Branding is all the buzz in today's rapidly changing e-world where despite a slightly sluggish economy and uncertainty around the globe, an increasing number of people are spending their time online. Which is why the importance of branding isn't just limited to the big fist but stands to include small-time enterpreneurs as well.

So just what is branding, anyway? Branding's purpose is to get users or visitors to recall your website from memory instead of a competitor's, to think of your website and to know that that's the place to go when you need someone to trust.

For instance, take the following phrase "Don't think. Just do it."

For many of you, a specific product might have sprung to mind (for me, it was Nike). That's the power of branding, to get the message so thoroughly ingrained into a customer's mind that the first thing a similar sentence brings to mind is that brand. Bingo.

So here's the lowdown on what you need for branding to make it on your website. The following are five essential tips every website owner and business entrepreneur should consider.

Repetition
The importance of this can not be stressed enough. Repetition is interchangeable with consistency and requires you to maintain the same corporate logo at the top of each page.

It is extremely important for your website to have its own distinctive look and feel, which users can associate with your business.

Publish Articles
One way to ingrain your brand is to offer your articles for submission in ezines or other websites, which publish external content and at the end of each article insert your name and a link back to your website. This is not only a great form of publicity, but also attaches a certain level of credibility to your name and status as a knowledgeable source of information, provided the article is written well and provides accurate research.

It's All in the Words
While a great logo and slogar are all well and good in their own right, if you don't have the the right and attractive content, all visual elements go down the drain. The tone of your website shoudn't be tooking at them, but rather talking to them (the cliche don't talk to them, but at them works!) in a conversational style. If you keep your readers hooked from line one, chances are they'll continue reading.

Autoresponder Messages
Autoresponders are emails sent automatically to anyone requesting them, usually done by emailing the account and are an excellent way to incorporate branding into the market. One of their key advantages is that they operate 24/7 without manual intervention and are offered as part of every hosting package. They can be used to send visitors free reports, informative articles, a set of useful links, contact information, etc and by adding the brand logo, name, slogan etc at the top and bottom of the message with a link back to your website. This is another key way of bringing traffic to your website, while maintaining your brand and unique identity.

Incorporate Freebies
Put in free offers, for instance free ezines and newsletters with your logo and slogan as part of the header of each issue. Also creating and marketing free ebooks containing informative content pertaining to your website and generating interest among your visitors by allowing them redistribution rights, is yet another easy way to incorporate branding. How? By branding the ebook with your logo, url and slogan on each page of the book (but be careful of spamming it).

Use your domain as a selling point incorporating it into your letterheads, business cards, business proposals etc. Also incorporate a signature at the end of each email (most mailing clients provide an option for building a signature file). So with every email, more people will be exposed to your brand.

As can be seen by the above tips, branding is an important and easy to implement way of boosting your reputation and traffic. After all, what can you possibly have to lose?