Is your online brand trustworthy? Sit back and think about what you like to see when you visit a website and what is it about the site that makes you feel at ease with it? Now, review your own site or your social media pages – are any of those elements present? Without a trustworthy digital brand, you risk alienating, and even losing, your audience.
Maintain a Professional Look
Always use quality photos and graphics. Images should be crisp, clear, and free of watermarks.
No broken links/missing images. Nothing looks worse than a blank spot where an image should be, or a link that goes nowhere. Check for grammatical or spelling errors. Be sure that your site has been “proofed” prior to release.
For hosting, be sure to go with a trusted company like GoDaddy. Last but not least, provide a clearly visible privacy policy to reassure your clients that you’re not selling their information or adding them to any unwanted marketing lists.
Consistent Branding
You want online viewers to recognize your brand no matter where they land – whether it’s your webpage, your social media, or even a landing page. Try to use the same logo and tagline everywhere you have a presence. Write in a consistent tone and style across all channels and use the same color palette on all materials. You have carefully chosen all of these elements so use them to your business advantage.
Stay Active
Maintaining an active online presence helps you appear both credible and accessible.
Update your blog regularly and share useful, informative content as you interact with your audience. If you have any, be sure to address negative reviews and complaints quickly.
You will quickly lose your audience if all you do is try to sell. Follow the 80/20 rule (80% shared content, 20% your own), and make sure what you post is of value to your target market.
Be Trustworthy and Transparent
Make sure you’re easy to contact, by clearly posting your email address, telephone number, and physical address. Provide a FAQs page, where your audience can find answers to common questions.
Allow visitors to comment on your page or blog and post client testimonials and reviews. If you own a physical business, post videos or images of your workplace along with “behind the scenes” photos or stories about your day-to-day work life.
Be Authentic
Don’t try to impress people. Instead of using industry jargon and technical terms, speak the way you do in real life. Be authentic about who you are and what you do. Tell personal stories about your family or what you do in your spare time. If you want your audience to trust you, first, they need to relate to you and realize you are just the same as them.
Developing and maintaining an online presence takes time and planning. Being visible is a good thing for your business; but being authentic, professional, and consistent across platforms is the best thing you can do for your business.