Is your branding consistent?

I can't count the number of times I've received business cards from people whose websites and business cards are so different from each other you wonder if it's the same business. More often than not, the business card will be decent or good - a nice logo, nice paper stock, maybe even UV or silk coating, and of course, all the right information. But then you head to that same person or company's website and you're smacked in the face by either an ugly, unusable website, or a site that just doesn't look anything like their business card. Or worse yet, both. In one of the worst examples I recently came across, the business card had a decent logo and the information was decently laid out. And the majority of the card was green. There were some typography and whitespace issues, but all in all, it was a decent business card that did show some identity and personality for this particular company. I then headed over to this particular company's website and it didn't look ***anything*** like the business card. The logo was nowhere to be found, the color green was missing entirely and the overall look and feel of the business was the opposite of the business card. And to top it off, the site looked like it had been designed in 1998 using one of the horrible FrontPage templates. Not only did I stop and double check the URL I had typed in, I checked the business name, and then wondered what the hell was going on. The issue here is a matter of branding continuity. Or branding consistency. Or branding cohesiveness. Whatever you call it, this example (and a slew of others I've seen) didn't have it. And therein lies the problem: no branding continuity and you're sure to throw off your visitors. They'll wonder, as I did, if they're on the correct website and the doubts will only continue from there. This kind of immediate doubt is certainly not a good way to introduce your visitors to your business, let alone your website. If a business card is a quick greeting telling someone who you are and who your business is, a website is the coffee date where you get to know the company better before deciding to inquire. Do business cards and websites have to match exactly? Of course not. They're two different mediums that serve pretty different purposes. But they both do need to look as though they're representing the same company. It's the same reason companies insist on uniforms for their ground personnel or have dress codes - to send a *consistent* message to anyone doing business with them. Bottom line, it makes you look unprofessional and unorganized in your business.