How to Create Matching Branding for Your WordPress Website

How to Create Matching Branding for Your WordPress Website

Properly branding your business is crucial if you are looking to establish a successful web presence. When it comes to branding, consistency and implementation are what makes or breaks your approach. Many entrepreneurs simply choose a website template to get something online and then go about creating a logo and other brand assets. That’s not the right order of business. This post will cover some tips and resources on how to go about creating a matching brand for your WordPress web business.

Build the Right Foundation

The right way to build business strategy for your brand is to take a step back first. Of course when people hear branding they want to jump in and get creative. However, the first step is about understanding your business’ goals and objectives. It’s best practice to write a mission and vision statement. Once you have a clear picture or where you want to take your business and whom you want to sell to you can figure out your branding strategy. If you don’t have a clear direction in that sense your branding will fall flat and not resonate with your target audience. Before you continue reading take a moment and identify what your business stands for and what message you want to convey.

The First Creative Task is to Develop Your Logo

Now that you know what your branding will stand for it’s time to set the creative direction with your logo. The logo will inform all creative decisions you’ll make for your brand assets like website, social media posts, presentations, business cards and more. Before you start thinking about your logo style take another step back and study color. Different colors have different emotional impacts on the viewer. Here is what some of the most popular branding colors stand for:

• Red: This is one of the boldest branding colors you can choose. Red symbolizes power, confidence, strength and passion.

• Blue: Blue is one of the most popular color choices when it comes to branding, especially in sectors like finance, insurance and technology. It evokes reliability, trustworthiness and has a calming effect.

• Green: This of course is a popular branding choice for organic and natural products and services. Green communicates growth, vitality and stability.

• Yellow: This is one of the warmest colors you can use for branding. It evokes happiness joy and energy.

When it comes to branding there are no wrong colors, they just have to be aligned with what your business stands for and sells. Whether you are going with black, white, purple or any other color do some users testing to make sure it speaks to your core demographic. Once you choose a color you can then have some fun and start playing around with different concepts. Check out a free design application like Logo Creator to try your business as a text only logo, brand mark, combination mark or emblem. Don’t be intimidated; you don’t need to have a design background to use this resource. The design process is quick and easy.

Make Sure Your Get Your Most Powerful Promotional Asset Right

With a logo in place its time to take on your WordPress website design. In a perfect world you would choose a WordPress template based on the logo colors. If you already have a WordPress site up and running don’t worry, you can make adjustments to make sure all of your branding matches. Determine the core brand color in your logo and use that as your main color throughout your website. Use the color for your call to action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. The repeated use of the core logo color will tie everything together nicely. With the core color implemented you can then start to pickup some of the secondary colors as well to create an even stronger visual connection. At this point your logo and website will blend together nicely.

Be Consistent When You Build Out All of Your Other Brand Asset

Whether someone visits your website, social media account or views your business card or flyer your branding needs to be consistent. The next step is to create all of those branding assets in a way that will match your WordPress site. Each promotional item should feature your logo and incorporate the brand colors. In addition to that there are other visual ways to enhance the quality of design and strengthen brand cohesiveness. Implementing professional images along with icons and illustrations will quickly elevate your designs. To help you lift your graphic designs try some of these free resources:

• Kaboom Pics: This website offers a large database of professional photos that allow commercial use for free. Find an image that you like and then visit the photographer’s page so that you can get access to the entire set of images. Using those images exclusively will ensure all of your photos have a similar look and feel.

• Free Icon Shop: As the name implies this resource allows you to download free icons that you can use for personal and commercial projects. The trick to proper icon use for branding is to choose one set and use that exclusively. Whether you are using the icons on your business cards, social media post or Google ads stick to the same set.

• Draw Kit: DrawKit offers free, hand drawn illustrations. Their database is updated weekly so you can find fresh designs regularly. Illustrations are beautiful artwork but don’t overdo it. Be deliberate when and where you use this visual aid.

Are Your Ready to Take Your Branding to the Next Level?

If you have come this far you are now equipped with some best practices guidelines along with free resources to take on your branding like a professional. Branding isn’t just about pretty designs but it’s about building recognition. Consistency and time are the key to creating something memorable. You can’t create a recognizable WordPress site brand over night. It takes time but if you are consistent in your approach and keep putting out and promoting new brand assets over time your company will start to stand out from your competitors.

About the Author:

Gracelyn Mora is a passionate marketer, blogger and coffee aficionado. Her years working as a freelance designer and writer for a major newspaper give her a unique perspective. She enjoys covering a wide range of topics ranging from the start-up scene to graphic design and travel.