How much importance do you place on the design of your current online presence? Is it something you have put lots of thought and effort into and still do, or is it something you don't feel is overly important to your business?

'Good design' as mentioned in the title doesn't mean your sites need to win awards for their aesthetics, far from it, but they do need to project a professional, planned and coherent image - and most crucially not slip into actually being badly designed. With information based sites, bad design hurts you more than good design will help.

Below is an extra section about personal branding as an internet Marketer.

Crafting your personal brand correctly has a huge part to play in the success of your online marketing business.

A strong and authentic brand will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition and deliver your message clearly to your target customers. To develop your brand always focus on what it is you do that adds real value, then make this the foundation that you build upon in order to show your customer base what it is that you stand for.

Always be relentlessly consistent with the way in which you apply your brand, make people believe in it - and trust in it.

If your brand is clear, distinctive, easy to comprehend, and shows a unique and compelling benefit to your target market you will find it easier to sell yourself, because your message will be uniform and powerful. So make sure you're the one who's emails they read, who's products and services they buy and have faith in, make your brand the one that promises value and delivers it.

Online consumer purchase behaviour is typically driven by four key points - security, privacy, quality of content and design. So design isimportant, or at the very least not getting design wrong is important.

So have a good look over your own online 'presence', is it consistent and considered? Are there others out there you think are doing things better than you? If so, what's stopping you from lifting the bar?

One of the most important skills in successfully managing the design element of your business is to be able to recognise when and where improvements can be made. And then making them. If you are perhaps starting to think this might be an area you have underestimated the importance of, keep an eye out for the release of The Internet Marketer's Design & Branding Bible early in the new year.

James Linton

Design & Branding Mentor
Author of The Internet Marketer's Design & Branding Bible.

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