How to get your customers to trust your website by Glenn Murray

How to get your customers to trust your website by Glenn Murray

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How to get your customers to trust your website

By Glenn Murray *

Research reveals three important facts:

1) The Internet is one of the most important sources of information.

2) The trustworthiness of the Internet is declining.

3) Customers will come back to your site if they trust it.

In the face of a declining trust in the Internet, theres definitely value in creating a website which can be trusted by your visitors. But how do you do it? Thats what this article is all about.

But first, the research

According to a recent major study, "Ten Years, Ten Trends", conducted by the Center for the Digital Future (http://www.digitalcenter.org), a leading authority on the impact of the Internet, the Internet is still seen as one of the most important sources of information, but people are placing less faith in the reliability of that information.

These findings are supported by earlier research. American Express found that 73% of people use the Internet to gather information, and Lyra Research found that 48% of people use the Internet to find work-related information as opposed to 7% who use magazines. When it comes to reliability of information, A.T. Kearney found that workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organisations $750 billion annually!

But never fear! All is not lost. It is possible to stem the tideat least as far as your own website is concerned. According to Nielsen NetRatings, helpful website content develops site loyalty. The average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overloadthey tend to rely on the sites that they can trust to help them.

So how do you make yours one of those sites? How do you inspire trust in your visitors?

The answer is simplemake your website copy trustworthy!

Following are 8 steps thatll put you on the road to a trustworthy website.

STEP 1 - Always include your contact details

Always! This includes an email address, phone numbers, fax numbers, and address. Without these details, youll look like a fly-by-night operation.

STEP 2Tell us who you are

Dedicate a page of copy to the people who run your company. You dont need to say muchjust provide a little history. Talk about their work history, career highlights, education and qualifications, etc. And it never hurts to include a little personal information as well. Let your readers know who you are.

STEP 3Know it & Show it

Its not enough that you know what youre talking about. Your readers have to know you know it! This normally means including a little bit of technical information or some other titbit that potential customers will recognise as expertise. (And always check your facts before publishing. If possible, include statistics or some other form of research results.)

STEP 4Include samples & testimonials

Of course, if youre going to talk the talk, you have to be able to walk the walk. Validate your claims by including samples of your previous work (if applicable), and testimonials from some satisfied customers.

STEP 5Something for nothing

Nothing inspires trust more than an offer of something for nothing. But you have to make sure that something is helpful. And make it doubly clear that it really is obligation-free. Nothing undermines credibility faster than the suspicion that theres a hidden catch.

STEP 6Avoid advertorial style web copy

Dont go on and on, page after page, repeating the same thing using different words. Make your point and make it quickly. Dont insult your visitors intelligence by implying that theyll believe you if you just say it often enough! If you use advertorial style web copy, youll seem more interested in yourself than the business solution youre offering your client.

STEP 7Avoid hard-sell web copy

Once again, dont insult your visitors intelligence. Hard-sell web copy can give the impression that youre more interested in the sale than the business solution. Sure, create a sense of urgency with your web copy, but dont overdo it.

STEP 8Talk benefits not features

When you talk features, youre talking about your product or service - youre talking about you. When you talk benefits, youre showing that youre interested in what the customer needs. Talking benefits is one of the best ways to engage your customer. (For more information on writing about benefits, see http://www.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm and http://www.divinewrite.com/webbenefitwriting.htm.)

Websites can be a great way to engage your customers and make sales. But you have to make sure your visitors trust what you say. And that means getting your web copy right.

Of course, its not ALL about the website copy. Obviously you also need a website design that inspires trust (see http://www.izilla.com.au, http://www.hothouse.com.au, http://www.mc3.com.au, or http://www.digital-tsunami.com for that).

Happy writing!

About the Author
* Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter and heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.

How To Write Better Solo Ads by Jeremy Gislason

How To Write Better Solo Ads by Jeremy Gislason

Writing responsive ads may seem like an exact science, but there are some simple things you can do to increase your response rate. Here are some tips on how to write better solo ads.

Start with the subject line. Your subject must be compelling and exciting and entice the reader to open your ad, but you do not want to mislead the reader because if you do, it does not matter whether they need your product or not, they will not buy from you.

There is a Spam email that I get a couple times a week with the subject line that reads: How to stop getting emails just like this one. Cute and a unique approach, but there is no way I would ever buy anything from a company that uses this type of sales approach. This would be like a doctor making you sick for free and then telling you he can cure you for $50.

Do Not use Re: or Fwd: in the subject line of your email. This is so overused on the Internet and it is very misleading and I personally detest anything that is misleading.

Make your subject as short as possible and as to the point as possible. If you are selling airplanes, you can use something like: Ready to take-off? or Full Throttle or Flaps set 30 degrees. These might not mean anything to you, but anyone who is interested in flying will instantly know this has something to do with flying and for that reason alone, they may open the email.

Put some thought into your subject line as this is the make or break part of your ad. If you can get people to open your email, then you have half the battle won. However, let me preface this with, if you can get the right person to open your email. The airplane sales person is not going to want to target kids, but he will want a pilot with the means to purchase an airplane, so targeting your ad is also critical, but this is another story and you simply target by doing research on where you are going to send your ad.

Write your ad like you are writing to yourself. If you are selling a product that you have purchased, then tell the reader why you purchased or use the product. If you are trying to sell something you do not use, stop reading here and practice saying the following: Would you like fries with that burger! Now, I say this for fun, but the bottom line of selling anything online or offline is a transfer of belief. If you did not buy the product, why would anyone else.

As you write your copy, use strong and powerful words. Remember, people do not buy what they need as much as they will buy what they want. If your product or service can solve a problem for someone and you can express to the reader how your product or service will save them time, money, energy, headaches, high blood pressure, etc. then you have the rest of the battle won and you will get someone to your sales page.

Ads do not have to be long and boring, because people do not have the time or desire to read a long and boring ad. Short and to the punch is the approach you want to take.

My airplane will get you to your destination safer, faster, more economically, and the flight will be twice as comfortable as the nearest competitor and I can prove it to you.

The above sentence would be a good solo ad. It is short--very short and it tells a prospect all they really want to know about the airplane--actually it does not tell them everything about the airplane, but it hits all the hot buttons. Safety, speed, economics and comfort--these are the main issues when someone wants to fly an airplane. Find the main issues that your product or service solves and write around those issues.

Below are some power words that you can use in your ads. Refer back to these words as you write your ads and replace words in your ads with some of these power words and then compare your two ads and see which you prefer.

One final suggestion. Spell check your ad and then spell check it again and then read it several times and if possible, have someone else read it. Make sure you do not write "your" when you mean "you're" and that you have capitalized correctly. Good luck!

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About the Author
Jeremy Gislason has over 15 years of business and marketing experience and assists in running ISORegister, Inc. For more web master tools, resources, free downloads, syndicated articles, recommended marketing resources and reviews visit today.

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