Testimonials On Websites

I think it's pretty well accepted that websites are pretty impersonal and that it's a good idea to try to introduce more personal content to counter this.

One way to do it is to work hard on the Company Profile / About Us page, effectively introducing the people the potential client will be dealing with using photos and even videos, but more on that another day.

A very effective way of adding personal content is to include client testimonials. Often your business will be a new name to your visitors and they will probably not be local to you so word of mouth won't be a factor in establishing your credibility. However good third party testimonials will enhance your reputation and generate trust in visitors.

We at NetSecrets are members of BNI, a business referral organisation (www.bni-blackpear.co.uk), and receive written testimonials from satisfied clients on a regular basis through BNI. We have evolved a very specific way of using these on our website, as follows:

http://www.netsecrets.co.uk/testimonials.html

We include an image of the letter received from the client which links to a pdf of the same letter. This is to make it clear we didn't make up the testimonial. The client's full contact details are there so the potential client can call them to check out their views.

Secondly we include the text from the testimonial since invariably they include good keywords and so make the page attractive to search engines.

It takes a little bit of time to maintain the testimonials page but it's worth it for the benfits it brings.