In this year’s edition of Business in Vancouver Magazines’ “AdPages 2007″ there is an interesting article titled: Leveraging your Brand. When many organizations are going through a (re)branding phase Corporate Design, Tag lines and Messaging (which are all very important) tend to get the lion’s share of the budget, while the interactive gets what is left over. It is no longer suffice to simply have a website,  it must an integral part of  your brand Strategy.

Here are 10 great things to consider in your online branding strategy:

1. Invest in your website: Most people do their research online now and your website is likely to be the first point of contact for your prospective customers

2. Be consistent: Be sure that your website follows the brand guidelines employed for your business cards, letterhead, brochures and ads. This way visitors won’t wonder if they are at the right site

3. Optimize your site for Search Engines: Hire a specialist to create and execute a submission strategy for major search engines/directories and optimize content. Google analytics is a great (and free!) tool to monitor conversion rates and learn about your visitors

4. Focus on “what you do” not “what you are”: Tell your visitors what you can do for them and be direct.  They want information on how you can help them as quickly as possible

5 . Use flash with intent: Although it looks cool, flash can drastically slow down a search. If you use flash on your site give the visitor the opportunity to skip it or view a low bandwidth version

6. Be Careful when choosing Music: Just as classical music outside a convenience store will deter loitering, a poor choice in music can also turn visitors away from your site

7. Update your website’s content: Remove broken links and out-dated information. (Updating content is also a good way to optimize your search engine ranking)

8. Use a professional web copywriter: This will ensure your information is as concise as possible and reflects your products/services in an easy-to-read format

9. Interact with your customers: Use e-newsletters, blogs and forums to communicate with your visitors on a deeper level

10. Reinforce your Brand Identity: use an email signature that includes your URL and logo. Customize the look of your e-newsletters according to brand guidelines and offer links back to your site whenever possible