A case in point is ESP Guitars, whose guitars are recognized among guitar-playing community as weapon of choice for heavy, rock-oriented music. Coming in intimidating shape, hot-rodded parts, as well as eerie finishes, ESP guitars are associated with personas and bands with unforgiving image -- likes of Metallica's Kirk Hammet, Jeff Hanneman of Slayer, Sepultura, and solo artist George Lynch. Interestingly, despite its lengthy list of endorsing artists of various musical orientations, ESP only manufacture signature guitars for a selected few of rock players.

Upon arriving at gateway page that is adored with three bizarre-looking musicians in your average rocker fashion, you will instantly get idea of what constitutes ESP name - hard and fast music, independence, freedom, anti-establishment attitude.

Going further into homepage, you will come across interviews and news on rock guitarists ESP touts as its unofficial spokespersons. There is an interview with Kirk Hammet, Metallica giveaway info, review of radical-shaped LTD Devil Girl guitar (see name?), as well as tour updates on Danzig and Soulfly - two of last defenders of heavymetal.

A bit to bottom you will find a thumbnail image that leads you to a page showcasing ESP's custom guitars in, you guess it - flashy graphics and uncanny designs.

ESP doesn't shy away from more conventional designs and 'softer' players such as Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, but they are relatively insignificant - at least judging from a visit to site. And unless you care enough to dig deeper into artist-list page, all you will encounter is how ESP guitars can deliver sound you need for playing heavy riffs and fast licks.

The incorporation of news, product info, images, and endorsing artists educates new prospects of ESP brand and what it promises to deliver, while reinforcing its image and character to those already familiar with brand. Would it be same if ESP mimicked Gibson Guitars website? Considering site's something-for-everyone impression that bolsters consumers' already-ingrained perspective of Gibson name, ESP would likely confuse its loyal customers and drive prospective players to competing brands that are just a click away.

Your website is too important an element to be left alone as an electronic brochure. As Internet has been shown to be an effective brand-building medium by various research, your website must be an integral element of your overall branding strategy. Like you, it generates an aura, and aura is brand.

For product illustration, stick with clear image taken point blank. For artistic purpose, aim for professionally developed ones that represent both aesthetics and character of your brand.

Content

Writing style

There is nothing new here. Your copy, especially of product info, should be tight, to point, and grammatically correct, for you to deliver your message effectively. A bit of puffery and flowery lines might do well as a welcome mat, but that's about it. For a content site, break your paragraphs in two to 3 lines of text - rather than according to sub-themes -- as reading on a monitor causes eyestrain. And no typos; even an occasional spelling mistake is intolerable and can taint your professionalism.

Fonts

The size, type, and color of your fonts must be readable and fit overall design elements. Fonts that are too big overwhelm users, while too small ones are hard to read especially by people over 40.

Fonts in too many color variations look crude and rudimentary; stay with your site's base color(s) for headlines and black for text. Verdana, Times, and Arial are types most commonly used today, in size 2 for text and 4 for headlines.

Company information

Providing detailed information about your company - people, location, and contact - is compulsory to reinforce your credibility and assure users there are real business and real people behind your site. In your 'About Us' page, post concise information about your management board and financial backers, who in charge of what, etc.

Give users physical location of your business -- real address, not P.O. Box -- along with your telephone and fax number, email address, and representative who takes inquiries (this person rather not be webmaster, but staffers of marketing department).

Usability

Page length

Friends don't let friends hit 'Page Down' more than 3 times, and Web designers should remember this. For content sites lengthy pages mean long reading, which is particularly tiresome online. While actual length doesn't change, breaking your content down to several pages unloads that burden. Better yet, provide a printer-friendly version for offline reading.

Horizontal scrolling

As noted by usability guru Jakob Nielsen, horizontal scrolling is one of top ten Web usability failures in 2002. It drags down reading and makes scanning cumbersome, while implying rudimentary design and scant commitment to users' online experience.

Pop-up ads

Denounced as bastard son of Internet marketing of 2002, pop-ups are going deeper down toilet as major sites like iVillage, AOL, AskJeeves, and likely more to come, subsequently scraped pop-ups altogether last year. A real put off to online experience, pop-ups taint your brand credibility (remember X10?). A recent survey by GartnerG2 found that pop-up ads are "most irritating," with 78.3 percent of respondents calling ads "very annoying." Unless yours are a recognized and reputable brand name like The New York Times, stay away from pop-ups.

Of course, achieving a brand credibility that sustains overtime requires more than a good first impression. However, capturing a prospect's interest with an image you are trying to portray is a crucial step in communicating your brand and personality it represents. And isn't that what we are aiming at?