Testament To Testimonials
|
|
We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread strategically throughout the site or all together on their own glorious page. They're there with the intent of leading us toward that high dollar purchase or convincing us of something's legitimacy. Sometimes we read them and sometimes we won't. Sometimes we believe them and sometimes we don't. Well, are they really worth all the time and effort?
The quick answer: Only if you do it right. When done correctly, testimonials can really serve you in establishing your site's credibility. Testimonials give you an opportunity to back up your claims. Believe it or not, as soon as someone visits your site you have immediately begun a relationship with that person. Your site will be one of the determining factors in solidifying that relationship and your testimonials can be a key component in building their trust. When done improperly, you might actually drive people away from you and what you have to offer. If your testimonials aren't believable and honest then you probably don't want them posted in the first place.
Here are a few guidelines to follow if you decide to use testimonials on your website.
1. Testimonials Should be Brief. You want your reader to get the point quickly and read the entire quote. You might have a great testimonial, but it is a page long. The odds of someone reading it in its entirety are pretty small. A good idea would be to break it up into sections.
2. Don't Fake It. Your testimonials should be believable and the best way to assure yourself of that is not to make them up your self or have someone else do it for you. Honesty is always the best policy. Phony testimonials will ruin your credibility immediately. Say "adios" to your customers if you want to fake it.
3. Specifically Identify. Testimonials should be signed with a full name and a specific title. Don't use something like "Businessperson" or "Professional". People wan to see a name and area of expertise. It is also a good idea to put a link to their website. This will help establish the legitimacy of their testimonial.
4. Ask Permission. Before you publish someone's comment make sure that they are aware of what you are going to post and that you have their consent in doing so. It is easier to "sell" the idea if you agree to post a link to their website beneath the quote.
5. Address a Specific Benefit. A specific positive result has much more impact than something generic. It is better to post something to the affect of "Your product helped cut costs by 18 percent last quarter" as opposed to "Your product is great".
6. Spread Them Out. You can have a page dedicated to testimonials. It's a good idea, but you can't guarantee that a visitor will visit that page. In addition to your testimonial page why not post a testimonial or two on each page throughout your website. You can even interweave your quotes into your content. This can most likely increase the strength of your message as your visitors peruse each page.
SPECIAL TIP: Anytime you have a good experience with a website or online purchase send your own testimonial adhering to the above-mentioned guidelines. If published, you'll probably get a link to your website. Over time that can add up and increase traffic to your site.
When it comes down to it, testimonials help provide an independent and unbiased medium to promote you and your website. You have the option to use them or not. If you decide to use testimonials on your website then use them properly. Well-positioned and authentic testimonials can easily make a positive impact and strengthen your site.
Cal Hyslop has a background in business and technology with a Masters in Business Administration and is an owner of a website design firm located in Houston, Texas. The mission of his company, WebChrysalis, is to help individuals and businesses look like a million dollars online through the use of web templates and expert design.
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterIs A Web Site Builder Right For You?
A web site builder can be a real life saver to someone without advanced HTML knowledge or tools. Web site builders allow a relative newbie to the internet create a professi...(related: Web Design)
Build It And Build It Cheap!
There are several very good reasons why you should consider building your own web site versus having someone do it for you. It's more cost efficient, you can make it much larger in content, you are more involved in how you want the pages to loo...(related: Web Design)
Web-safe Fonts For Your Site
Choosing the right typeface for your website copy is important, since it will affect the way your readers perceive your page (serious and formal, or friendly and casual). Aside from this, there are also important usability concerns. For example, some font types are more easily readable than others, and some are more widely available.You want to choose font types that:
7 Web Site Design Mistakes That Will Lose You Clients
In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for any successful business. But there are web sites that will win you customers, and there are web sites that will lose you customers. Good design has a lot to do with which category your web site will fall into. But what is it that makes good or bad web site design? In my personal opinion, a good web site is one that's simple, informative and gives me a reason to come back frequently. That's what you should get from a good...(related: Web Design)
The Top 8 Website Sins Part One
They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Your website then is the window to your business. What would a passerby think of your "window"? What does your website say about you? About your business?Does your website entice the visitor to pause and take a few moments to look around or does it confuse them so much they click past it without ever looking back.The goal of your website is to make the visitor stay until the desired visitor response has been achieved. That might be that they sign up for your newsletter, complete a survey or make a purchase. If surfer doesn't stay for more than a few moments ...(related: Web Design)
Leave Those Links Blue!
Don't mess with those links! When you're designing your site, you should leave your text links in their natural state--blue and underlined. We all want to be creative and not do the bland, expected, normal thing. We want to change our links to red, green, yellow, even black--anything but blue. And we have the urge to take off those underlines.Resist the temptation. It's hard...(related: Web Design)
Top Ten Absolutely Free Websites For Downloading Cool Fonts
The following list of websites is the best compilation of sites on the web where you can download many different fonts totally free. Also, there are a variety of different types of fonts and styles you can download from the following sites so start searching today. Keep in mind that these sites are not listed in any particular order.#1 www.1001freefonts.com/links.htmGreat site because it ranks other font websites in order of popularity as well as having more than 1,000 different fonts to download for free. This website...(related: Web Design)
Free Website Design Tips
In this article I will give a few tips of where to find a low cost web design company and also about the best ways of producing a quality website.How many people or companies are advertising their services for website design?The answer is a great deal. They surely can not all be asking for huge sums of money to build and design websites. There must...(related: Web Design)
Keyword Density
We can't emphasize enough the importance of including keyword-rich content on your site to increase your ranking potential. Simply put, keywords are the words and/or word phrases people use when searching. As we've mentioned throughout the site, search engine spiders love content. Therefore, the more keyword-rich content you have, the better. When a search engine spider crawls your site, it won't recognize pictures or images.So, if you have limited amounts of text (or none at all) and you've got a lot of beautiful pictures or Flash animation, the spider may deem your site unworthy of listing.What Is Keyword Density? Keyword density is the ratio of a keyword or key phrases to the total number of words on...(related: Web Design)
Building Web Sites Using Web Templates
Gone are the days when you had to rely on a web-designer to design your websites. New technologies with innovative...(related: Web Design)
Building Web Sites Using Web Templates
Gone are the days when you had to rely on a web-designer to design your websites. New technologies with innovative...(related: Web Design)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Design