Building Sales Through Credibility

Running an online business online poses its own challenges. One of the biggest ones is building trust and credibility. The Internet is a very impersonal place at times and when you first start an online business you feel very much alone. You have done all your research and developed a great product or service for an in demand market, but now you have to build credibility in order to make sales.

There are several ways to do this:

Newsletter: Your free newsletter is one of the most powerful ways you can build trust with your prospects, subscribers. When you offer an informative quality newsletter you will be perceived as an expert in your field. The fact you are giving free information also sets you up as a decent person. Over time, as your subscribers get to know you through your writing, they will trust you and buy from you. In fact your subscribers are often your most loyal customers.

Personalizing all communications: Personalizing your communications is very important. It gives your reader a good feeling about you. They feel that you are not just another impersonal marketer but someone who has taken the time to make them feel special. By addressing them by name, you are in effect extending your hand in friendship to your reader. This is the first step in building a good customer relationship and earning their trust.

Your sales copy: Your sales copy is very important in building up a good rapport with your readers. This is usually the first thing a visitor sees when they visit your website. It is vital to your success that you build trust with your sales copy in order to make sales. The way to do this is to observe the 4 Ps in copywriting:

· Be personal

· Be precise

· Be persuasive

· Be professional

Articles: one of the easiest and most effective ways to build credibility is to write and distribute articles about your industry. They will circulate around the Internet and establish you as an expert in your field. When people read your articles they will be impressed and you will gain credibility and trust in potential customers.

You can optimize your articles and use them on your website as valuable pre selling tools. Good informative content will again build your credibility as an expert and develop trust in your visitors.

The way you present your website: if you have a professional and good looking site that welcomes people to not only visit but stay at your site you will make a good impression. Once you do this, visitors will be open to what you have to say and will build up trust in you.

Good support and customer service: This means, answering all questions on time. Always answer questions within 24-48 hours and give great customer service and support. This will go a long way to building trust in your leads and customers.

Using forums wisely: You can build up credibility and trust by answering questions and placing pertinent posts on the business forums. When others see your posts they will recognize you as an expert, you will build a good reputation for yourself and gain the trust of others.

When you build trust and credibility with others you will increase your sales and plus form some good alliences. Remember a good business is built by trust and partnerships.