You've thought about starting a small business and taking your products or services online, now where do you begin?
For starters, the most important way to get started, is building trust on your business website. This is the foundation on which you will succeed with your online business through communication and relationship building.
Trust signals depends on the type of business you are run. Will your trust signals be able to close a complete stranger to your website, build a long lasting relationship that can eventually convert to customers or does your website fail to give the trust signals needed to build a powerful bond.
So why are trust signals the key to building strong relationships with potential customers ?
If you own a brick and mortar store front, you want it to represent you and the products and services you offer. The same applies to your website, it has to represent you and what your offering within an online setting.
Understanding how your website may be perceived will help you to focus on improving your SEO services to gain the trust of your online audience over a period of time.
There are 4 things to keep in mind when improving your site's trust signals
A Simplified Site Navigation
In order to get it right with your website, you'll need to make it simple and way to navigate from one page to another. With a complicated site navigation, you'll be destroying trust more quickly than a user encountering a website that is difficult to navigate. The frustration that builds from a site not intuitive enough may cause the consumer to give up on doing business with you And have a negative impression of your business. When you build a helpful, well-constructed website, it will represent a trust signal that users will quickly believe in. As much as it is exciting to create a unique website, taking the concept beyond the basics of easily understood navigation might not work well and cause you to lose potential customers. Your professional SEO agency can guide the process of building your website into one that is both intriguing and easy to navigate.
How Can A Potential Customer Contact Your Online Business ASAP
Using your social media pages to connect with your potential customers to build more trust. Your social profiles should be easily found on all pages on your website, where customers can see with out searching around.
When a consumer wishes to keep your product or service in mind, connecting with you on social media is an efficient way to continue to engage with your brand, some popular social media sites include; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In addition to making it easy to find your social media profiles, it is important that you keep them updated and active. Useful content that engages users with your brand will encourage interaction and sharing, gain conversions and promote your brand in a positive and active way. The result should be an increase in traffic to your website and more activity on social media.
Your basic contact information – including your street address, telephone number and email address – is a simple trust signal for potential customers. In general, SEO services ensure this info is displayed through citations online (on other authoritative websites that build value and increase your site visibility. Having this information available on every page, rather than on few pages like your; (contact or about us pages), helps to validate trust levels for your business and ensures that users can quickly identify your location and contact information without searching around multiple pages.
Encouraging Consumer Engagement With Content
Encouraging your clients or customers to engage with your social media channels and provide reviews or testimonials of your business products or services is another important type of trust signal. When you avoid providing the opportunity for consumers to comment about your products or services, potential customers may develop a sense of concern or distrust. Opinions are important, and consumers expect to have the opportunity to express their opinions about your business.
Consistency is key to communicating online
Creating and maintaining a blog is another way to increase engagement and communicate with potential customers, promote your brand and demonstrate your expertise in your industry. Sharing tips about your education, process or product allows consumers to connect with you and your service in a meaningful way online. It also allows them to understand the quality that you bring to your work and the benefit it provides to them, if they choose to work with you.
Conclusion
Understanding what makes a potential customer click through your website and how they engage with your pages will give you the keys to optimizing your trust signals. Keeping things simple and reducing page load times will also contribute to improving your trust online.
