8. Is that a swoosh, or are you just pleased to see me?
The need for instant recognition makes web branding an absolute necessity. Find out where to stick your logo for maximum effect.
Since we were kids we’ve identified with symbols; we’d mark schoolbooks with them, and the occasional bus shelter or loo – now older, you’re still looking for a simple design that would grace any public convenience.
A Powerful Device
If your company is already established, then the chances are you already have a brand name and a logo. How much you paid for this logo is knowledge that you’ll probably want to take with you to the grave. It is a straightforward procedure making this device web friendly. If you’re just toying with the idea of creating a logo, think long, hard and carefully about your decision. A logo in the real world will hopefully be an instantaneous visual image that is synonymous with your company. This is no different on the web. The best example is e-commerce operations that not only brand their site, but reinforce the message with branded packaging materials – ensuring that not only the end-user but everyone who has anything to do with the delivery of that product is aware of the company (and to an extent the product/s contained within). A logo should be visually stunning, attention-grabbing and to some degree self-explanatory.
WWW.HOWAMIEVERGOINGTOREMEMBER THAT.COM
There is a lot to be said for having a short, snappy web address. Not only does it roll off the tongue better, it allows less room for error on the part of the user. Every letter is a potential spelling mistake, and every spelling mistake is a potential lost customer.
Choosing a name for the site that works for the company, that remains short and isn’t confusing for customers, is time well spent. However, sometimes a company name simply isn’t transferable as a web site address. This may be a difficult or easy decision to make, but it can make sense to alter the name of your site completely. In essence you’re creating a new brand name or, if this is more palatable, a new internet sales arm.
Don’t feel that your domain name has to be a proper name, or anything vaguely related to the name of the company behind it. This is all about marketing, exposure and design. If a made-up word makes some sort of sense, won’t win you a triple-point-score in Scrabble but when you mention it people immediately know how to spell it – you’re on to a winner.
There is also something to be said for having an internet brand that begins with one of the first five letters of the alphabet. Most directories, lists and results are categorised using the alphabet – it is, by and large, the fairest and most sensible way of doing things. Bearing this in mind, you can stack the odds in your favour by ensuring you’re in the first few per cent of any list simply by using the letter A.
Now Repeat After Me
Your personal or company logo is the best anchor you can give to your users. Wherever they are on your site it must be visible, in the same place throughout. It must be a link – it is regarded as an industry standard that clicking on a logo will bring the user back to the homepage. Except maybe during the order pipeline, it should always be the same size and the same colour. Yes, it does feel like needless repetitiveness and it does take up valuable real estate, but it’s that very repetition that your user expects and needs.
Being able to see the company brand no matter where they are in a site also acts as a visual reminder to your user that they are still within the same web site. This is especially important if you have a lot of mixed or third-party links and information on your web site. As soon as a user even feels that they have strayed into uncharted territory they may cancel their session.
Hanging To The Left
If your web site is written in English then your logo should always be on the extreme left of the page. This is the area that the (English speaking) user’s eye will always rest on first. English speakers read left to right, so placing your logo on the right is not going to help reinforce your brand, image or user confidence. There may be times to break from convention, but this is not one of them.
How did it go?
Q. Everyone really likes the new domain name but marketing say that it’s not feasible for us to re-launch under a new name. What will change their minds?
A. For the time being, just buy the domain name and run a simple competition, or capture customer details through the new web site address. I assume that you’re monitoring the hits, and the visitors are being redirected to your main homepage. It may become essential to re-invent your company at the new domain name in the future, and even marketing won’t ignore the statistics – but for the time being, you now own it and nobody else can get there first.
Q. Our CEO is worried that we will dilute our brand by having lots of different domain names. Is she right?
A. Not if all the sites are singing from the same hymn sheet. No matter what the URL, if you or your company own it, it should have the same look, feel and logo as your main site/s.
Here is an idea for you…
Imagine that you’re setting up as a rival to your own web site. You are free from the constraints of having decided on a company name already. You are looking for the most user-friendly, obvious, clever, self-explanatory brand name. What is it?
Now search to see if that web site is taken. If it’s not, buy it immediately. Whilst it may never become your main URL, for the sake of some small change you now own a domain name which could prove very useful in the future – if not as your main site, as a route to test new products, run specific marketing campaigns or merely set to redirect visitors to the main site – either way, not a bad purchase. Who knows, if things go badly with your current employer, you could always become that competition for real!
Defining idea…
‘He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak.’
Michel De Montaigne
Defining idea…
‘It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.’
Isaac Asimov
Defining idea…
‘The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.’
Marshall Mcluhan
Defining idea…
‘What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself.’
Roland Barthes