Create a Consistent Web Store Brand

In her recent web store redesign, Marji Bitterman, owner of Beads and Dangles, and her designer Kelly McCormick concentrated on consistent branding.

“It’s the most important thing you can do,” says Kelly, who added a video to Beads and Dangles' homepage (left photo) that links to the store’s YouTube channel (right photo).  “Repeating the same colors and logos gives people a sense of comfort.  If people leave your web store and go to YouTube, they have to see the same look.  People get easily lost online.  If your website matches your newsletter which matches your print material, people know that they’re at your store.”

   
 

So how does one come up with a good brand?  “Be open enough to have a vision and intuitively know what you're looking for,” says Marji.  “We were in Crested Butte, Colorado, and I walked into an adorable boutique and looked up at the wall.  There was a poster with a painting of a lady in green, and I realized it was the exact look that I wanted for the site.  Go with your gut.”  Now the lady in green is on every single page of her web store.

 

The two also recommend that merchants be clear about what they’re trying to communicate to their potential customers.  “I want to appeal to both young girls and grandmas,” says Marji.  “I have customers from three-year-olds to people in their 80s.  The lady in green offers people a carefree, open feeling, which says ‘I can buy this and look and feel good.’”

 

Once you have your vision, find a designer who can express it and implement a design that is not only aesthetic but also SEO-friendly.