As a small business owner, one of the most important business decisions you can make is creating a website. When you start putting the site together, you want to create different pages that help highlight what your business can do and make you appear in as good a light as possible. One page you may consider adding is a testimonials page.
If you’re not careful, it’s easy to make it too wordy or come off as bragging. However, that doesn’t mean you should leave out the testimonial page altogether. Following these simple tips will help make it easy to put together a testimonial page that will help turn visitors into customers.
Start Small
When you are first making your testimonial page, you do not want to be over-the-top. Start with just one or two testimonials, then add more later if desired. Having only a couple of testimonials makes it easier to put together, while still communicating the same positive message as a full page of testimonials. Plus, you can encourage current and future customers to write testimonials about you in the future.
Be Honest
While you could, of course, get a friend or family member to write a testimonial for you, this isn’t as powerful as displaying feedback from actual clients and customers. Contact some of your favorite former and current customers and ask them if they would be willing to do a testimonial for you in. In fact, you could offer to give them 10% off their next purchase for their time. This not only encourages them to go ahead and write that testimonial for you, but it may drum up some additional business. Make sure you do not over-edit the testimonials. While you may fix spelling errors and grammar, you do not want to change the words or the meaning.
Your Testimonials Should Evolve with Your Business
Once you finally have your testimonial page up and ready to go, don’t just leave it stagnant. This is a mistake many small business owners make. That same old testimonial from five years ago does not look so impressive anymore, does it? If you work with a web content services firm, they will likely tell you the same thing. Add new testimonials as you get them and consider clearing out some of the old ones. This also shows your customers that you take pride in your webpage and want to keep it fresh.
While your testimonial page may never be the most visited or most important part of your site, it is a great addition and a great way to show your future customers how you look in the eyes of those you have worked with before. Spend time on the creation and cultivation of this page and it can provide you with many benefits for years to come.
Tracy S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
