Have you been trying to grow your online business and have struggled?
You need to build up that trust factor, girl!
Building trust online is very different from how you build trust with your local community.
Think about it. You’re trying to not only get people to believe you can help solve their problems, you’re just trying to get them to believe that you’re actually real.
There are some shortcuts to help you build up that Trust factor quickly, even if you're just starting out.
In today’s episode, I break down three ways you can add trust to your online business - quickly.
Have you been trying to grow your online business and have struggled?
You need to build up that trust factor, girl!
Building trust online is very different from how you build trust with your local community.
Think about it. You’re trying to not only get people to believe you can help solve their problems, you’re just trying to get them to believe that you’re actually real.
There are some shortcuts to help you build up that Trust factor quickly, even if you're just starting out.
In today’s episode, I break down three ways you can add trust to your online business - quickly.
You wanna get outside of your local area and grow your services business online. So that probably means you've done quite a bit of digging into how to best market yourself, because you are really good at the DIY solutions. What comes up over and over again and every single blog article you read, every single podcast you listen to every single soda, social media post, you pay attention to experts telling you that you need to build up your online presence through the know, like, and trust factor. Now, building trust online is very different, but also similar from how you build trust with your local community. After all, you're trying to not only get people to believe you can help solve their problems, you're also just trying to get them to believe that you're actually real. While many pieces of the know, like, and trust factor can take time to build, I'm here to tell you that there are some shortcuts to help you build up that trust factor quickly. Even if you're just starting out. Let's break 'em down. You're listening to the Captain Coder podcast. Each week I take you through actionable strategies that can help you grow your online business. I'm your host, Marisa VanSkiver, AKA Captain Coder. Now, why are we starting with trust? So in this no like and trust factor, why? Why would I start with trust? Well, one, you can do a lot of things to get people to know you, but getting people to know you takes time and you have very little control over getting people to like you. The only thing you can really do is to be your authentic self and show up consistently and hope that you find the people that connect with you, and you're going to believe me, if you're authentic and you're consistent, you will find the people you wanna work with and you will find the people that will like you and they'll start to get to know you. But before they need to know and like you, or even maybe kind of along those same lines, they need to trust you when they first meet you. You have to do what you can to build that trust almost instantly. When you don't have trust built from say, moment one that you're connecting with someone online, you can actually be losing trust with every interaction and not even knowing it. And when you lose that trust, it is incredibly hard to gain it back. It's really easy for someone to get to know you better to as they get to know you better, to like you better. But if you lose trust front, and the first thing we're gonna talk about today is a really quick way to lose trust. If you lose trust upfront, it is incredibly hard to get that back. So what is step one? What can you do to not lose that trust instantaneously when you meet someone? Do you need to buy a domain and have a domain email for yourself and your business? Okay, now let me explain this a little bit in, in a little bit more clear terms or a little less web developer terms. One of the quickest ways you can build trust in your brand, Don't give out an email that is gmail.com. Seriously, a domain itself, So if you went out and buy your business.com, that can cost you as little as $10 a dollars per year at places like name cheap or GoDaddy. Now, name cheap includes what's called privacy protection. GoDaddy charges a little bit extra. So you're looking at spending maybe$20 a year to have a domain that you own and that you can invest in. Literally just give up a couple of runs to Starbucks, and if you can afford this, it's not even, it's not even an issue, right?$20 a year, so easy to invest and show your ideal client that you mean actual, literal business you've address invested $20 in yourself. That's huge for at least a year. You have faith in yourself, right? That tells your clients, that tells the people you're meeting that you plan on sticking around. This isn't some weird idea that you came up with in your basement and you think you're gonna make a little bit of fast money at this and you might run away before they get their full product. No, this means that you mean business, that you plan on investing in them as much as you've invested in yourself and your business. Whether or not they know the cost of what you spend on your domain is irrelevant. Just having your own.com makes a huge difference in perception. Now, the trickier part of this, because I know a lot of people that have their own.com, they have a website, they're all great, um, but they still give out people an email account that is@gmail.com or worse, um, at Yahoo, even worse at aol, apparently at AOL still exists. Don't get me started on that. What happens is people don't understand without having, without having access to a web developer or some kind of IT technician. They don't really know how to get an email that matches their new.com domain. GoDaddy in other places are trying to make that easier for you, but I think the easiest solution is to go to Google Workspace or G Suite depending on, you know, terms, they change names to Google Workspace like last year. But if you've ever heard of G Suite, same thing. That's a place to get your email live. Those plans start at only $6 a month for you to have your own email. And if you're already worth used to Gmail and you wanna have access to Google Drive and your Gmail and everything else, it's so much easier than trying to figure out how to do anything else. All you have to do is go to Google Workspace, sign up for a month to month plan, and they will walk you through connecting your domain and they'll do a lot of it for you automatically. You'll get all the benefits of having a Google managed email, like I said, so you don't have to worry about anything really when you go with this solution. Now, you made me wondering, okay, this is not a, this is not a CUS ad article. I, I don't know, I can't think right now. This is not an advertisement for Google Workspace. Do I use it? Yes. Am I getting paid for this? Sadly, no. No, not even. Not even close. The reason that a.com email means so much to your target client, it shows again that you're not gonna disappear tomorrow if you are investing in your business as much as a few dollars each month. They know that you'll be around if they have any issues, and it just builds up trust of anything on this list. This is literally the quickest and least costly item that adds a huge amount of trust to your business. Now, number two, takes a little bit of work, but you wanna share testimonials. There is literally no better way to show that you actually help your customers by letting them say it themselves. Human beings trust human beings. I know this makes sense, right? Okay, you are a human, don't get me wrong. You are 100% a human. Even if you are working with a team of 10 and you have a thriving business, we still need to connect to the human in the business, and your customers are the best advocates for what you do because they are living, breathing proof that you know your shit. You can request that people share testimonials on platforms like Facebook, Google Maps, or you can just email and ask that they send them directly to you, and then you can use them on social media, on your website, wherever. You just need to make sure that you are as actually asking for testimonials and reviews. And of course, you're gonna get some testimonials and reviews that you're not gonna be so happy with, but that doesn't mean you avoid doing it. Most of your customers just feed it, weed it out. If you know that someone's not happy, maybe don't ask them to go leave a Google Review. Instead, ask them how you might improve next time in a private email. If you know when someone is super happy, ask them to go straight to Google and then you can share that on other platforms. Now, my client, Amy Porterfield, actually has a great podcast episode where she talks about the howtos of collecting testimonials from hor from her own students. Now, it does require you to reach out, ask for feedback, but those testimonials and reviews are so incredibly powerful and her formula for collecting these, her framework, whatever you wanna call it, is incredibly simple. It's just something that you have to do. I know that my own BM Erin, she has made sure that asking for the testimonial is part of every project at the end. Yep, that's part of my offboarding procedures. I'm supposed to ask for a testimonial. Let's not talk about how often I actually do it, but it is there as a task. Now, again, these reviews, these testimonials can be used throughout your website, throughout social media post, in your own email marketing and more to let your main characters, your customers, tell your brand story and how you've helped them. When somebody sees a real person getting results from what you do to help others, it says a lot more than anything. You can say yourself, nothing. Nothing builds trust, like having social proof, third party proof to back up what you say. Now, number three is, um, not a surprise. If you've listened to this podcast for more than five seconds and know that my primary business is building websites, you need to have a website. I know you've probably seen a lot of people, I've seen this conversation on Instagram a lot over the last couple years as more and more people have started up small businesses during the pandemic and they're like, Oh, you can have a six-figure business without a website. But really, can you think about the people that you work with on a regular basis, even your local contractors? Do you feel better knowing the person you're investing money into, has invested into their own business with a website? Probably it shows that they're sticking around there. Again, it's an investment back into their business that's building trust. You notice a theme here, it shows that they're sticking around for the long haul, they believe in themselves, and that they're not gonna just take your money and run. Now, if you go onto Facebook for instance and ask for recommendations, you probably are gonna be looking at say, a few different service providers. Well, if I know I have a decision that comes down to picking two different long guys, I'm gonna go with the guy who has a website, bad or not, just he has a website versus the one without, because here's the thing, I internally believe that I can count on the guy with a website to come back every week throughout the summer. The other part of this, your website is 100% the foundation, the hub of your marketing. Every single piece of marketing, digital or otherwise that you put out there has to lead back somewhere. You're trying to get them to go somewhere. If you're ascending customers to a wide range of landing pages that maybe you built through ClickFunnels or other services, you're probably losing out on that consistent, seamless experience, and you're honestly, you're losing out on the ability for them to find more about you later because there's no direct place for them to go to dig in and get to know you. Even just having a simple single page website can go a long way to showcasing who you are and that you're a real viable business. I actually tend to tell newer business owners not to build a full blown multi page fancy website. Just get something on that domain that you purchased and have your story, your services, and some social proof. Show people what you do, talk about how you help them solve their problems and introduce them to you. Get, let them get to know you, Let them like you. That's really all you have to do the first couple years you're in business, because here's the secret that no other web design agency is going to tell you. Your business is gonna change a lot, especially in the first couple years. Anybody that comes to me who has a business younger than two years, I tend to tell them to start with a single page website, unless their business model like it's eCommerce related or something, calls for something different. And that is just because it's a smaller investment and it allows you to create an online presence and use blog articles and build landing pages as needed without putting a whole lot of effort and investment into something that you may have to totally revamp down the line. Um, I'm honestly learning this lesson for myself. <laugh>. I built my website, um, when I launched my business in July two years ago. Um, I did a refresh on it last year and my business has changed a little bit, but I've solidified more my, my business and how I, how I work and my business plan. Um, so I'm, you know, in the middle of rebuilding it again, I also build websites for a living. So of course this is easier for me, but don't be me <laugh>. Start out with something small if you're a brand new and work your way up to what you're doing. Um, also just don't wanna point this out. Yes, it is the biggest investment on the list that I've given you today, but I will also jump up that trust factor, like 150%. Um, my stats are totally legit, just fyi. Don't ask for, um, third party proof of that though. Thanks. Now, I wanna give you a bonus tip before I let you go today. This one requires a little bit of workup print, and for many of us listening, probably stepping out of our comfort zones, but it is so beneficial to showcasing the human behind the business. Like I said, even if you are by yourself or have 10 employees, that's an important thing. Can you guess what it is showing your face? If you're the leader of your business, no matter what size the business is, then people on your marketing channels should be getting to know who you are. Do that by getting pictures taken of you working out and about with clients at a coffee shop, Whatever makes the most sense for your business and your customers. Now, I've talked about this a little bit more in depth in other blog articles about, especially the ones about authenticity, which I will link in today's show notes. But here's the thing, authenticity builds trust because people know it's real. Pictures build trust because they're putting a face to the name and feel better, like they know you don't skimp out on this one. It's, uh, it's just a, a little outside of your comfort zone. It's totally fine. Just be a model for a day, get it over with, and you'll have some pictures for a while. Now, as humans, we are so used to the internet that you would think selling online would be easy, but as humans, we wanna work with and love the humans we're working with. So make it easy for your ideal customer to connect with you by building trust with them. Trust in the online space is really just all about showing up consistently, proving that you're a real business, not a scam who's gonna run away with money, and you're demonstrating that you can do what you say you do. Spend just a few minutes every day to build that trust with your audience, and you'll be shocked at how much easier sales and growing your business becomes. Thank you all for tuning into our show this week to catch more. Captain Coder, you can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app. Do if you have any questions or you wanna learn more about digital marketing and how it can help grow your online business, follow us on Instagram@CaptainCoder or visit us online at captcoder.com. Can't wait to talk to you all again next week.