![\"Google](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/google-then-now.png\")
While Google\u2019s look has always leaned toward the simpler side of things, you can see what a world of difference nearly 20 years has made. Whether it\u2019s Google\u2019s website or someone else\u2019s, there is much more thought and planning put into the design of every piece of a website now\u2026 because we have the ability to do so.<\/p>\n
For businesses, a website serves as its online identity and is often the first point of contact they have with prospective customers. To have a website come across as an afterthought or something shoddily thrown together could be just as detrimental as a marketing director answering a client\u2019s call with \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d When executed the right way though, a website can be a highly effective marketing and sales tool.<\/p>\n
With two decades of amazing advances in web design and development behind us and amazingly helpful CMS like WordPress at our disposal, businesses no longer have any excuse to not have an awesome-looking or well-functioning website. But is it enough anymore to just have a well-made website?<\/p>\n
No!<\/p>\n
Your audience expects a lot more from you these days. You may be able to draw them in with a perfectly executed web design, but if the content doesn\u2019t resonate with or intrigue them, you might lose their interest all the same. That\u2019s why websites need to tell a story. What story, you ask? Well, that depends. What do you offer? How can you put your audience into the seat of the story, to make them relate to the story, to yearn to find out what happens (to them) in the end? The story is yours and you\u2019ll need to find the best (and most creative) way to tell it through design.<\/p>\n\n
How Does Storytelling Work for Websites?<\/h2>\n
There are many reasons why an author may write a story, but there is always one goal they hope to achieve: to get the reader hooked. It could be a bloody tale of revenge or a story about a little girl and her puppy walking home from the beach. It doesn\u2019t matter what the underlying plot is, the author simply wants the reader to feel something about the story.<\/p>\n
Businesses are no different when you think about it. Their goal is to sell a product or service that can help improve their customer\u2019s lives in some way. You<\/em> know this. That\u2019s why you believe in your brand. But it can often seem difficult to get that point across to an online audience when all you have is a bunch of words and images on a website to work with. Those words and imagery can be extremely powerful in telling your story though, especially when carefully constructed.<\/p>\n Many businesses may see this and think, \u201cI\u2019m not a writer and we definitely don\u2019t have a story to tell. We sell dog ice cream.\u201d But that\u2019s not true. Even the simplest of business models\u2014from the independent freelancer to the large enterprise\u2014have a story to tell. It just might not be their own.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you are in the business of selling ice cream for dogs, you can think about your website\u2019s story in a number of ways:<\/p>\n No matter which angle you take, it\u2019s all about making a connection with your audience. That\u2019s why businesses have websites: they want to virtually connect and communicate with their audience in the hopes of selling their brand. With the right story in place and with the proper design executed to tell it, you can bring your visitors out of the passive reader role into something more interactive.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a moment to review the benefits of a storytelling approach for your website\u2019s design:<\/p>\n Of course, all the benefits above can only be achieved if you\u2019re willing to put in the time, effort, and creativity in order to create an interesting story that your audience can relate to.<\/p>\n Then the storytelling approach might not be right for you. And that\u2019s fine. Just hold onto this article for future reference and jump back into it when you\u2019re ready to go.<\/p>\n Any great writer, teacher, or even movie critic will tell you that there are five critical stages in a story\u2019s plot. Regardless of whether you\u2019ll be telling a traditional \u201cstory\u201d (like in Story #1 above) or conveying your brand\u2019s story through another approach, the goal should be to hit each five of these goals\u2014and in this order\u2014as your visitors traverse through your website.<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to explain what the stages are, provide you with some tips for how to create your story in that stage, and also give you some real-life examples that execute this stage well.<\/p>\n Ready?<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d \u201cOnce upon a time,\u201d \u201cIn a galaxy far, far away\u201d\u2026 These are all ways you\u2019ve seen stories start out before. This is what is known as the Exposition or the setup of a story. You meet the characters, discover the setting, and realize that there\u2019s something more going on than meets the eye.<\/p>\n For websites, this is where you will establish the conflict. While the word \u201cconflict\u201d may have a negative connotation to it, that\u2019s not always the case in storytelling. Basically, it all depends on what you\u2019re trying to solve for your visitors. Whatever it is, your website\u2019s story needs to start there.<\/p>\n An Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n Talent Garden\u2019s website<\/a>\u00a0is shown above. You can see that what they\u2019re offering is a coworking space. For their website\u2019s story, they\u2019ve chosen to rely heavily on background imagery that speaks well to their audience: the freelancing community and other work-from-home individuals who want a place to work alongside others. They then use messaging that is very simple and clearly explains the \u201cconflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Execution Tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n The next part of your brand\u2019s story should deal with the actions arising from the conflict. Since the very beginning of your website (the top of the home page or the first part of a parallax scrolling site) dealt with the setup, it\u2019s now time to build the tension around the conflict. This is what\u2019s known as Rising Action.<\/p>\n When it comes to using design to tell this part of the story, it\u2019s all about action cues. Whether you have an actual story to tell or you\u2019re simply presenting your site\u2019s visitors with a logical set of information starting with \u201cThis is the problem you face\u201d to \u201cThis is how we can fix it,\u201d you\u2019re going to need to guide them through the storyline visually.<\/p>\n An Example<\/b>:<\/p>\n The National Geographic Channel\u2019s\u00a0Killing Kennedy<\/em><\/a> website. The site\u2019s design uses colorful sliding icons and text boxes to share the growing plot points and build up tension. You already know how the story between Kennedy and Oswald ends, but this site has done an amazing job in using design to guide the reader downward through the story and into the thick of the action.<\/p>\nFind Your Story<\/h3>\n
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Focus on the Benefits<\/h3>\n
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How to Use Storytelling Principles to Build a Better Brand Story\u2026 and Website<\/h2>\n
![\"Talent](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/talent-garden.jpg\")
In the Beginning\u2026<\/h3>\n
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\u2026There Was a Problem\u2026<\/h3>\n