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Yes, a web site absolutely has a personality. We might not explicitly think about such a thing, however subconsciously we are forming decisions about a website based on what it looks like and how it feels. This is no different to when you meet people for the first time, good or bad you will experience an impact and likewise they will too.

The interesting point about the above paragraph is that our personalities can often lead us to a specific vocation. A quiet, thoughtful, reflective personality type might not necessarily make the best tour guide. Similarly, you probably would not want to visit a dentist who shows no attention to detail. We find a role in life that suits where we want to be, often this is subconsciously driven by our personality types.

So if certain personalities suit certain vocations, is it fair to surmise that certain web site personalities might serve different markets better than others? The quick answer is yes. The longer answer is that it all depends on who you customers are likely to be. The personality of your site should match with the people you want to encourage to visit your site and make it their home.

Take the time to really look at the personality of your own site. Are you attracting lots of traffic but not converting this into sales? Is this because the landing page does not have the right personality or image? Are you able to describe the personality of your site?

I haven’t gone mad, many people do think about their site in this way when they’re re-designing or starting from a fresh. It’s a great way to start a debate and certainly gets the creative juices flowing. The look and feel of a site will determine ‘its personality’ and the initially reaction. And this is often the key to whether the user will stay and do business or leave after a few seconds! Many people do not think in this way before embarking of their website project and I would encourage you to do so. At the end of the day your website is a direct reflection of your company so think long and hard about how you want the site to represent you?

Colour is significant and can be a key factor in determining the personality of your website. For example, red is a more dynamic colour which can represents excitement, energy, passion, desire, speed, strength whist a more peaceful colour like blue, used often with technology companies, represents stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security and loyalty.

Different colour style sheets can often be used to good effect when differentiating parts of your site to represent different areas of your business so think about it and don’t just pick your favourite colour, choose the one that suits the personality of your target visitors.

Usability can play a very important part when determining the personality of your site. If your site is hard to navigate, confusing and cluttered it makes the personality of the site and therefore the image of your company as disorganised, careless and lacking attention to detail. However if your site if well structured, simple and easy to use your company and personality will be seen as a friendly, considerate and organised, a company to do business with.

The style of the site will play a big part in the overall personality of the site and the usability. Often different industries will represent and adopt similar styles i.e. the technology industry is usually blue in colour with lots of straight lines and clean layouts.

This blog post is a little light hearted, however there is a serious point to it. How your web site is viewed by others is really important. Especially if the “others” are people you hope will buy from your site. Let us know what you think via our comments section below.