Now, more than ever, it is important that we stop treating a brand and a website as separate entities. Websites should be extensions of the brand, not separate.

A brand is more than a company’s logo, product, or tag line; it is the experience that customers associate with the company and the essence of the company.

A website is the online extension of a physical storefront, and there should be a seamless extension of brand identity between the physical store and the website homepage.

A bad website experience can affect sales and even permanently affect brand image the same way that a misdirected advertising message can.

Since customers are doing more and more of their shopping online, whether or not they are purchasing or researching, it is difficult to imagine separating brand strategy from your website strategy and design.

Below are examples of companies that I think are doing a great job of using their websites as direct extensions of their brand. Check out their websites to see more ways that they are extending their brand from in-store to online.

White House Black Market

Under Armour

Michael’s