Radio stations tend to 'get' the whole notion of branding
. In many cases they tend to call it "imaging", but it is essentially the same thing.
A radio station starts by defining their demographic. They attempt to understand the age group they will be serving. Then they develop a slog or tagline that will be used to brand their station. This can come in the form of custom jingle production and professional liners. If they do this right you will be able to sing along with the jingle in a short period of time and you will be able to say without hesitation what their branding statement is (e.g. The freshest mix of future classics).
A radio station follows through with things like bumper stickers, key chains or Frisbees to help in their branding efforts. These stations do not want to be lumped with all the other stations. They want to be unique and they want to be recognized for their originality.
This is the same premise for web branding. You first need to internalize who you are as a business. You need to be very clear about who you are serving, how you will serve them, and what ultimately is important to you as a business owner. Once you answer these questions you can essentially breathe your brand. It will permeate every part of your web presence.
If you do it right, you will become much like the radio station where site visitors have a very clear idea of who you are.
Web branding is not a once-for-all-time event. When you work at web branding you are infusing the core values of your business in every aspect of your site and company philosophy. The good news is if your site visitors catch the vision for who you are they may more closely identify with your 'brand' and will not only identify with your brand, but will likely champion it.
We've all heard radio stations that don't seem to know who they are or what they do. They may be interesting to listen to for a while, but certainly there's not much to get too excited about. The same is true of your website. If it's a bit disjointed it may be mildly interesting, but nothing to tell others about.
In a perfect world your site visitors will become fans. In turn, these visitors will take your message to their circle of influence (even if only in passing online conversation). This is an organic benefit of web branding that can create significant buzz about your site.