How To Create Brand Consistency On Your Website
A key part of any website is making sure the design reflects a business’s brand identity.
I’m sure you have visited websites before where the logo seems to be the main reference to the business yet the rest of the site seems to be styled (or not styled) completely differently. In terms of marketing, this lack of brand cohesion often creates feelings of distrust and questions credibility which could result in a lost sale or booking. Making simple tweaks to your website design can reinforce your brand and create a polished finish that will show your customer that you are the real deal.
Here are 5 quick ways to bring brand unity to your website design.
01. Social media block
Adding a social media block to your homepage is a great way to not only direct people to your accounts but also introduces another aspect to your business’s personality. Depending on how your feed is styled it can also create a great aesthetic.
02. Brand colours
A bit of an obvious one but adding your brand colours across your site will tie it neatly together. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean big chunks of colour or bold coloured headers, subtle pops of colour can also add the same effect in a more restrained way, perfect if you prefer a more minimalist look. Play around with an accent colour on your social media icons, buttons , header fonts or announcement/cookie bars to add a personalised touch.
03. Backgrounds
I personally love adding background patterns to index sections as I feel it gives a page real personality. Depending upon the kind of pattern or image you use you can be as bold or paired back as you like but it just adds a little more depth and can help reinforce your business’s brand style.
And these are easily added without any custom code. Simply go into the settings section attached to each page/index section (indicated by the gear icon), select media and upload an image/pattern of your choice or find an image via the Unsplash image finder option.
04. Logos and Variations
Logos are obviously a major identifying factor of most brands but they don’t just have to be limited to the header logo section. Adding a logo to the footer is a great way to reinforce the brand as is using different logo variations and sizes. Equally if you have interesting submarks and icons these can add a great flair of personality in an unexpected way or to illustrate certain sections of text. The key is balance and not using them everywhere.
05. Fonts
Deciding upon a couple of fonts to use throughout your website helps unify all the pages together. If you have a particular font you use as a logo for your business this can also be used to great effect to highlight key info, signal something lighthearted or add a personal message. Squarespace offers three heading fonts and one body font so it is worth using these to maximum effect if you can.
I usually try to stick to a larger, bold heading one that creates a statement and is authoritative and attention-grabbing, followed by a smaller main headings font for the header two style. I tend to use Header three for upper case smaller headings to use as signposting and guide the visitor through the site, like prompts. The body style is the font that the majority of the copy is in and allows for easy reading within a larger body of text. The easiest way to think of it is using them in size order to denote importance of information. This is very important for SEO and is how search engines scan your website before ranking it. You can read more on best practises for SEO when organising your website here.
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Body Text
06. Tone of Voice
Your tone of voice is just as much a part of your brand as your colours or fonts, and it needs to be just as consistent. The way you write across your website, from your homepage headline to your contact page sign-off, shapes how people feel about your business before they have even made an enquiry. Think about the personality of your business and let that guide your language. A relaxed, creative studio sounds very different to a formal consultancy, and your copy should reflect that clearly and consistently throughout.
A few things worth pinning down: the level of formality you use, how you refer to your customers, and how you handle calls to action. If you work with a VA or copywriter, a simple one-page tone of voice guide noting how your brand sounds and any language rules that matter to you will keep everything on track.
07. Photography and Imagery
Consistent imagery is one of the most noticeable, and most overlooked, elements of a cohesive website. Think about editing style, colour temperature and subject matter. A mix of warm lifestyle shots alongside cold, flat stock photography will create a disconnect that visitors feel even if they cannot quite name it. Choosing images that share a similar mood and palette, and editing them consistently, will make your site feel considered and intentional rather than pieced together.
08. Buttons and Calls to Action
It is a small detail but an easy win. Inconsistent button styles across your site, different colours, shapes or capitalisation from page to page, are something visitors notice subconsciously and it quietly undermines the polished finish you are working towards. Decide on a style, whether that is a filled button, an outline, rounded or square corners, and apply it consistently throughout. The same goes for the language on your buttons. Keeping the tone and format of your calls to action uniform is a simple way to make your site feel more cohesive.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Creating Brand Consistency On Your Website
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It means your fonts, colours, logo placement, imagery style and design elements all follow the same rules throughout the site. A visitor should feel like they are in the same place regardless of which page they are on.
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Using your brand colours throughout, applying consistent fonts across all headings and body text, placing your logo in the footer as well as the header, adding a social media block to your homepage, and using a consistent photographic style are all quick and effective ways to pull a site together.
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Very important. Typography creates visual rhythm and hierarchy across every page. Using a defined set of heading and body fonts, and applying them consistently to the correct content levels, gives your site a professional, cohesive finish and helps search engines understand your content structure.
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Yes, and it is a good idea to do so. The header is the obvious placement, but adding your logo or a logo variation to the footer reinforces brand presence throughout the browsing experience. Using submarks or icons within the body of a page can also add personality in a subtle, on-brand way.
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Indirectly, yes. Using a consistent heading hierarchy, with H1 for your primary page title, H2 for main sections and H3 for subsections, is both good brand practice and good SEO. Search engines use this structure to understand and rank your content, so applying it consistently across every page is genuinely valuable.
