I know you’ve heard it a few times online. In fact it’s quite the buzzword at the moment. TRUST. What does it take for you to build trust withyour market? This is what I call “the key to the kingdom” for your business to survive and thrive.
The Internet can be a cold, non-trusting place, where people are more skeptical, and careful then they ever would be offline. And rightfully so!
I’m not going to give you my hard-earned money if I haven’t gotten to know you through your website, blog, and email correspondences. If you’re Amazon, Zappos, or Nordstroms they’ve built trust, with Nordstrom having built trust offline first.
But for the rest of us small online business owners, we need to work extra hard developing the B2C (business (us) to consumer (market demographic)) relationship FIRST. Then we can maybe, just maybe offer our products and services, but until that happens, do not ever think you can make money online early in the game.
How To Build Trust Online
Blogging
This seems like a no-brainer, but most small businesses and entrepreneurs STILL do not have a blog. Why? You can get a FREE WordPress blog up in a matter of minutes. Get some unique, authentic content built up, and then you can tweak the look and feel as your traffic (readership) starts to grow.
Don’t be lazy! As I said, in a previous post on procrastination, Do It Now!
Just make sure to show your personality. Don’t be boring. The more you can let people get to know you, the more they will trust you. I’m not saying, talk about your real personal issues, but let them know what you like, believe in, and have a passion for…and don’t be shy about it!
Word of warning: Do not try to SELL or pitch people your products and services early on. They will get turned off and leave, never to come back.
Social Media
The big 3 are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing how to do Facebook, there are entire books on it, but I will tell you that Facebook is all about personal relationships, NOT business. But…if you take your time and build these relationships by interacting with people you meet, it can definitely turn into a business proposition or referral.
Twitter is a tool. If used correctly, can be very beneficial to your business. But like anything, takes time and commitment to see any real results.
I look at Twitter as a reciprocity, social exchange. What I mean is you just don’t tweet about yourself. You provide valuable information via your blog, website and articles, in which you tweet it with a link…AND just as important you RETWEET other peoples tweets that have value. In return, people will follow you, retweet your tweets, and want to get to know you better.
LinkedIn is for business. Most people on LinkedIn expect to hear about business. Many are looking for employment, and hope to network and meet people who may connect them to new employment. It is expected to be more assertive in bringing up business opportunities, although, I must say, these people do not know you, so if you come across too aggressive, you will get nowhere.
One good thing is the potential to create connections that go beyond the first level. What I mean is you may meet someone on LinkedIn and they may know someone who can help you. Or, they may know someone who knows someone who can catapult your career.
The bottom line is the relationship. People will do business with others they know, trust and like. I know you’ve probably heard that line before, but this time let it sink in, and do what it takes to achieve your goals.
If you want to read an excellent book on TRUST, check out Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents.
And as always, I’d love to hear from you! Give me a shout out down below and some FB or Twitter love! Thanks so much!
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