SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
Niche Marketing Opportunities
Improve
Your Credibility and Increase Sales
by Jeff Cohen
Newcomers to the world of internet marketing
find it very difficult to get their first few sales. This is
largely due to an apparent lack of credibility in the eyes
of the customer. Let's face it you are completely unknown,
why should they trust you?
Your
first major hurdle to cross is that of improving your reputation
and credibility. One way of improving your credibility
is to become well known amongst those members of the internet
community that frequent your market niche. There are other
relatively simple things related to your website which also
have a huge impact on your credibility.
The following points all contribute in some way to the first
impression your website creates in the minds of your customers
and they all go a long way to establishing or destroying your
credibility...
1)
Nothing destroys your credibility quicker than if you use
unprofessional graphics on your website. That first impression
created by your website is incredibly important and it does
not take much to turn a seemingly terrible graphic into something
that looks neat, clean and professional, but if you don't have
the ability to modify the graphics yourself, either find suitable
free graphics on the internet or hire a graphic artist to do
the work for you.
2)
Use full contact details on your website. People feel a lot more comfortable
when they are dealing with a real person,
and not a "front" for a money making scam. Use your
full business address on your website, not a P.O. Box. People
like to know that you will respond to their requests for help,
so put their minds at rest by also including your business,
and mobile phone numbers. Make sure you use an answering service
for those periods when you are unable to answer your phone.
3)
Don't leave your email address on your website; it will
be harvested by spam
bots. Use a "Help Desk" system...
Your customers have to register first and then create a support
ticket. They immediately get an automated response explaining
that their customer service issue is logged, gives them a tracking
ticket number and explains that a customer service representative
will respond shortly. This appears very professional to a customer
and greatly increases your credibility.
4)
Nobody likes to wait for an answer regardless of the circumstances,
so include a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on your web site. Many customer service issues happen more than once and by supplying
the solution to a problem on a FAQ mean your customer gets
the answer to their problems immediately. Every time you get
a new customer service issue, add it to your FAQ, that's one
less issue you'll have to deal with in the future. One spin
off from having a comprehensive FAQ is your credibility increases
because you've dealt with all those issues (or at least thought
about them) in the past.
There are also a
number of "off site" issues which
greatly affect your credibility...
1)
Not responding to customer service issues is a pretty quick
way to destroy your credibility. Many people won't buy directly
from the sales page and will have questions about your product
or service that they want answers to before they consent to
the purchase. Delay your reply to them and you loose the sale.
Many customers may have a problem with the sale itself and
if you don't reply quickly, they will ask for a refund, and
what's worse is they will never buy from you again.
2)
A very good credibility building task is writing articles related to your website's theme or topic. Submit these articles
to as many article directories and ezine editors as you can,
the more the better. Your articles will be included in many
different ezines and newsletters and will also be included
as website content. Hundreds, if not thousands of people will
read your articles and over time your reputation and credibility
will grow.
3)
Participate in web forums or discussion boards as they
are also known. Post your own comments, answer other people's
questions, and even ask your own questions, always being honest
and truthful. Never advertise blatantly, rather include a text
link under each message you post. People will get to know you
the more you post especially if they like what you write. Quite
apart from the additional traffic you will get from people
clicking on your text link to see what else you have to offer
them, your credibility will increase dramatically. # # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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