Online sales are incredibly reliant on a functional, beautiful, and well-planned website. There are innumerable stats that back this up, such as Adobe's findings that 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content/layout is unattractive. Or the statistics that show 66% of people would prefer to read something beautiful than something plain. If you're in the supplement business, this means you need an aesthetically pleasing supplement brand website.
The building of a website needs to merge two different concepts: aesthetic and practicality. For a supplement brand, you must make the site inviting and clean while being simple to navigate from product search to checkout. Additionally, the entire checkout process should be as painless and intuitive as possible.
How do you build the perfect website for your supplements? Here are some key factors that you'll need to consider when bringing your brand vision to life. This list is not complete, of course. There will always be minor improvements or changes you can make as your website and brand evolve. But to create the perfect website, you'll want to start with all of these pillars!
Consider Colors, Logo, and Aesthetic for Your Supplement Brand Website
Before you can do anything with your supplement brand, you need to create a clean, recognizable visual appearance. This appearance should separate itself from other brands. Think GNC or Herc's, brands that built themselves with something distinguishable but intuitive.
How do you go about building your supplement brand website? First, you'll want to take the time to brainstorm. Assuming you already have a name, what does that name mean to you personally and as a business? What is it meant to inspire or invoke? Write these thoughts down. Try to create a list of words or phrases that immediately come to mind when you say your brand name. Do you think "minimalist?" Or maybe "bold" comes to the front of your mind? Whatever these words are, document them for future use. They'll help you to decide on colors and a brand logo.
Next, talk with someone who has experience in graphic design. You can use a freelancer or an agency, or even a friend or family member. Work with them to bounce ideas back-and-forth as you try to nail down colors and logos. Also, do a little research into how specific colors affect consumer opinions and reactions. For example, New Design Group outlines the psychology of color and how it directly impacts brand recognition. Digging through, you'll find words like "dynamic," "determination," "security," and "trust." Do any of these words appear on your list? Do any of them speak to the vision you have of your supplement brand? If so, work with your graphic design expert to incorporate them.
Once you've decided on colors and logo concepts, get them sketched out and refined. Once you have these assets built out, you can take them to a web developer or designer to incorporate them into your final website.
Work With A Web Designer To Build Your Aesthetic
If you have the budget, working with a web designer to build your website is a surefire way to make a final product that will dazzle and draw potential customers. Intricate web design is specialized, and you'll want to talk with multiple candidates to understand their skills, techniques, and vision before choosing the right person.
Once you have picked someone, don't be afraid to be a part of the process. The web designer will be creating it, but this is your product and supplement brand website. The results of this platform will directly impact your ability to sell and profit from your supplements and will also help or hinder your brand growth. As your designers make stylistic choices, ask questions so you can better understand why your website looks the way it does.
After you have a completed product, please test it out. Let some loved ones and close friends peruse through it and have them tell you what kind of feelings or ideas it invoked. Having people close to you run as a focus group can help you understand what outside eyes gather from the aesthetic.
The aesthetic is only one piece of the puzzle, though. A pretty website that doesn't work won't sell. You'll need it to be functionally complete too.
What constitutes a "functionally complete website?" Unfortunately, there's no simple answer for that. You'll need a home page, for sure. You'll also likely need a summary of your supplement business, what products you offer, and your company mission.
Additionally, if you want to sell your products online, you'll need a working store. You'll need to build out product pages and categorization pages, places where customers can go to find what they want. Whether they want to buy proteins, creatine, vitamins, minerals, or oils, you'll want to make sure all of these (and anything else you may offer) have their section. If your customer can't find what they want quickly, they'll go somewhere else to do it.
One repeatedly overlooked portion of any business website is the contact page and contact information. Shockingly, 51% of people think that thorough contact information is the most crucial element missing from many company websites. Consumers want to be able to contact a business and know where its headquarters are. It gives them an extra level of peace of mind when buying from a company. So when you're working with a developer, don't forget to have that contact page in your top bar.
Install the Best Cart System You Can for Your Supplement Brand Website
When it's all said and done, people are coming to your website to buy supplements. Outside of the bells and whistles, it's a transactional gig, and you need to make sure your website's purchasing process is straightforward, simple to understand, and shows customers the great deal they're getting.
You can purchase many types of software that will do all this for you, but it's essential to do your research (as it is in every step of this process). Do you have specific fees attached to your products? Make sure to list them. Customers don't want to be surprised by the totals they're paying, especially in a business like supplements where trust is necessary with the product they're consuming. Do you have any rebates, online coupons, or other offers that can shave off dollars or cents for the consumer? Show them! People love getting money back, no matter how little. It adds value to the product and your brand.
But beyond the rebates and fees and everything in between, make it simple. Once a consumer has decided on a purchase, you want to get them in and out. Extra time waiting for a loading screen or clicking through unnecessary pages can deter a customer from purchasing, whether due to second-guessing the expenditure or simply becoming irritated with the process. Indeed, the process should be simple: checkout, info, order confirmed, and nothing more.
If there's any legal vocabulary, you need to add (as these are regulated products), put them in your product descriptions, not in checkout. Legal paragraphs in the checkout process will scare a buyer, have them thinking there are strings attached they weren't aware of when they decided to buy. People want honesty, so make sure you're upfront.
Optimize Your Pages and Products
Once you have everything functional and looking good, the next step is to optimize your pages and products. There are two ways to do this: SEO and videos.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps your website climb the rankings in search results for Google and Bing. SEO Specialists and other writers work to identify keywords and phrases through SEO and SEM tools that they can incorporate into your website copy to boost your page's ranking for search queries. Supplements will have particular keywords (like "supplement") that an SEO expert can build into the product descriptions.
You can teach yourself these techniques, or you can work with professionals to get this done. It will be faster to pay someone, but if you're tight on budget or have the time to learn, SEO is an invaluable tool for businesses selling online. If you decide to branch out and found other companies, this skill is portable. It's as necessary for a site that sells supplements as it would be for a website that sells airplane parts!
Videos are also essential if you want to optimize conversions for your products. There's an old expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is probably worth at least a million!
Videos are beneficial for the supplement industry because they let businesses explain what the supplements do and connect directly with consumers, earning their trust. They're also a fantastic way to showcase testimonials!
Additionally, you can use videos in almost all of your marketing. From social media accounts to a YouTube channel, you can showcase your products across a wide array of sites. Indeed, there's arguably no better promotional tool - and no better way to optimize your supplement brand website - than to create some professional videos!
Do Not Create Unnecessary Pop-Ups or Over-Advertise
Over-advertising is the nail in the coffin for any website.
People come to a website to read, buy, and learn about any number of topics. What they don't come for is a bombardment of information they don't want.
How many times have you been turned off by a website that aggressively wants you to sign up for something or give your email address? You see the pop-up, click out of it, then see it again the moment you navigate to another page. It doesn't make you more inclined to provide your info. Quite the contrary - it makes you want to leave the site and never come back. Aggressive, in-your-face marketing rarely works well.
With that said, if your website has a deal on a specific supplement, it's okay to have a small pop-up in the bottom corner. However, the even better move is to have a scrolling carousel of deals on the home page. This way, the customer is finding the deal, rather than you shoving it in their face. People don't want to feel forced to buy something; they want to feel like they found it themselves. They want to feel in control of their decisions!
Also, don't advertise other sites on yours. Calling out brands in specific products or blog posts is fine, but cluttering your page with disconnected visuals and pop-ups is a surefire way to push people to someone else's supplement business. Or, at a bare minimum, it will drive people away from your supplement business!
Building the Perfect Supplement Brand Website Takes Time
Building the perfect supplement brand website will not happen overnight. You need to take your website one step at a time, and you will likely make mistakes along the way. It's an ever-evolving idea instead of a static target that you build once and never change.
So, think about the entire idea from start to finish. Give your brain some time to think about it and, if possible, bounce those ideas off others. If you have family members, leverage them to get some feedback on your thoughts! After that, take each step one at a time. Treat it like a recipe, which requires each step to complete before moving the ingredients onto the next.
If there's one thing you never want to miss out on, it's brand recognition. Additionally, you want your logo visible on every page, and you want to make sure your mission is clear, concise, and easily understood. Building a website is an extension of building your brand, and if you don't keep the two cohesive, you'll create confusion, irritation, or even distrust with your customers.
Do some research and either put in the work yourself or hire professionals. Your website will come together as long as you keep a level head and have faith in your brand and products. With enough time and iterations, you will build the perfect supplement brand website for your business!
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