No matter which business you are in people will buy from you because you have what they need or want but more importantly once the exchange of money takes place there is a mutual trust that is built. You would not give your money to someone you do not trust, would you?

This is your starting point with your website as well as your entire business. By having a clear description of what and who you are, what you stand for and how you conduct business will be directly linked to the amount of business you do. This is especially true when it comes to referrals from clients.

By having the information clearly stated a visitor to your business or website will feel that you can be believed and trusted to deliver the service or product you offer. At the end of the day price is not the only measure unless it is the only reference you give to the potential client. So you can either play the price game and see your profits depleting as more businesses in your industry are starting or you can take the route of offering a real difference where price is not the only measurement.

How do you do this?

The simplest way in which to establish your credibility as the person that should get the business irrespective of price is having your clients that have bought from you saying it. On a website these are referred to as testimonials.

There is a big difference between a good testimonial and a useless testimonial. The useless testimonial is one that is seen all too often going something like this:

"Great job and we are very satisfied"

Roger D

This testimonial does not answer the question in the prospects mind neither does it add to your credibility as a business. 'Roger D' might as well be the dog and nobody knows what job was done. Even if you have 100 of these testimonials it means absolutely nothing to the prospect visiting your website.

What makes a good testimonial?

It must be specific, so if the job done for instance was the repair of a garage door the testimonial should be something like this:

Once the garage door stopped working and was half open we could not get it closed. The other times we managed by wiggling the door a bit but this time it did not work. The garage door opens on the street which meant anyone could just walk straight in. This being a Sunday afternoon we were so glad we found your service. Guy arrived an hour after we called and ten minutes later the door was working again. he showed us exactly what the problem was and we now know how to prevent it from happening again. Thanks very much for your excellent prompt service!

Roger van der Merwe, Sandton.

If anyone looking for a garage door repair service and reads this testimonial while all the other sites had the first testimonial who do you think will get the job?

It is very important to tell your visitor why they should use you, other than just price or the non descriptive "we are the best" or "professional service" crap that is normally seen. Being different will make a big difference in your bottom line.