Embrace Testimonials; They’re Your Business blog’s Best Friend

You may have noticed over the past few years that more and more business websites keep springing up on a regular basis every day on the web.

Savvy business owners have begun to understand the power of the internet, and many of business owners are learning to take advantage of the web and building stronger brand recognition by using different writing services that help with SEO and fresh written content to attract more readers.

Business owners are starting to turn to Media Consulting firms to help them take advantage of many of the social media channels that they simply are not familiar with, and they are reaping the benefits associated with using social media to build brand awareness.

But for all the knowledge that these high priced media consulting firms are sharing with their clients, there is something that they are not taking advantage of and that’s the use of client testimonials.

Testimonials are an often overlooked method of building brand awareness for a business, and the reason why it’s overlooked is due to where testimonials are placed on a business website.

What you immediately notice when you look at a few different business websites is that you either can’t find a customer testimonial right there on the index page of the site.

These businesses miss huge opportunities by burying their client’s testimonials on a different page on their website, and prospective clients have to access a testimonial through a text link to a different page on the site.

While this situation is not ideal, a much worse scenario is a business website that is devoid of any customer testimonials. These businesses have no clue how important a satisfied customer’s testimonial really is to establishing trust on the web, and also building brand awareness.

Here are some things that a business owner should be doing to make testimonials work more effectively for their business site.

Prominent placement

Stop burying those client testimonials. Take a new customer testimonial and place it prominently on your site’s homepage. It’s even better to have a few testimonials right there that are from recent customers and place older ones on a different page with a link to them.

Ask for testimonials that explain how you solved a customer problem

A testimonial is worthless if it doesn’t highlight how your product or service solved that customer’s specific problem. Ask your customer for an honest testimonial though, not a piece of propaganda.

A picture literally is worth a thousand words

A picture really can be worth a thousand words when it’s accompanying a customer testimonial. A picture that shows a customer using your product that demonstrates how the customer benefits from it is pure gold, especially when it’s attached to that customer’s verbal testimonial.

Give your testimonials wings

Testimonials can also be an effective tool for your business when used in other applications. Here are a few things that you as a business owner can also do with customer’s testimonials:

• Place testimonials in your monthly newsletter
• Use testimonials for traditional direct mailing campaigns
• Customer testimonials look great in newspaper advertisements
• Use a verbal testimonial as part of your business’s phone answering service

Don’t ignore the power of your satisfied customers; ask them for permission to use their testimonials. A testimonial not only helps your business build trust with potential clients that come to your website, but they also build stronger trust of your business and its brand.