Step 5: Brand Website

Hello hello! You guys it’s another very exciting week here at Toast Meets Jam. Can you believe we are over halfway done with our build a brand series??  And today I get to do another big reveal, but this time about my brand website and social media! 

 

To catch those of you up to speed who are just tuning in, I’ve partnered with Fiverr to show you how to build a brand from the bottom up in just 8 weeks!

 

This is honestly a project that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Whether you’re starting from scratch or going through a re-brand I know it can feel really overwhelming to try and figure out what your supposed to do and in what order. And it can be really frustrating when you do put in the work but it doesn’t seem to actually work! Or the worst – when you hire someone to help you with your branding and you feel like what you want just isn’t coming through and you’re wasting your time and money.

 

Trust me, I know the woes. I know all the woes.

 

So that’s why we’re going step by step through the whole process, so you can see how it’s done! Not only that, but I’ve also been giving you some free tools along the way too, like templates and guides to make it all even easier. Its week 5, so we’re already over halfway to your brand-building blueprint!  

 

 

Now the product I’ve chosen to build my brand around are these lovely slippers. *close up of slippers*. But these are just any slippers. Nope, these little fluffies are my work from home shoes. And, they are the first product in what I’ll be building out into a whole line of apparel and accessories designed for the freelance lifestyle. I call them work from home shoes.

 

Last week I finally revealed the name and logo for my new brand as well as my overall design theme. This week I want to talk about how we’re going to be bringing that all to life.

 

Building Your Brand Website

Let’s start by talking about your brand website. Your website is like your brand’s home online. It gives you a place to invite people in and an address for people to find you. And remember, you want it to be as easy as possible to find you. Your web address, or URL, should be the name of your brand, or as close to it as you can possibly get.

 

When building your brand website, it’s critical that you take the design theme and language you’ve created and use them on every page. You also want to pull in the other elements we’ve built out like your origin story and brand mission. This is your online home. It needs to feel like you live there.

 

Since web design is not my forte I knew that this would be another great project for my extended Fiverr team.

I decided to build my storefront on the Shopify platform. I love how easy they make it to get a website up and looking good. And for first time sellers, they make everything feel really manageable.  I started with one of their free themes and then hired help from Fiverr to customize it. Remember that mood board we created? This is another great use case. Anytime you’re hiring design help you want to make sure they fully understand your brand. Being able to pass along something that showcases your colors, fonts, and visual style makes the whole process just work so much smoother! It ensures everyone is on the same page and will help save you time and money. So you can see here as we go through the site it really does reflect my brand.

 

It’s important to always think about the customer experience. They are most likely going to discover my brand through a Google search or on social media – and if they hear about it through press or a friend, they are definitely going to head to one of those places to find out more. Because of that, not only did I want to make sure my website was ready to go, I always wanted to make sure I had all of my social media handles claimed. To the best of your ability you want your handle to be the same from one platform to the next and also to match your website URL. You also want to take time to set up each profile. Add your logo, your bio, and use your brand design & language where possible. This is another chance at a first impression so you want it to look good. I was actually able to get help from Fiverr setting up all my profiles which was a huge time saver for me.

 

Becoming Brilliantly Branded

One of the things I preach over and over again when it comes to nailing your branding is that consistency is key. I created a handy checklist for you guys that lists all of the places you want to make sure to have brilliantly branded. I know we’ve just talked about a few things but this free download will give you a more comprehensive list. You can click the image below to get the checklist! 

 

 

Services Used + Cost

I Will Adobe Photoshop Edit Photo Retouching

– Basic, $5
– Medium, $25
– Premium, $50 (My choice)

I Will Install, Modify, Create Shopify Estore Ecommerce Website

– Basic, $60
– Medium, $80
– Premium, $100 (My choice)

I Will Do Social Media Branding Creation Service

– Basic, $55 (My choice)
– Medium, $80
– Premium, $110

I Will Set Up And Optimize Your Pinterest Profile, Boards, And Pins

– Basic, $15
– Medium, $45
– Premium, $75 (My choice)

Total: $280

Total for Week 1 – Week 5: $2,255

 

Ok, now that I have my home bases in place, I want to figure out how to connect with my customers through my branded content like a blog, email, and social media posting. That’s what I’ll be tackling over the next week.

 

There’s a lot more work to get done so I’m going to get back to it!

 

Cheers! 

 

PS: Want to learn more about why your branding is super important and how to apply it to your website and social media? This post is for you.

If you missed week 1, week 2,  week 3, or week 4 of this series, check them out.