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Your website and social media work hand in hand. The two are both pieces of your brand identity and should communicate the overall message you want your audience to receive.

Before you launch your next social media campaign, make sure your website is looking its best in order to achieve successful results.

Your website is the base of your digital strategy

No matter what kind of campaign you’re running on social media, the call-to-action will likely lead to your website. Your business’s website is the foundation for the rest of your digital strategy.

In other words, everything you produce online will direct users to your website. This means that once potential clients or customers land on your website after seeing your social media campaign, it needs to provide all of the information and content they’re looking for.

You could have created the most well-designed, attention-grabbing campaign, but if your website falls flat once users visit it, then the campaign likely won’t yield the results you’re hoping for.

Good content

If you create social media content that draws people in and builds a loyal following, your website should match that. Your audience may love your content on Facebook or Instagram, and they’ll likely head to your website to see what other content you have.

This is where having a great website will be important. The content you produce through your social media campaigns should be the same or similar to the content that’s on your website.

If your audience enjoys the content they’re seeing on social media, they will visit your website to see more. Make sure that your website is delivering on the content that your audience will want to see.

Builds customer loyalty

If you’re trying to grow your audience through your next social media campaign, having a strong website can help. Your website is another opportunity to show your audience who you are and what your business is all about. After launching your campaign, users will visit your website to learn more about your brand which is your chance to further emphasize the message you communicated through social media.

Having this cohesiveness across both channels will build customer loyalty as it ties the brand together. If potential clients or customers follow you on social media, they will have already formed an impression of your brand (hopefully it’s the message you’re trying to communicate!).

And because social media is an extension of your overall brand, including your website, customers will be happy to see that your website gives them the same impression as your social media. Being able to see a strong brand identity across the board will give customers a better idea of who your business is and they will want to stick around to see what you do next.

Start Designing Your Website Today!

If you already know your website isn’t a strong reflection of your brand and isn’t yet ready for those social media campaigns, consider using liveBooks to get started!

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.

Designing a website is unlike anything else you’ll ever do for your business. It involves the right mix of creativity and strategy, and it may take a few tries to get it just right.

Whether you’ve done this before or this is your first time, make sure you follow these key guidelines when designing a website that informs, entertains and (ultimately) sells to your ideal customers.

Fine-Tune Your Brand

Branding is about more than just your logo. From the fonts and colors you use, to the style and tone of your content, every aspect of how you communicate with your customers and define “who” your company all adds to the foundation of your core brand messaging.

But why is branding important before designing your website? The short answer: to convert your visitors into buyers. These days, shoppers of all kinds (for any service or product) want to purchase from and work with companies who align with their core values and/or lifestyle.

By fine-tuning your brand before designing your website, you’ll have better odds of reaching your target audience, engaging with them on a higher level, and turning them into loyal customers who will tell others they know about your company.

Know the Industry Standards

Have you taken a look at what other companies in your industry or niche are doing with their website and online presence? Although you should never make an exact copy of another website’s content or design, “borrowing” ideas and website structure can be really helpful.

For example, if all other companies in your field have an FAQ page that answers important questions consumers need help with, maybe it might be a good idea to have one of your own (with your own questions and answers, of course).

Or if there is a certain way of organizing content in the menu that seems popular, you may want to imitate that same site map so that users who are shopping around will have an easy time finding the same type of information on your own website.

Find Web Design Inspirations

Next, you’ll want to have an idea of what you like — and not only what you like about websites in your own industry. Start looking around at other website designs to see what appeals to you. Then apply what you’ve compiled about your brand and your field to design elements you want to use.

Write (and Proofread!) Your Web Content

Marketers don’t say “content is king” for no reason. Whether you write the website content yourself, or you hire a stellar web copywriter to help you, on-page text will allow visitors to learn about you, understand your services or products, and have a better sense of whether or not they’d like to purchase from you.

Content is also one of the first steps in getting you to rank highly on search engines. Make sure you have enough content on each page (at least a few paragraphs is a good start!) and that you proofread and edit as necessary before publishing.

Ask for Feedback and Suggestions

When you have a first completed draft of your website, ask your friends, colleagues, other entrepreneurs, etc. for advice and input. See what questions they have or where they may have trouble navigating for more information. You might be surprised to get some constructive criticism, but even if you don’t take all pieces of advice, be open to new ideas so that the website is the best it can be before you launch it across all of your marketing efforts!

Start Designing Your Website Today!

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.

A blog is more than just a place on your website to make announcements or post photos of your latest event.

Blogs have become one of the most useful marketing tools available to creative businesses, startups, and corporations alike. They’re an opportunity for your business to create valuable content that’s both helpful and engaging for your audience while also increasing your online visibility, ultimately leading to more brand awareness and potential clients.

Increase Your Website Traffic

One of the major benefits to having a blog for your business is that it can make it easier for people to find you online. In order to be more discoverable, you have to post regularly, think about what your audience is searching for, and use keywords throughout your site and blog. The more relevant content you post consistently on your website, the more likely Google is to push your website to the top of the results.

Writing SEO-friendly content for your blog and then seeding these blog posts to your social media channels increases the chance that your content will land in front of more eyes. To do this, make sure you’re using the most relevant keywords for the audience you’re targeting throughout your blog posts.

If you have a wedding photography business, for instance, you will want to include your city, photography style and anything else that you want your business to show up for in search results. Whenever you share on social media, be sure to find the most effective hashtags, too, to make sure your content is even more discoverable.

This will eventually lead to more web traffic as more people discover your blog posts and become aware of your business and everything you have to offer.

Position Yourself as a Thought Leader

Once people have found your blog, either through a search engine or social media, they’ll need a reason to stay or to come back for more. This is your chance to prove your knowledge about an industry while also providing value to your audience.

By writing about blog posts in your niche or field, you’ll be able to show potential clients that you have credibility: that you are knowledgeable, experienced and are very familiar with the industry.

Showcase Your Work

Now that your ideal clients have found your website, it’s time to show them your work. Through your blog posts, you can include examples of your services, past projects, or products that will give potential clients motivation to contact you. If you’re a creative in the wedding industry, consider blogging about a recent wedding client you had. This way, if a couple stumbles upon your website, they can see the work you do and have a better idea of what you could provide for their wedding.

Get to Know Your Audience

You can also use your blog as an opportunity to learn more about your audience. By using an extensive tool like Google Analytics, you can track your website’s visitor count and see which posts do well so you can use this information to see what topics your audience is most interested in.

Once you’ve figured out what garners the most attention on your blog and receives the most engagement, you can write more posts about that subject and potentially increase your monthly visits.

Start Blogging on a Responsive Website Template

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.

If you’re in the process of building a website for your business or redesigning your website, the homepage is typically the first place you start with.

Your homepage needs to provide visitors with a quick rundown of your business; think of it like your elevator pitch. Who you are, what you do, and why they should be interested. It’s important to sum up the important parts of your business and to “hook” the users so they want to keep scrolling and check out every page.

Need a little guidance? Here’s a brief checklist of the top things every website homepage should include.

Logo

First and foremost, give your website a piece of your brand identity with your logo. Your business logo needs to live at the top of your homepage in order to stay top of mind to your visitors.

Logos let consumers know more about you and gives them something to remember and identify your brand with down the road, so it’s an essential part of your homepage that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Give your brand identity and website some thought to figure out the best placement for your logo — maybe it’s the top corner, maybe it’s front and center. Either way, make sure it leaves a lasting impression on your website visitors.

Introductions

This is your chance to quickly communicate to a new visitor who you are and what you do. While you can save the details and backstory for your About page, the intro on your homepage should hone in on exactly what you want your brand to represent — this is where your tagline or brand statement should go.

Include a heading and a subhead to give consumers a bite-sized idea of what your business is, who it’s for, and what they can get out of it.

Navigation

Your website should provide a good user experience, and this is especially important when designing your navigation menu. The navigation on your homepage should feel intuitive; it should flow easily, guide visitors from page to page and take them where they need to go.

The navigation bar is often the first place users check out so they can get a feel for what the rest of your website has in store for them. Be strategic when thinking about how you want your navigation bar organized.

Products/Services

You will likely have a separate page that lists your products or services and into more detail, but the homepage is your chance to highlight a few of them.

If you have an online shop, this is where you can feature your recent products, a new collection, or seasonal picks. Use this page to draw them in and give them a sneak peek of your product offerings.

If you have a service-based business, use the front page to talk a little bit about each service you offer, and link it to the page that goes into more detail.

Contact Information

Once potential customers or clients have scrolled through your homepage, have a solid idea of what your business is, and are attracted to what you offer, they will be looking for a way to contact you.

Whether you have a brick and mortar address or you solely operate online, include your contact information on your homepage.

As a business, the last thing you want is for a potential client or customer to struggle to find a way to reach you. Make it easy for the user by having a space on the homepage clearly dedicated to your contact information or including a button that links to your contact page.

Start Designing Your Website Today!

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.