communication tool between the website and the visitor. This means the typography you choose has to be clear as well as fit in with the brand.

For example, Connect Insolvency uses the logo font for the headings and a round sans-serif font for the body text. Not only does this reinforce the brand throughout the design, but it also creates hierarchy and makes the design clear to use.

Colour Pallet

This may be included in brand guidelines or the logo that you are using but knowing how to use colour throughout your website will really help with creating a style throughout your design.

There should only be around three primary colours throughout your website, any more and it may look busy and chaotic. However, using secondary or tertiary colours may be necessary, and these may be lighter or darker versions of the primary colours.

Using white, grey and black is also very useful to use as well as the primary colours because they can allow your brand colours to stand out. White, grey and black can help with dividing up the website and breaking up the layout too. Leighs Nurseries uses only the brand colours as well as grey and white to create a consistent style.

Imagery

Imagery is really important for creating style and direction in web design. It can reflect tone, audience and purpose as well as consistency. High Life North uses a lot of imagery throughout their website. Imagery is a key aspect of their website, so sourcing the right imagery is crucial.

For many websites, this fact will be the same and it is important that the imagery compliments the content as well as providing further information for the content. Images are also a great tool for breaking up large amounts of text but shouldn’t be used too often at risk of overcrowding the design.

When creating a style, there is a lot of factors to take into consideration. Sticking to a consistent style and establishing a this before you start designing will help to create a clean and well thought out website. Not only will creating a strong visual style throughout your design help with usability and desirability, but it will also allow the user to trust your website.