5 Easy Ways to Humanize Your Website

If you read our blog post on how to Design Your Website to Rank Higher with Google, you know cutting and pasting copy and content from ChatGPT or your AI of choice isn’t going to cut it. Plus, it hurts your search rankings.

But how do you bring more of you and your brand to your website and make it more human? Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the trail. No copying and pasting here.

 Get Your Brandcore Down

When I think of core values, a little clip of the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland plays in my head.

The caterpillar blows smoke in Alice’s face and asks, “Who R U?” She stammers and says, “I, I, hardly know, sir. I’ve changed so many times since this morning.”

The caterpillar then says, “I do not see. Explain yourself.”

Alice replies, “I’m afraid I can’t explain myself sir, because I’m not myself you know.”

The caterpillar turns his back and snootily says, “I do not know.”

Then Alice explains, “I can’t put anymore clearly because it isn’t clear to me.”

The caterpillar turns around defiantly and asks again, “Who are you?”

The moral of the story above is that if you don’t know who you are, no one else will either.

Take the time to map out your core values and figure out who you are, who you help, and why people should care. Whether you’re a solopreneur or a big brand, knowing who you are and what you stand for will help you choose the right language and tone for your copy. It will also help guide your ethics and morals in business so you can build a strong brand and solid reputation.

Sashco, a sealant and stain manufacturer, embraces its quirk with a big bobble-headed Les and highlights their core values of truth, trust, care, forgiveness, and respect on their About Page.

Find Your Voice

Your voice or tone is something you hone over time and takes experimenting. Here are some questions and prompts to ask yourself or your team: 

• Who’s your audience? Who are you talking to, and who is this message for?
• What do you want your audience to do?
• What are your mission or core values?
• How are you different from your competition? What sets you apart?
• What adjectives best describe you or your brand? If your brand was a person, how would you describe them?
• How formal or informal does your communication need to be? If you’re a medical device company rather than a log contractor, your communication style will likely be more serious and formal.
• How do I want my audience to feel when they engage with my brand?
• How do you want to be perceived? An expert? A trusted friend? A rebel?
• What are some other brands you admire? Are there ones you despise?
• What do others say about you? This is a great way to reveal some blind spots. You can survey your customers, ask your customer service team, or even ask friends, family, coworkers, or peers to fill out a survey.
• Who do you NOT want to sound like?
• Are there any new markets we want to enter in the future that we should consider as we grow?

Time for a Visual Vibe Check

My kids are always saying that’s such a “vibe.” The translation from this GenZ slang is they’re getting a specific feeling, mood, or quality from a person, place, or thing. That’s what you want to do with your visuals on your website. You want to set the mood and communicate your vibe.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started—

• Use colors that reinforce your brand.
• Choose fonts that are easy to read but evoke a mood. Please just don’t use Papyrus or Comic Sans.
• Avoid stock images. Use them sparingly, hire a photographer, take your own photos, or modify your stock images to reflect your brand’s personality.

Real Talk Testiomonials

Share what real people say about working with you or what customers say about your product. Take a page from Warby Parker’s playbook and use customer photos alongside testimonials. Or try a few of these ideas depending on your industry.

• Log contractors: Take photos of real log maintenance customers and include them with their reviews or testimonials. (Remember to get permission first.)
• Consumer Product Goods: Have your customers send selfies using your product, like Warby Parker.
• Toy Companies: Feature user-generated content of kids playing with your toys on your website, like Meliss and Doug do. Proud parents get to boast about their sustainable toy standards while tagging the company, and Melissa and Doug get to brag about their awesome toys. Everybody wins.

Show & Tell with Case Studies

Case studies and showing the behind-the-scenes process of how you solved a problem allow you to tell your story and control your narrative. It doesn’t matter what kind of company you are. Big. Small. Solo. You get to show how you do things. Why you do what you do. You show your values at work or at play. 

Listen to Your Inner Genie…

As the genie in Aladdin says, “But remember to be yourself.”

This isn’t a complete list. You can go down the rabbit hole of branding here, if you so choose.

Being more human and bringing your personality to your website means being you. Whether you’re a graphic designer, manufacturer, or log home contractor, there’s no one else like you, with flaws and all. When you put yourself out there, you’ll attract your people, the people you’re trying to help. When they land on your page, if you’ve put yourself out there, you’ll give them a sense of who you are, your values, your experience, and what they can expect when they work with you or buy your product.

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