Building Trust With Your Personal Website

(c) 2002 by Cheryl Williams Levey, http://www.cherylsweb.com

By "personal," I'm not referring to a website about hobbies or family. What I mean is a website that is wholly unique and independent of any company or affiliate replicated ones you may have. One that does not look like anyone else's. The ones you get when you sign up for different programs are called "company replicated" websites - and they look like everyone else's who has signed up. You want a website that is completely unique and different. This unique website should tell about you and why other people should do business with you and your company -- why the products or services you have are important to them and to you. I guess I should call it personal-business website. If you don't already have one, get or build one as soon as possible.

Why Is A Personal-Business website so important?

A personal-business website is absolutely crucial in building your credibility online. Example: Joe Schmo's primary website launches into his business opportunity, products, services, whatever, and there is a "contact me" link to a form you need to fill out before whoever owns the site reveals him/herself. Feel confident sending out your information? Do you put your real phone number in the form? Do you even bother to fill out the form?

By contrast, John Doe's primary website first talks in general about why his business, services, products, etc., are great and how they can help you. He tells about himself and why he does this kind of business. Maybe he even includes a picture or two. He introduces his products and/or services, talks about why he sells these products/services, and then (if he has one), he provides a link to the replicated site the company gave him. He's obviously excited about his business and wants to share his good fortune with you.

Which site are you more likely to feel comfortable with? Who do you relate to? Who would you rather purchase from? Tough choice, eh?

Truth is, when building an internet presence (which is a primary goal with an internet business!), you need to build credibility and trust, which means letting people get to know a little about you. That provides them with the ability to relate to you and, hopefully, want what you have.

Lots of online opportunities will tell you how great it is that in their business you'll never have to personally contact anyone, but I personally find that a scary way to do business. Why would I want to pay someone if they can't even put their name and contact information on their website, let alone actually be able to call them if there is a problem or question?

But back to the point, there are lots of other persuasive techniques for "getting a sale" or getting whatever it is that you want from your business,, but the point of the personal-business website is to let your customers/clients get to know you so that they can trust you in business. They are, after all, handing over their hard-earned money for your service or product, so they will need to trust that you are not scamming or otherwise cheating them.

Why should they trust that you are a valid business person? Your website will tell them!

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