Whether we are aware of it or not, every business has a personality. It’s the unique flavour that you and your team bring to the table. This comes through in many ways – your voice, your style, and your sense of humour.
When interacting with people in real life, your personality comes through naturally. Your customers can get a sense of who you are, and in turn, they can tell if your personality is a fit.
But online, things are different. When we market our business we tend to emphasize our professionalism and our credibility, and often times we lose our personality in the process. We end up writing in dry and generic terms that don’t engage our potential customers.
Our websites are our 24/7 sales team, and that should show through in our website design. We need to take each interaction with our customers (online or in-person) as an opportunity to showcase our personality, what makes us unique, and gain and hold our prospects’ attention. Your website is an extension of you and your company, take advantage of this space to give people a sense of who you are and why they would love to work with you.
Here are 4 ways you can add your personality to your website.
Design and Images that Showcase Your Style
Let’s be honest, people look at our design style and images first and then focus on content second. In fact, people only read 20% of the text on any given web page they visit.
Look at your current website. Does the look and feel of the design match your personality? Do you use real images or do you rely too heavily on stock photos? From the users’ perspective, are they able to get a sense of what your business is about?
For example, our website focuses on the work we’ve done and our portfolio. If you are in the service industry, you could highlight work you’ve completed, or if you are a lawyer or accountant you could share images of your workspace.
Colours and fonts also determine your personality – subdued or bold, playful or serious, these can all show through when you design your website properly.
Improve Your Website Copy
Users don’t focus on the text and copy as much as the design of your website, but your words still matter. In fact, people read websites differently than they read on paper. They focus on headlines first, then bolded text, bullet points, and then scan the body copy to fill in the blanks.
So what does this mean for you? When you are writing copy for your website focus on those above areas – have catchy informative headlines, bold important text, and use bullet points to engage your readers when possible. If you leave your personality for the body of your text there is a good chance your website visitors won’t get to know the real you.
Personalized About Page
The most visited page on a typical website is the homepage, and that makes sense. But did you know that following closely behind is your about page? Not your services, not what you have to offer or sell, but your about page. And taking time to properly craft your about page is an ideal way to get your brand personality across to readers.
The biggest mistake we see people making with their about page is hiding behind the website. And think about it, do you do business with a website or with people?
Your about page is the perfect opportunity to share your personality with your audience. Get professional photos done of yourself and the team. Write personalized bios in the style you are trying to portray. Does your team have a love for dogs and cake – share that. Or if you are leaning towards the professional side of things highlight your education, experience, and community involvement.
All in all, this is a great way to let people know about you and your business and why they might want to get in touch.
Create Engaging Marketing
No one likes to be sold to. But everybody likes to buy.
We need to be mindful of this advice when we approach building our websites and how we are portrayed. Are we the pushy salesperson who doesn’t take no for an answer, or are we the friendly professionals that help our customers make an informed purchasing decision?
Your marketing needs to reflect your sales approach – and this needs to also be reflected on your website. There is space on your site to reflect your brand’s sales personality. We need to communicate in a manner that resonates with our customers. And we need to show them that we feel excited to help.
These can be accomplished in a number of ways – showcasing previous work, highlighting positive customer feedback and reviews, and having a helpful tone in approaching our services and sales pages.
Customers should feel comfortable enough to contact you as the people who can help them solve their problems.
Does your website show your real personality, or is it time to get to work and make some updates? To learn more about effective branding and messaging and to update your website strategy and start seeing results, please contact us today.
