Did you know that according to research conducted by Adobe, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if it looks unattractive? 

Thanks to this key stat – it is crucial that you nail your startup’s website branding. When launching a startup, branding is everything. Branding gives startups identity and allows them to be recognized and easily told apart from other businesses in the space. 

And guess what. Webpages are a branding hotspot for startups. Websites are the 5.0 version of business cards – which means that your site branding needs to be spot on. 

While strong page branding is hugely important for any startup, implementing this correctly can be tricky.

The good news is that I have rounded up some of the hottest tips for branding your startup’s website like a pro.

Read on to find out what these are. 

1. Create Design Consistency

One of the most important features for startup website design is to maintain consistency. New businesses or ventures are often less consistent in their message and branding design than ones that are more established.

So, to keep away from giving the impression of a new company that is a bit all over the show – make sure that the branding you display on your startup’s site is consistent.

Inconsistent branding can also have a confusing effect on viewers. Ideally, you want visitors to gain a clear picture of who you are, what you do and why they need it once they have visited your startup page. Consistent and powerful branding is the best way to achieve this.

2. Incorporate Video Content

Video is fast becoming one of the top marketing trends that startups need to watch out for. But what has this got to do with site branding?

Quite a lot actually! Video is a great way to engage with your audience. It provides a real-life ‘face’ to your business and is renowned for increasing customer trust. 

Also, if done professionally and (again) consistently, it can act as a great branding tool. If as a startup you create video content that explains who you are and also acts to solve problems for customers – you can brand yourself as an authority in your niche. 

3. Get the Tone Right

An important part of branding is getting the tone of your branding message right. The tone of the branding on your startup’s website will influence how visitors related to your offering and the company.

To strike the right tone make sure that you are using languaging that correlates to your audience and target customers. For example, if you are targeting millennials and people under 30 – using casual language and incorporating slang may be applicable. Especially if your product is straightforward and fun.

If however, you are targeting a more mature audience and a more serious niche – such as investments, for example – your branding message should reflect this. 

4. Inspire Emotion and Don’t Be Afraid to Sound Human

Regardless of the specific tone of your branding, it is vital that it activates emotion. This is particularly important for your startup page because websites are interactive. By inspiring emotion or solving a problem, you can cause visitors to take specific actions.

Such as to sign up for your newsletter, make a purchase, share your content, etc. This sounds great, but how does one go about sparking emotion in startup web design?

There are a number of ways to activate emotion when branding a website. You can address your target audience’s pain points, create powerful messages, focus on the greater good, and be an advocate for positive change. If worded well, all of these things will help to make your branding and content inspire emotions within your target audience. 

But, there is one common element behind all of these strategies. And that is being human. Humans relate to other humans, and if the marketing message of a startup’s site sounds human, people will automatically relate and engage with it on a deeper level than if it sounds like a ready-made sales pitch. 

5. Utilize Negative Space and Minimalism

Minimalism is sweeping through all aspects of design, from decor to packaging. To brand your website as the cutting edge startup that it is – it is a good idea to reflect the times and this trend in your startup page design. 

Not only does a minimalistic site design and branding scheme indicate that you are a hot new company, but it is also very easy on the eye and creates a calming and relaxing experience for the user.

A great way to achieve a minimalistic site design is to utilize the power of negative space. Incorporating lots of well placed negative space acts to give the eye a break and throw attention onto your key messages and features. 

6. Incorporate Eye-Catching Illustrations

Speaking of key features, another brilliant way to brand your site in an impactful way is to use illustrations. A picture speaks a thousand words, and an illustration can quickly convey information and help visitors to remember key features within your branding or offering. 

7. Make Your Message Simple with Slick Icons

To break up the text of your startup’s site and provide a visual on important elements, you can make use of icons. Attractive and clear icons grab visitor’s attention and help to make your message easy to understand and retain. 

Icons also act to aid in easy website navigation and can add a fun and playful feel to your site. 

Get Ready to Carry out Some Killer Website Branding

At first, website branding can seem like a tricky task and it may be difficult to know where to start. At the same time – it is crucial to any startup’s success. 

The good news is that now that you know about these design strategies – you don’t need to stress about the branding of your startup website. Instead, get ready to implement some stellar site design!

If you are still designing your website, and are yet to gear up your blog section, then check out my guide to writing your first blog post.

And if you feel that you want some insider input for your startup, contact me to access my premium startup consultancy services and information.