Please note this article was first published in 02 Mar 2010. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
As you build and develop your website, it’s important to maintain any existing corporate or company image or brand awareness. If you already have existing literature, logo’s, brand logo’s, corporate colour schemes and / or font styles, then include them within your website style and design. As you use your website builder to create your website keep in mind that clients who have already seen your company image or those who will see it in the future can recognise you easily when they find you online.
You’ve no doubt spent money on previous advertising in newspapers or magazines or leaflets using these existing colours, fonts and logo’s and in doing so will have started the process of creating brand awareness and company recognition. It would be wasteful to then create a whole new look for your website, basically starting from scratch in building corporate recognition, credibility and trust in your products and customer service. Once you have a corporate visual style – Stick to it!!
Imagine how much money some of the top companies in the world spend on advertising in order to build that same recognition. Once created the key is to maintain its lifespan and notoriety. Everyone knows what fast food outlet we’re talking about when you see a yellow curved M or which technology company uses a grey Apple (although that one’s a bit of a give-away). The colour Red is easily recognised as related to Coke, Heinz and Colgate. The multi coloured logo’s for Google or Ebay. The standard scripty typeface used by Disney or Kelloggs. The interlinked rings of Audi. The Black or White Tick of Nike. The yellow and red Shell etc., etc.,etc. All these logo’s, typefaces and colours are world famous and easily associated with their respective brands because of “Continuity”. They haven’t changed in years and why would they when so much money has been spent ensuring that potential customers can recognise them in a second. We’ve seen them in the Press, on TV, on billboards and would immediately recognise them online too.
It is tempting to dive in and use all the colours, fonts and text decorations available to you with
your DotGO Website Page editor. But without careful consideration your site can look amateurish, be difficult to read and may not be maintaining any existing brand or company image you may have. You really need to try to be ruthlessly consistent. You’ll be amazed how much easier your site will be to read and how much more professional it will appear if you choose some standards and stick to them.
Font: Fix the font - use a single font type through your entire document.
Size: Decide on a size of font for all body text (medium or 12px is a good choice). Decide on a size for all subheadings and main headings.
Bold and italics: If you are going to use bold or italics, then be consistent. If you use it in one
heading, use it in all headings.
Colour: Poor use of colour can ruin a website, but colour can also bring it to life. If you want
to make your headings a different colour, we recommend making all your headings one
colour, your subheadings perhaps different shade of the same colour. Use colour in your
body text sparingly.
Images: Decide how you will use images in your website. Will they all be the same size?
Will you edit the images before up-loading. Will you align them all the to the right or the left,
or just wrap the text around them.
A pre-planned format and style will help you to create a really professional website, which will then encourage the maximum response from visitors and the right kind of response from potential and existing customers.
Please remember, this article was first published 02/03/2010. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
We have been in business since 2003. Back when the founders of Facebook were still in college, we were writing code and helping our users create great websites.
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We are the DotGO: where everything is included and everything is managed for you, all at no extra cost.
We design websites to grow your business and wow your customers.
We are a UK company filled with passionate website designers and clever writers.
Friendly, professional and fast customer service is at the heart of everything we do. Our designers and unique technology make your website quick, responsive and secure, giving you the best chance of ranking well on Google.
If you need a shop, our own powerful ecommerce platform integrates beautifully. We train you to use our simple tools to update your website yourself. Our UK support team are on hand to provide sensible support and advice whenever you need it. We even power your professional email service, so you stay in contact with your customers by phone, tablet or computer.
Oh, and the best bit? It's cheaper than you may think, and we can get started right now.