What’s in a Brand

In my previous articles I have covered a number of basics centered on creating good content and techniques that can help you attract visitors to certain properties once in your site.

In this article I will take a look at branding in general and the factors that can help you to establish your own strong brand.

Do you require a brand?

In many instances a strong brand for your site will not be required. The branding approach you adopt will depend largely on how you are structuring your revenue model.

For instance if you plan to attract visitors to your site and simply forward them onto an affiliated property such as Bingohall.com then there is no real need to brand your site to be memorable. This type of approach may work best if you are targeting specific search keywords and the visitor simply wants to find a site that offers, for example, ‘5 Dollars Bingo Bonus’

Your other option is to build a site that leans towards creating loyalty to your site and attracting visitors to revisit your site when next looking for their requirements.

It’s up to 10 times more cost effective to sell to an existing client as it is to attract a new one.

With this in mind you can see that having a brand where players will come back time and time again can pay truly big dividends.

Building a brand

Your domain names will play a vital part in establishing your brand.

The brand power of a name such as ‘InternetBingo.com’ is unbelievable as not only do you receive the benefit of the name being ideally suited for excellent search engine position for the term ‘Internet Bingo’ but it is simple and easy to remember.

If you are not able to find a brand that is as generic don’t panic as there are plenty of options available. Let’s take NIKE. This doesn’t say ‘Sports Shoe’ but you can bet your bottom dollar that almost everyone knows what they sell. Over time they have built their brand to be so strong that they don’t even have to heavily advertise what they sell anymore. The same can be said for coke and other high profile branded names.

Examples of strong brands that are not necessarily fully generic include;

Brands such as gambling911.com have used a technique I call slip stream branding. They have taken a component of their brand for a term that is in no way associated with their site but gives them instant recognition and credibility.

Logo design

Depending on your brand a logo may or may not help a visitor to remember your name.

If you are considering a logo it should compliment your name in a way that is memorable and can be easily recognized the next time someone views it.

The logo should be clear and used to help convey a message about your brand. In some cases it may be a motto used in conjunction with the logo and brand that will be memorable.

The logo of www.bonusrating.com is a fantastic example of several components being used in conjunction. The stars in the logo represent site ratings and, along with the brand name ‘Bonus Rating’, are used to great effect. Then if there is any doubt, the fantastic motto then helps to entice the visitor to look closer at what’s on offer in the site.

Site Design

While the site design is not as important in the branding equation in my opinion the site will want to be fast loading and easy to navigate. This can make up an important component in your overall brand strategy.

Users tend to remember nice sites that enable them to find the information they require in the shortest possible time.

Interesting Facts - Source www.sitepoint.com

Fact: ZDNet reported that 48% of users terminated an online purchase due to slow load times for web pages.

Fact: Visitors who consider a website 'fast' will visit an average of 1.6x more pages than on a site they consider slow. That's 60% more revenue for advertising based sites.

The Memorable Website

Along with the branding components mentioned in this article there are other areas you will need to look at.

An ‘add to favorites’ link on all pages is a must. If a user finds something of interest on your site you should do every thing possible to help them remember that page for future reference.

‘Refer a friend’ this may seem a little out of date but you may be surprised at how many users will share something with their friends. Make sure when you set this up on your site you get a copy of the form submitted so you can monitor and track what pages are being passed on to others.

Contact email address or Contact forms are a good way to show site credibility and by answering questions in a timely manner you will build user loyalty. I suggest you actively ask users to contact you about any questions they may have. GoneGambling.com, a well branded site, goes one step further and offers live chat. While not everyone has the resources for such intense contact, this type of one on one interaction will give you a great reputation and users will feel loyal to you, giving you a higher chance of obtaining them as real players.

Over time you can build a contact list that, if done correctly, will enable you to target special offers to highly qualified prospects. To do this you can consider adding a newsletter subscription component to your site or possibly a downloadable e-book on a particular subject of interest (user contact details required of course). Blogs and forums are another great way to build contact lists.

Don’t under estimate your content. One factor that will keep users coming back time and time again is content that is fresh and relevant to them. Content is STILL King!

We sometimes tend to forget that not all users who visit sites are as web savvy as the builder of the sites. This is why in some cases you will see what appears to be unprofessional looking sites perform very well. KISS applies ‘Keep it Simple Stupid.’

No Hard and Fast Rules

Like so many areas in our industry there are no hard and fast rules.

This article is designed to give you an insight into some of the branding options available to you and is not designed as a definitive must do. Like all marketing testing and tracking is the key to your success.

Good luck and happy prospecting.