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Process of Branding and building OF my first website as a language mentor
When I decided to launch my first ever website as an independent language mentor, I knew absolutely nothing about branding, website design, copywriting and basic principles of UX design. My budget back then was very limited, so I decided to go with WordPress. It took me some time to figure out how WordPress works and what steps I need to take to build and publish my website. God bless the internet!
It was hard to figure out the technical part of things and in addition to this, I had no idea about branding and what a professional website should look like.
The old version of the website looked very messy, It had no goal and no structure. Even though I was not a professional designer, I had a feeling that there were many problems with the website: the style, colours, fonts and spacing were not consistent, the website copy was not clear, and there wasn’t a clear goal of what I wanted my website to do for me.
After some time, I realized that I could have done everything much faster and so much better if I did the preparation work beforehand and taken my time to learn some branding and web design basics.
PREPARATION STAGE
The first step should always be researching. You should look for the websites you like. What do you like about them and why? Do you like the layout? The elements? Colours? Fonts? Analyze it properly. Verify all the successful websites in your niche.
I investigated properly how these websites look like, doing and how their websites look like. It helped me understand the strategy behind the website and its goal. I analyze the web copy, branding (if there’s any), layout, and user experience. In today’s world having just beautiful and aesthetically appealing design isn’t enough.
Everything started with building the foundation of my business and my brand. Visual rebranding and a beautiful website followed as a part of my brand.
Later, I built my brand board to help me to stay consistent while building my website. My brand boards included fonts, colour palette, main logo, elements and pictures. Your brand board is like a manual for your designer.
Brand Board Variations
Planning & web copy
Before I even started thinking to build a website I decided how many pages I want to have on my website. Afterwards, I decided what I want to put on every page. What images, what text? What will be the goal of every single page?
Only after completing all these stages, did I start to build pages. It took me about 2 to 3 weeks to finish it. The preparation phase made everything so much easier.
Planning should never be neglected.
Photos
Having professional pictures of you is very important if you want to build trust with your website. Your prospects need to see your face if you want to build a connection. People want to see people!
It’s okay to have a little bit of stock photography. Although, please, don’t use ONLY stock photos. Numerous study shows that stock photos decreases trust, and make the prospects leave the website faster.
I didn’t have a budget to hire a professional photographer. And I don’t feel very comfortable in front of the camera. Even before building my website, I discovered the concept of an Advanced Selfie. Basically, it means that you can take an aesthetic, artistic pictures of yourself BY YOURSELF. Isn’t it amazing? It gives so much control over the process and the end result. I ABSOLUTELY love this concept!
I used a very simple camera (even your phone could be okay), a tripod, and my phone for remotely controlling my camera. See the results down below.
BEFORE LAUNCHING
They’re several important things to do before launching a ready-made website.
- check a web copy on every page for grammar, typing or some other mistakes. You can use different online tools, or ask somebody to read it with a fresh eye.
- make sure that all buttons and all links are working properly
- check a mobile version of your website, and make sure that it’s responsive
- generate all legal pages: copyright, privacy policy, cookie policy, terms of use
- verify SEO
The website
Final thoughts
Today it’s easier than ever to create your own website and set up your online business. It was hard to imagine something like that 20 or 30 years ago.
Although, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have some basic knowledge of design, user experience, copywriting, and business in general. Even though there’s a learning curve it’s still possible to do everything by yourself if you decide to do so. But be ready to invest your time, energy, and patience. if you want to create a website that converts and aligns with the value and values of your business.
