Earn Customer Trust With a Credible Website

Think about these five factors when it comes to building a website that conveys a trustworthy image to potential customers

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Trust is an invaluable commodity for any business owner. You likely won’t have any customers if people don’t trust you to follow through on your promises.

Trust can be especially important for home services businesses. As a drain cleaner, is someone going to invite you or one of your technicians into their home without first ensuring that your business is legitimate? Probably not.

One method customers use to determine whether or not your business is trustworthy is to simply look at your website. How can you ensure that your website conveys the needed credibility? Here are five factors to consider.

Social Proof

Social proof is an important concept for trade service businesses. Basically, people are more likely to trust your business if they see that other customers have taken the plunge and had a positive experience.

The two primary ways to offer social proof are reviews and testimonials. Consider adding these elements to your website. It could be in the form of a dedicated testimonials page or simply a link to your Google reviews. The ultimate goal is just to be transparent about the experiences of your previous customers.

Site Updates

Another thing that increases website credibility is to update it regularly.

Have you ever been to a website that hasn’t been touched in years? It can make you wonder if the company is even still in business. Make sure you refresh your content every year or two. Ideally, you can launch a blog to offer regular content updates, too. And if you have a company news section, make sure it has some recent entries. If the last “news” update is from 2014, maybe it’s time to just get rid of the page altogether.

Ads

Hosting third-party ads on your website can generate some extra income, but it can also cause your credibility to erode.

The presence of ads makes it seem like your business is desperate or illegitimate. Plus, it makes for a less pleasant user experience. Best to avoid them altogether.

Bios and Photos

Anything you can do to humanize your company will ultimately help you build trust. An “About Us” page with photos and bios of your team members helps customers feel like they are dealing with real people, not some faceless corporation, and that can be a source of comfort.

Contact Information

Finally, it’s optimal to have NAP data (your company’s name, address, and phone number) listed on every page of the website.

Doing this makes it obvious that you’re not hiding from anyone. You can always be reached in the event of a question, problem, or emergency. On the other hand, if you don’t allow people to easily contact you, it seems like you’re trying to be elusive. That hardly facilitates trust.

About the Author

Amanda E. Clark is the president and editor-in-chief of Grammar Chic, a full-service professional writing company. She is a published ghostwriter and editor, and she's currently under contract with literary agencies in Malibu, California and Dublin. Since founding Grammar Chic in 2008, Clark, along with her team of skilled professional writers, has offered expertise to clients in the creative, business and academic fields. The company accepts a wide range of projects; often engages in content and social media marketing; and drafts resumes, press releases, web content, marketing materials and ghostwritten creative pieces. Contact Clark at www.grammarchic.net.



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