Strong Online Brand Building: What is your understanding?

We are often faced with scenarios where the companies with an excellent product/service still find themselves short of converting their online visitors to their customers. When they come to us we ask them what reason they can think of - most often than not they simply blame the packaging of their website. What is packaging for them - visuals, content, pages etc. The concept of building a strong online brand is alien to them - and we do not blame them for their ignorance.

Let's look at what is your understanding of online brand building

i) What are the parts that help building your brand in an offline scenario? Do these find place on your website?
ii) How do you represent your brand on your website - which parts do you think make your brand? You may find it difficult to pin-point these because framework of your website may not have been done in a structure which could give you this answer.
iii) Do you know how branding is done by other companies in your space? This answer would easily come to you if you have a dedicated research team. I will also add "skilled" research team because the data captured by the team has to be categorized in such a manner so that you know which area it falls in.
iv) How are the references to your company done on your website? Do these actually help your brand?
v) What parts instill trust in your visitor's minds? Are they there where they are needed most or they are simply pick and place?

The online brand building is an integral part of your website strategy. The points I mentioned above are few that lots of people want answers to but could never get them from a reliable source. The core issue to be addressed is to get your brand into your visitors mind - get their trust and make them come to you repeatedly. What is required is to have the structure right and keep building over it. Every part on your website has to have a clear logic and brand building requires it no less. And if you are short of resources to do it, try people who are experts on it. You keep doing what you are good at and let them do what they are good at. When these come together you have a winning recipe in hand. Same as in offline scenario brands are not built overnight but once you have it - there is no looking back.

This article is published by The Web Strategy Company, the online resource for industry specific strategies and tactics. We publish articles on a daily basis that focus on using your online presence to address key business challenges including sales effectiveness, business growth and financial results. This website is a knowledge center produced by AftertheNet, a leading global web strategy consulting company. We have worked with clients across the globe in many industries, bringing them ideas, process and expertise in making their online presence a strong pillar in addressing business challenges.