Your website is much more than a “digital brochure.” It’s potentially a dynamic platform to reach new customers, engage with existing ones (and employees!), collect data, and offer an experience and resources to the world. A website is an huge opportunity to build connections. And what better way to start a new relationship than with trust?
Also, it should be noted, we are not talking about “trust flow” in this case, which is a powerful Search Engine Optimization signal.
So, why would you want to build trust in the first place?
Trust with our customers enables them to see your business as a resource. They are more likely to purchase from you. More likely to recommend you to their friends. And more likely to share your content. A healthy and trusting relationship with your customers is worth its weight in gold, and then some, most likely!
Check out the suggestions below to optimize your website to better build trust and relationships with your visitors.
Testimonials & Reviews ⭐
By showcasing customer reviews and testimonials, you are showing website visitors what others are saying about you. It also helps to directly link to review aggregators like Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, and any others that are relevant to your business or industry.
It’s one thing to have reviews implanted on your website, it’s another for them to be served from a third party. These short snippets of appreciation also make for great social media content!
Product & Team Photos 📸
If you’ve got it, flaunt it! It’s common knowledge that advertisements with people and faces are get much higher engagement, it’s also a great way to build trust. Stock photos can be nice and easy, but they’re no substitute for seeing your team in action.
Allocate time/budget every year towards getting new photos and video content. And again, this also makes for usable content on other marketing channels like social media. Not only can you use this media around your website, but a dedicated About Us page can show it off as well.
Privacy, Hours, & Contact Info ✔
Just like with testimonials, having accurate and up-to-date contact and hours, and even a privacy page can make a big difference on first impressions with new web users. Businesses are often reviewing customer service standards, but it’s equally important to evaluate the impression they are giving users online as well.
If this information is inaccurate or missing, it can cause users to become skeptical, or leave their browsing session altogether. A good place for this (but not your only option) is in the website footer. It’s also where most users expect it to be.
Provide Educational Content 📚
It can’t be all sales and promotional discussion all the time. Especially when it comes to search engine or organic traffic, many users are doing research, and not ready to purchase right away. On the V12 Marketing website, our Frequently Asked Questions web-page is a good example of this type of content.
Like many of us, they want to evaluate their options, and feel like they have made adequate efforts to review the market before making a decision. This thought process can also vary depending on the nature of the business, industry, or products.
You can think of it like this. A new vehicle purchase likely has a longer customer journey than someone looking to purchase new socks. Keep this in mind when you are creating content and designing landing pages. A little bit of restraint against promotional language, and replacing it with educational content can go a long way!
That’s it for now! Did you find these ideas helpful? Let us know on social media if they did.
Or if you’d like our help to put these recommendations into practice, you can schedule a FREE consultation with our team here.
