You can think of your website as the modern-day equivalent of the Victorian calling card. Before your prospective client decides whether you’re worth talking to, they’ll have a good nose around your site.

And they might be asking themselves:

• How professional is this organisation?

• Do they have the products or expertise I’m looking for?

• Will I get on with them?

• Can I trust them to do a good job?

Your website won’t close deals for you - unless it’s an e-commerce site. But it can smooth the sales process and cut your sales costs. How? By building a relationship with your reader, and by filtering out the time wasters. And if you can get your online tone of voice to chime with your real-life personality too, then you’re on to a winner.

It’s worth getting (temporarily) obsessed with your website. A few months of revisiting and perfecting your content will help you get clear on what exactly you’re offering, how you’re special and how you want to relate to your audiences.

What are visitors looking for?

As a freelancer, chances are that you’re selling your skills as opposed to shifting widgets… If your target clients are….

• medium to large companies – someone in the company will view your site first before drawing up a shortlist. And if they think they’re onto a winner, they’ll want to send their bosses a link to show how good you are. That’s where case studies really shine.

• Consumers – if you’re selling your expertise to the public they will be pretty swayed by your site’s surface appeal and design

• Experts – they won’t be seduced by look’n’feel. Get your facts spot on and name your sources. Don’t fudge it.

10 foolproof ways to build trust

1. Link to external sources of facts Don’t expect people to take what you say on trust. Even if your visitors don’t follow these links, they’ll appreciate your thoroughness.
2. Show you’ve got bricks and mortar Reassure your readers with a postal address. And consider including a photo of your premises – unless, of course, you work from your front room.
3. Prove you know your stuff Your credentials are the most important trust-builder for clients and referral partners who are experts in your area. Beef up your About us page and include logos and links to trade associations and professional bodies you belong to. You may feel a bit silly and get flashbacks to brownies or cubs. But you’re simply showing readers that you’re plugged into the zeitgeist and industry best practice. Include case studies to show how you helped a named client overcome a business challenge. Telling a story like this allows your reader to put themselves in the client’s shoes. So you’re getting your reader emotionally involved and wanting to use your services before they’ve even met you.
4. Prove you’re honest Name the key people behind the business and make them sound authentic and personable. Really work on your biography to ensure it sells up your major achievements. Ask your associates if you can include their bios on your site too. Consider including your photos too. People buy people – and that’s doubly the case for a one-person outfit.
5. Make contacting you easy Hiding away your contact details makes you look like a recluse or a shady character. Include your phone number and an email address. Consider putting your phone number in a prominent position on every page – I’ve got mine in the header banner for example. If you’re worried about email spam, use [at] instead of the @ sign in your email address. A stark online contact form makes you look like you’re hovering in cyberspace. People may wonder whether their email will reach you, and whether you’ll answer it. Plus they may prefer to call to suss you out first – especially if they’re stressed or upset and looking for support. If you’re a limited company by law now you have to include your company number and registered address somewhere on your site.
6. Get a professional-looking design This is especially important if you’re selling to consumers. About half of their first impressions will centre on superficial look’n’feel – rather than on what you say.
7. Make your site easy to use and useful Map out your site before you get it built. Look for inspiration from a rival site you find easy to use – how do they organise their content? Give away free tips if you can. You’ll build up goodwill, present an expert, customer-friendly image, and you’ll whet their appetite for more. If you’re selling online, give really detailed product information– far more than your competitors do if you can. This is also fab for your search engine rankings.
8. Update your content often Regular updates reassure visitors that you’re still in business and that you’re on the ball. Google will like you too.
9. Cut out the sales speak Don’t nauseate your readers with flashing promo boxes, cheesy ads, capital letters and shouty bolded text. Tone down those adjectives and if you can’t back up a claim then cut it out. Your words will sound all the stronger for this pruning, believe me.
10. Check for typos and broken links Minor errors can look sloppy. Print out your content and get a sharp-eyed friend or a professional copywriter / editor to proof read it. If you’re DIY proof reading, print out your copy, leave it to rest overnight and read the copy from back to front. Try it - it works!

See also:

These top 10 headings are taken from a Stanford University study on what makes websites credible. So you see – I wasn’t making it up! http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html

photo credit: celinecelines