The third and final post from Ecole Chocolat is Brooke Willis, B Cocoa Artisan Chocolates. Brooke shared her story about creating a brand identity and logo for her chocolate business in this series of three parts. Brooke now tells you how she designed her website and gives you some tips on DIY to save money.
Build Your Website
Brooke Willis
My website is not something I know. I was a print girl in my design days, and I have been putting off building it for quite some time. Because I didn’t have much money, I gradually increased each department of my company as it grew. After I received enough requests for my website, it was time to give in. It was clear that I needed quality photos of my products to start a website. Although hiring a professional photographer is expensive, you can take your images by setting up a small studio home with a decent camera. To keep my costs down, I still photograph my chocolate. I do this each time I make a new batch of chocolate or flavor to update my photos.
B Cocoa Fleur de Sel Caramel -Mouthwatering chocolate photographs help to sell your products.
When setting up a shot, it is a good idea to use odd groups of photos. To visually represent that three chocolate truffles are equal, you can have two or three with one of the cut pieces. Three chocolate truffles are better than two. This is a simple rule that I use when taking photos. White photographs look great and clean. You can also use the background to create other designs later if it is a solid background. My white cutting board and white plate serve as my background. I photograph the entire thing in front of my kitchen sink using my primary DSLR camera. This is it! There’s nothing fancy here! You can edit your photos with professional software if you sign up for the Adobe Photoshop monthly option.
After a few quality images, I could build my website on the weekend with a free builder. It is possible to find free web design websites. I found it much easier than I expected. The time I spent developing my brand helped speed up the website creation process. I also decided to shorten my name for the web address because I kept messing up the spelling of my place when I typed in bcocoaartisanchocolate.com. I decided to remove the “artisan” from my name to make it easier for others to order.
Because I took the time to consider branding and design when creating B Cocoa, I saved thousands of dollars. This has helped my small home-based chocolate company appear professional and consistent with each order.
