Arguably your company website is the most important marketing tool for your business as it’s often how your client and consumers will first find you, so a good first impression is crucial if you want people to buy your services or products.
In order for your website to be a success you need to build up a level of trust with your target audience.
What do we mean by trust? Well, can you remember the last time you searched for a particular service or skill online, such as local tailors, hairdressers or business consultants? Although you might not have known you were doing it, like the majority of internet users you would have gone through a selection process by visiting numerous websites and judging them on factors such as web design, user experience and the quality of copy and images, all of which will count as attributes as to whether or not you trust a brand and a business. Without trust your websites visitors will simply go elsewhere.
How can you make your target audience trust you and your business? We have put together some tips on how you can build up that trust:
1. Good Web Design
The design of your website is probably the first thing you should tackle when trying to build trust online. Although it’s a bit of a cliche, people do judge a book by its cover and websites are no different, so it’s important to make the first impression count.
2. Websites copy
Copy on a website is very important. It gives you a chance to put across your key business messages and encourage your audience to continue viewing your site in greater depth. If used correctly copy can be a powerful tool to reinforce your company’s branding and principles.
If the copy on your site is a bit sloppy with spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar, your customers will probably question the quality of your products and services, so it’s incredibly important to take the time to get the copy right.
3. Page loading times
How many times have you visited a website and a certain page takes forever to load? We’ve all experienced this annoying issue at some point or another and most of us have given up after just a few seconds, which is why it’s important to make your website load as quickly as possible – you tend to have just one chance to win over your site’s visitors so it’s important to make it count.
4. Mention your awards and accreditations
You should never be afraid to ‘sing and shout’ about your company’s success, if you have any awards or accreditations make sure to put them on your site, whether it be in the sites footer, a blog post or event a separate dedicated page. People like to see what awards businesses have a won.
5. Have an about page
You would be surprised how many businesses don’t have an about page on their website. A lot of the time companies seem to think their audience are only interested in their services and products, this couldn’t be further from the truth. People like to know who the people are behind the brand.
Having an about page is the ideal place to let your target audience know what your company’s history is, what your business values and ethos are and what your skills and experience are. An about page can give you the ideal place to build up trust on your site.
6. Communicate quickly and effectively
To build trust online make sure your respond quickly to customer’s enquiries and questions, whether it be via social media platforms like twitter, email or through your blog’s comment section. If someone has made the effort to contact you, it usually means you are doing something right, you just now have to ‘make the sale’.
7. Increase visibility
People trust websites that rank higher in search engines like google and bing, so it’s important to invest in search engine optimisation. It’s also a good idea to list your business in directories, sponsor events, attend tradeshows, the more exposure your company gets the better!
8. Have fresh content on your website
Having fresh content on your website will keep people coming back to your site. A simple way to achieve this is by having a blog or news section on your website. Showing your website’s audience that you’re active on the internet will help to give the impression that your business is reliable and constant. (On a side note, search engines like Google love websites which have dynamic content and they tend to rank them higher in search results!)
9. Don’t be afraid to show off your reputation
Don’t be afraid to put banners and images on your website with statements such as “As seen in…” or “Featured on…”. This gives your business the opportunity to let your websites audience know your business has been featured on other marketing outlets, whether it be in a printed publication or a TV show.
10. Be on social networks.
There is no excuse not to be on at least one social media platform, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube. You customers will probably expect to be able to find you on social media and if you’re not it can give the impression your business is not moving with the times.
If you are not already on social media sites, create a profile and start engaging with your target audience which in turn will create trust and possibly generate sales.
It’s also a good idea to add social share buttons on your website so that visitors to your site can share your content and products with other people, further increasing exposure for your business.
If you need help with building trust online, give entyce creative a call on: 01244 310 140