Having an online presence is crucial for any business in today’s world, but if that presence doesn’t stand out, it might not do you much good. Adding some personality to your website can make it more engaging and memorable. It’ll help you gain the most out of your online presence.

Adding personality doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice being professional. There are plenty of ways to incorporate some individuality into your online presence while maintaining your professionalism. They can also make customers trust your business and be more willing to communicate with you, and they might even help you grow your business.

Introduce Yourself

One obvious but easy-to-miss way to put more of yourself into your company’s website is to introduce yourself. Businesses might think they should only talk about their work, but adding a human element can make a website even more effective.

An interesting “About Us” page that tells people who you are can help them feel more connected to your company. Introducing your team can also go a long way in creating a relationship with customers. Provide a picture of all of your employers, explain their role and provide a fun fact or two if it fits into your company’s branding.

Write Conversationally

You don’t need to use language that sounds like it’s straight from a scholarly article or legal document to sound professional. Writing the way you talk — or at least close to it — makes your copy much more accessible and easy to read.

The exact tone you should use depends on your brand. In general, you might want to stay away from slang, but you should use contractions because it’s a good mix between professional and conversational. Addressing your audience by using “you” is another effective tip.

The copy at the top of this product page on smart luggage company Planet Traveler’s website provides an example of conversational copy. It addresses the reader by mentioning “your personal style” and refers to the company as “we,” which creates a conversational tone.

Encourage Interaction

If you’re trying to add personality to your website, you don’t have to do all the work yourself. Let your visitors help you out by giving you their input. There are a few ways to encourage this interaction.

Adding a comment section to your blog posts and a review section to your product pages gives people a way to add to the conversation. Encourage them to do so, and you may help to foster the forming of a community around your brand. Posting reviews and feedback from clients on your site provides a voice to your site and also creates trust.

Include Pictures

Images are one of the best ways to upgrade almost any piece of web content. They can communicate a lot and inspire emotion. Plus, they’re eye-catching and encourage engagement.

Adding the occasional image to a webpage can help make it easier to read by breaking up text and making it more aesthetically pleasing, which encourages people to stay on your site longer.

Adding pictures of your company’s team is especially useful for adding personality and making your company easier to relate to. The Hershey Company provides a relevant example on its website. It features a photo of each executive against a brightly colored background next to a short bio about each of them.

Tell Stories

People connect with stories, so tell as many of them as you can. Stories have emotional impact, plus they’re entertaining, relatable and memorable.

Include the story of your company’s beginning on your website. People would love to know how you got your start, what your company is like today and where you hope to go in the future.

You should also do your best to make a story out of other aspects of your website. You can tell a story on a product page about how that item came to be or how it could enrich a customer’s life. On your “Careers” page, you could tell a story about a typical day of work at your company.

Connect With Social

Social media is a fantastic place to show off your personality. You can express it in what you post and how you interact with people. Incorporating your social media into your website can bring a power of expression to your site.

You can feature a feed of latest posts on your site, so that people can easily keep up with the latest news. Social also provides another way to let people add their voice to your website. Adding social also has the added benefit of encouraging people to follow your accounts.

Almost every business, organization and individual has a presence online today, so it can be difficult to stand out in the crowded space. Adding a splash of personality to your site can help you get noticed by making your site more relatable, easy to engage with and more effective at communicating your message without sacrificing your professionalism.

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner