By and large, whether to have or not have a website is no longer a choice for the vast majority of businesses. The real question is: have you leveraged the best web design strategy to support your business and build an effective branding tool?

Any web design team — whether in-house or contracted — should be able to implement a proven design plan. If you’re unsure how your web design strategy connects to your overall marketing and branding, we've got you covered. Keep reading to explore web design strategy in depth, and it's role in boosting your business.

Branded mobile apps seemed like all the rage not long ago. Taco Bell rolled out its own branded mobile app in 2014. Starbucks brought their mobile app to market forever ago and saw huge success. Even pizza joints like Domino's and Pizza Hut jumped on the branded mobile app bandwagon.

Consistent, successful branding is kind of like business magic. The right branding message, meme or image can permanently change the way people see your company. This is especially true if your branding is catchy, timeless, and practical.

You’ve likely done some research on what it means to have an “effective” brand voice, but how can you be sure it’s resonating with your audience?

If you’re struggling here, don’t feel bad. Your brand’s voice is tough to measure. However, there are a few steps you can take to prove that your market is responding to what you’re putting out.

There’s a lot of talk out there about a brand’s “voice” and what it means.

In the simplest terms, your brand voice is an agreed collaboration among executives, writers, marketers, and others in your company to project a certain image. It determines what you discuss in your corporate messaging, the tone you have, and how you want your company to be perceived from the outside.

Like most people, when you encounter a brand name or product, you have a preconceived idea of what that brand implies. That notion is called the brand image and may be only loosely related to an actual product or its practical attributes. Brand image is intended to evoke thoughts about:

• Quality

• Esteem

• Social acceptance

Quality, esteem, and social acceptance are just a few of the nuances branding offers. Yet, controlling a brand image can be difficult. Why? Because your image exists in the minds of consumers.

A company’s website design branding goal is to evoke positive feelings about the goods or services you provide.

The power of storytelling is taking hold in the marketing world, and for good reason—it works. As humans, we’re predisposed to love a good story. They resonate in our minds and teach us about ourselves.

In service of this, companies are gearing their marketing towards storytelling across all fronts—web design, social media, email marketing, and more. And in our experience as a web design firm, we've noticed that one particular strategy can yield great results in this respect: Illustrations!

In our ever-evolving world of digital technology, we are frequently exposed to new trends, particularly in UI/UX. For example, a few years ago, some crafty developer came up with the animated scrolling technique known as “parallax.” Even if you haven’t heard that term, you’ve most likely experienced parallax somewhere along your online journey. This is because we have a tendency to want new technology and be the one with the shiny toy.

But is that always a good idea? Sometimes, by adopting new trends, you lose focus on your brand and objectives in favor of simply having wow-factor. Think of Fidget Spinners. They’re fun, trendy and the newest toy. But do they make sense for everyone you know?

Whether you’re coming up with a brand new website or redesigning an old one, icon design is an important step that many people tend to leave out. In fact, icons are just as important as content and custom website design. They’re a fundamental part of user experience (UX) that makes websites easier to navigate while also giving you the opportunity to play around with designs and show a little bit of your personality in the process.

Your brand is unique.

Yes, it’s true. In the words of Barney the Dinosaur: “There isn’t another in the whole wide world who can do the things you do.”

We promise that’s the last time we’ll ever quote Barney. But the point stands: Your brand has its own unique selling points that draw your customers in and compel them to start down the long road toward conversion. Your website design is how you show off these assets.