In the same way, you should translate your approach to life and your business into a brand identity. This may be as simple as your signature in black ink or as refined and developed as the Nike swoosh. It is important to have something that represents your service or product and your approach to your readers, customers, or clients. Tell the world who you are and what you do.

Once you have a style, create a Brand Identity. With this new creation, be consistent! Whatever you do, always present yourself the same way to build your brand and image. Take this brand and share it with the world across your social media, email, website, print, and other marketing platforms. Don’t forget about any business cards, signage, vehicles, front door, sales tags, or other areas where you present your brand.

If you’re ready to create, refresh, or start over with a professional presentation of your style, let me know. I would love to help you with your Brand Identity and give you a logo, brand board, and style guide with all of the supporting files to let you present yourself to the world. Take a look at some of my work and successful branding development for others.

HTTP is not secure. Anyone can tap into your connection and steal or mess with any data going through the insecure network. HTTPS is secure which means the data being sent is encrypted. HTTPS also protects from cybercriminals and blocks ISPs from installing ads on your website. It also performs better and faster than HTTP.

So, you need to install an SSL certificate and migrate your website to HTTPS. Before you order one though, make sure you find the right certificate for your needs as there is quite a diverse offering and host providers can oftentimes be very confusing in what they’re selling.

Once you have a certificate, you’ll need to migrate to HTTPS by changing the protocol in your URLs to HTTPS, then using 301 redirects.

Either way, the key takeaway is that you have until the end of June to get an SSL certificate and make it work with your website.

I’m by no means a data protection expert and can only provide some of the most basic thoughts on GDPR. If your needs are larger than this, you may need to contact an IT expert. Either way, make sure you’re compliant by May 25!

Branding

What do you need to be able to brand yourself online? You want to establish an identity and stick with it across all mediums. So, if you have a logo and a style that you’ve been using for business cards, flyers, social media, or other print materials, you may already have what you need. If not, you probably need a logo. Identity development is key to establish and promote who you are and what you do as an individual, company, or product.

Along with a logo should come a complete style including a color palette, typography, and imagery. This gives you a standard from which to pull and present yourself consistently across a variety of mediums.

Content

While branding is like the plating or presentation of the meal, content is the real meat of the serving. You need to have at least basic content that tells the general who, what, when, where, and why of your brand. This can be accomplished with copy and media including images, video, and/or audio. You may already have some or all of your content. You may be a proficient writer, photographer, videographer, and musician. If so, call me…I can probably pass some work your way!

If you are not the guru of all things content-related, you may have enough to get by or would rather hire a professional copywriter to give your website a voice and style. You may be in a business where image really matters and hiring a photographer really makes sense for showing off your brand. It may be that letting your designer purchase some royalty-free stock images may be just the way to go to help create your image and style.

Setup

Here is where many people get stuck…the technical details of making a website work. Maybe you’ve had a business card with a logo and even a basic brochure that tells all about you, your company, services, and/or product(s). Or, maybe you just know yourself really well, and can jot down the notes to fill up pages of content. But, how do you get from point A to point B? You need to connect the dots from your Brand and Content and make it live online with your own Website. To make this happen, you need the technical aspects of a hosted domain and the visual execution of a website design.

You’ll need a domain, hosting plan, security, and preferably a Content Management System (CMS) to make it all work effortlessly. Gone are the days of having to code and do html to make things work online, right? You can just signup for Wix or Weebly or if you’re real confident in your skills go for Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress and click a few buttons. Copy and paste a few things and make it fly. Yes, some people can do this and maybe you are one of them. Let’s consider some of the broader aspects of publishing a website with your own brand image and content.

• Technical Setup
  • domain name registration
  • web hosting plan
  • security
  • backend management
• Maintenance
  • technical updates
  • keep content current
  • support
  • ongoing backups