Branding And Website Foundations That Many Believe Are Unnecessary

The first place that we're going to start is having a website with a domain you own (not owned by someone else) and having an email branded to the domain. What does that look like?

First, when you purchase your domain, it is always best to create your own account through a website domain brokers such as GoDaddy, domains.google or namecheap.com, to name a few. If you allow an agency or another person to purchase your domain for you without creating an account, it means that you do not actually own it, they do. This could cause complications later on if you ever decide to part ways. Protect your company.

Once you have your domain purchased through your own account, make sure you are utilizing a domain branded email which can be configured through Microsoft Office, Gmail, or your favorite email provider.

Examples:

Domain Branded: nick@socialmediatorch.com                        Not Branded: socialmediatorchllc@gmail.com

Why is this necessary? Simple. Because anyone can create a Gmail or Yahoo account, anyone could be on the other side of that.  Having a domain branded email implies that you’ve invested into this company and are a professional account. While this is a simple explanation, not many people think of it from that perspective. Do you trust every Gmail email that comes to your account? We hope not. 

While many believe that branding is mostly dealing with their logo, colors, fonts, and tag line, there is a huge misconception that is missed. Branding is the things mentioned before but it is also the idea of communicating to your audience a few key pieces of information. If you are a large corporation like Frito Lays or Starbucks, the strategy is a little different. For most small or mid-size businesses, people are still learning about you and becoming aware of what you are all about.

When people land on your website, within 3 seconds they need to know…

Who you are AND what you do OR what solution you bring OR what problem you solve

FOR

A business niche or geographic area

The branding then needs to move into your social media platforms you want to grow. Your information, banner, profile image, etc. should all be branded to help explain the story of who you are, what you do, and who or where you provide this good or service for. 

Another aspect when building your social media profiles includes also the “vanity” URLS that go with your brand.

Examples:

Branded Vanity URL: https://www.facebook.com/SocialMediaTorch

Not Branded Vanity URL: https://www.facebook.com/Torch-Wireless-SurgePhone-110091331703984

You need to own the domain or vanity URLs of the different platforms you will focus on for the top of the funnel marketing – learn more about the different layers of funnels.  

If you are not going to be focusing on a specific platform, then there is no need to spend your time gaining the vanity URL (unless you have it written down in your business/marketing plan to open up that one in the near future). Remember, that your perfect prospect may or may not be on every platform. If you grab a vanity URL on a platform and then do nothing with it, that may hurt your brand over helping it. 

Now that your website and social media are branded let's talk about analytics. Analytics is how you know what is going on with your marketing by tracking data within website and on your social media.

If you do not have this connected correctly then you cannot make database decisions. Some website builders like Godaddy, Wix, and Squarespace claim to have built-in analytics. While those can be good, it is limited and does not have the tracking power to know whether the traffic is coming through your social media platform, paid promotions, organic post, backlinks, or referral partners.

As a business owner, you should understand where your traffic is coming from. Why would you continue to spend money on an ad or billboard that is generating zero traffic? In order for you to see that data, you have to have the right tools created AND connected properly.

Not sure if you have the right tools? Click and open up analytics.google.com. 

If you have an account already created and attached to your email, it will pull you right into your account. See below 👇