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Adding social proof to your blog, website, and/or marketing materials can substantially increase conversions and sales. Here is a quick little list of ideas that you can do to improve on your social proof to your business.

1. Gain Testimonials – when acquiring testimonials try to get a photo, audio, and/or video along with the written copy (side note be sure you have permission to use the person’s testimonial in marketing materials).
2. Use before and after photos – make sure the photos look professional. Hire a photographer if necessary.
3. Gain a celebrity endorsement or a high profile individual in your niche.
4. Demonstrations work extremely well. Make a video of how the products or services work. Studies have proven that demonstrations out sell testimonials because consumers can physically see the product solving their problem.
5. Use any and all references to print, news, and/or TV – ‘as seen on TV ‘ as ‘seen in such, such magazine ‘, ‘as mentioned on channel such, such news ‘ – you get the point.

The above methods have been known to work time after time. Providing social proof in any business is essential to maximizing sales. What can you do this week in your business to add more "social proof " to your blog, website, and marketing materials.

Kevin Kelly wrote this brilliant post title ‘1000 True Fans ‘ and it was mostly geared towards artists, however I think this post is just as relevant to the small business owner. The whole premise is based on the artist acquiring 1000 true fans who will spend a minimum of $100 a year on their ‘art’, resulting in the artist making a $100,000 a year.

The requirement to be able to do this is learning how to become a ‘nurturer of fans’. An artist can maintain and grow these relationships through using free web properties like blogs, Myspace, and Facebook to syndicate their news, bigraphical info, and catalogs of products, etc.

The web has essentially conspired (without realizing it) to make this possible, it is simple to disseminate your wares at lighten speeds and do it cheaply and easily through these web 2.0 properties. I think this is an excellent strategy for many small business owners, especially ones like, massage therapists, clothing designers, small cafes, cycle shops, etc.

Is your business actively seeking your 1000 true fans? Are you maintaining and growing relationships with them through Web 2.0 properties like YouTube Channel , Flickr, Facebook, Twitter , and blogging? I challenge you as the ‘artist ‘ of your business to begin your journey of developing your 1000 diehard fans !

Seth Godin has an interesting post on his blog about specialists vs. generalists . He argues that in today’s world of almost infinite choice, why should anyone settle on hiring a generalist to do a job when one can have access to a specialist in that field. The implication is that the internet has blown away traditional boundaries (such as geography) and thus opened up the marketplace to competition in ways unimaginable in the past. The days of the small-town doctor, for example, who services the whole spectrum of the townspeople’s medical needs, are (or should be) in the past.

Small business often attempt to be a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.  Rarely do people want a generalist.  They want the brilliant specialist! The reason many small business fall into this category of being a ‘generalist’ is due to the fact the are trying to be all things to all people.  In todays market place it doesn’t often pay to not specialize and then be damn amazing at whatever it is that your business does.

Is your business a ‘generalist’ or ‘specialist’…?

Dare to be different! Dare to be brilliant! Or as Seth would say dare to be the ‘Purple Cow ‘!

All the SEO in the world isn’t going to make a customer actually buy your products, if your site doesn’t motivate potential customers to take that leap and spend their money, and if it doesn’t make the buying process simple, they will surely go elsewhere. One major step that is over look often is usability of a small businesses website. Navigation and sales copy needs to be clear and concise and easy to digest!

Without an effective website, you might as well just post flyers on lamp posts! So forget Search Engine Optimization for the moment-you need to optimize your site to hold onto viewers and drive them to complete the purchase. Where do you begin?

Make your copy make the sale.

The sales copy is the most crucial element of your pitch, so you have to construct it with care. I’ve already discussed how to create powerful headlines that catch the eye, stimulate curiosity to go further, and engage customers’ emotions.

The sales copy itself needs to do much the same, and more. The visitors must be guided through a process that engages and motivates them to keep reading. They must feel that a need they have will be met with your product. This need can be direct ("make more money"; "fix this problem with this tool") or indirect, appealing to psychological and emotional wants and needs. Either way, the visitor’s journey through your text must be streamlined, written with clarity and no wasted words.

Obviously, no-one likes a pushy sales pitch. Be careful to find just that right balance between being assertive and being overly aggressive. Consider potential objections customers might have to buying your product and answer them in a lucid, reasonable manner. Convey a sense of confidence in your product, and don’t insult your customers’ intelligence or come across as manipulative.

"Don’t take my word on it!"

Real, verifiable testimonials will enhance the aura of credibility surrounding your product in ways your own sales pitch cannot do on its own. Testimonials are the online equivalent to good old-fashioned word-of-mouth-the most trustworthy form of (informal) marketing. Especially if your business is a new one, people need to know that they are not throwing their money into uncharted waters.

How to collect testimonials?

Communication with your customers, whether by simply asking for contact information or for their valuable opinions, is an essential element of customer service. Have a feedback option prominently on display on your site. Ask permission from current customers to print testimonials of their positive experiences. Always make sure they agree to use their full name and general location for purposes of authenticity. You can even offer free samples of your goods or services in exchange for useable feedback.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to your customers in this way. If someone has had a positive experience, they are often more than happy to interact with you and contribute back to your business in a small way. The Web has empowered ordinary people to feel they can be participants, not just spectators, in its dynamic changes and vast reservoirs of information.

Make the buying process easy.

Never forget the cardinal rule of online content: keep it simple and to the point! Web surfers have short attention spans and want to get their business done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Your site must be easily navigated, intuitive to the visitor, and structured and presented consistently on every page.

Your customer shouldn’t have to click more than twice to reach the ordering page. Whenever your product is displayed or mentioned, make sure you have a "BUY NOW " button at the ready. And please, please make your order form easy to fill out quickly! The more work customers have to do to buy online, the more likely they just won’t bother.

Look at iTunes. It is almost too easy to buy music from them. Once you have an account set up, all you have to do is click a button and that song is yours in seconds-a song you may have spent hours looking for in a dusty record shop 10 or 15 years ago! Oh look; there’s another song I like-CLICK! And another one-CLICK! Before you know it, you’ve spent $50. You get the message…

The lesson is: if your website is armed with a streamlined, well-presented, stimulating and easy-to-follow sales process from pitch to final purchase, you maximize your chances of turning mere visitors into full-fledged customers!

Have a twitter account? Then follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/smbusinesscoach

Are You Tweeting?

Are you a small business owner? Are you twittering? Don’t know what twitter is? Or maybe you know what twitter is, but you don’t know how to monetize twitter. Want to learn how to use twitter to grow and market your business…?

Well never fear… we have quick crash course in understanding and learning how to tweet yourself to more profits in this blog post! I am also going to try to keep the writing minimal in honor of micro-blogging.

Learn what the basics of twitter is in the following video made by The Common Craft Show :

What can twitter do for your business?

• Meet like minded colleagues
• Puts you on the cutting-edge, get news as it happens in your industry
• Share resources that make you more productive
• Keep up to date on internet marketing and SEO news
• Have the ability to really inform those that follow you on Twitter to the News content on your site or in your retail business
• Increase the subscription rate to your blog

TIP: Remember, the power of Twitter is not a traffic driving tool, it is a relationship building tool. The traffic will only come if you build relationships first. To build a good relationship takes a two way conversation, make sure it is not all about marketing, marketing, marketing – you do that and you will fail using this brilliant tool. It is all about giving, giving, giving! Be a giver and you shall receive back 10 fold.

Twitter is about building relationships ; building contacts with like minded people, and cultivating a stellar online reputation. Click here to learn how 50 plus other people use twitter to help grow their businesses.

Learn how to use twitter search to help grow your relationships on Twitter with the following video:

Post in the comments below how you niche and twitter account address and what type of relationships you are looking to make…?

Other Useful Twitter Resources

TweeterLater – Send automated thank you notes to new followers, and automatically follow new followers,
if you choose to do so.

TweetBeep – Like Google Alerts for Twitter

TwitterDigest – Just a daily run down of who you want to follow tweets

Twitter Hand Book Blog – Top ‘Twitter How To’ resource for business.

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide – Step by step guide to using Twitter for business.

Twitter & Education? – Yep, it’s good for that too!

Tweetburner – tracking for twitter

Fun – The Twitter Song:

Here is how NOT to Twitter:

Want to sign up for a twitter account? – Twitter

Have a twitter account? Then follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/smbusinesscoach

Don’t forget to post your twitter link and who you would like meet on twitter below!

One of the dominant trends in the marketplace is the growing influence of online reviews of products and services, whether those of online companies themselves, or traditional "offline" businesses such as hotels and restaurants. As more and more of the consumer population surfs the web to shop, research potential purchases and compare prices, online reviews have become a prominent forum for customers to sing praises and vent their frustrations. In today’s internet climate, everyone truly is a critic!

If your business hasn’t yet started using online customer reviews, you may be nervous about venturing into uncharted waters. But if you are confident in the value of your business and the products or services it provides, using customer reviews is a win-win. It is a good idea to research the websites of other companies in your industry. If many of them are using reviews, you must too, to keep apace with the competition. If they are not, you can gain a competitive advantage by using online reviews-it gives potential customers something to go on and sets you apart from your competitors.

(Statistics found above at eMarketer.com )

If you decide to allow customer reviews on your website, the temptation may be to cherry-pick only the good ones and discard the bad. Don’t be afraid to post bad reviews! Online consumers are becoming more and more sophisticated, and will likely be suspicious of a business with nothing but glowing testimonials. They know that no business, no matter how hard it tries, can achieve 100% customer satisfaction. The odd bad review will lend credibility to the good ones, and the fact that you are allowing negative as well as positive feedback will be a testament to the integrity of your business. Of course, if you receive mostly or many negative reviews you probably need to do something to improve the quality of your products or services anyway!

It goes without saying that when posting online reviews honesty is the best policy. Don’t make up reviews or, as mentioned above, include only the good ones. Again, consumers are sophisticated, and your credibility as a business is at stake. Maintaining customer trust is always of paramount importance. Consumers are smart enough to weed out spurious or malicious reviews. Provide some evidence that real customers provided the reviews, so visitors to your site don’t assume you simply wrote a bunch of blurbs yourself.

Remember, quality is often more important to consumers than price. Especially in customer service-oriented industries, such as hotels and restaurants, people will be willing to pay a little more for something if they feel more confident they will be satisfied. And few things inspire people more to take the effort to provide written feedback than bad-or good!-customer service. Online reviews are one of the best ways to build that consumer confidence every business needs to thrive on, and to give your customers the empowering feeling that they are being listened to and that their opinion matters.

In the competitive online market, standing out from the crowd can be difficult. Creating a website for your business that instills a sense of trust in its visitors is a decisive factor in building-and maintaining-your business’ reputation. Having a professional, approachable, secure website is essential to survive for any length of time in today’s market. You will only have one chance to make a positive impression on a potential customer-so every detail counts. Follow these rules for crafting a successful website and you will attract, and be more likely to keep, potential customers rather than lose them to the competition.

Presentation matters -

Having a website that is poorly designed can be incredibly off-putting to visitors. Make it attractive, professional-looking, well-organized, easily navigable and appropriate in its appearance to the type of customers you are trying to attract. Having an overly flashy site for sober-minded business types, for example, will likely send them scurrying to someone else’s products and services. Visitors should never be confused when searching for information on your site, so make its layout and structure intuitive. Check all your internal and external links to make sure they work properly: nothing erodes a surfer’s confidence in a website than dead links and error messages.

Language matters -

In the era of dashed-off e-mails and text messages, many people think grammar, spelling, proper punctuation and clean prose don’t really matter much anymore. However, sloppy, careless and error-filled writing will grate on a reader, if only subliminally, and make him or her doubt your competence. Also, make sure your language is suitable to your audience. It is possible to strike a casual, relaxed tone without losing a sense of professionalism. Don’t be afraid to have a personality; customers want to connect at some level with the businesses whose services they use. And keep the tone positive when describing your business: negative comments about your competitors are off-putting to readers.

Let your visitors know who you are -

People want to know that there are real, living people behind websites whose products they might use. Have an “About Us” page that provides substantial information about you, including pictures, with contact information, including a phone number, address, e-mail address and fax number, which actually provide easily accessible contact. If your identity is unclear, a customer is less likely to trust your business.

Keep it fresh -

Providing new content regularly, such as interesting articles relevant to your potential customers, will encourage return visits and-again-reinforce the sense that there are real people actively engaged in the website. A blog is a perfect way to fulfill this requirement.

Use testimonials-

Publishing verifiable testimonials from real customers, or even case studies of customers who have had success with your products or services, will build consumer confidence in you and show visitors that you run a business that has really achieved something and has staying power.

Make it interactive -

Allow for customer comments, even discussion forums on relevant topics. People want to be engaged and will stay longer or return often if they feel they have a say. Having a forum can help build a strong community around your brand & services.

Be responsible and truthful -

Never make false claims about your products or services. Avoid over-the-top or unrealistic statements about your business. Do not fabricate or use suspicious customer testimonials. Your website’s number one goal is to present a responsible, trustworthy and confidence-building face for your business. And online customers are rightly cautious and weary of scam-artists and exploitation-and more than willing to publicize them in blogs and other online forums. Don’t give your visitors anything to worry about.

Make your terms crystal clear -

Prominently display your returns/refunds policy, as well as all other terms of service. Don’t let potential customers feel they need to sift through fine print-they’ll just go elsewhere. And never manipulate customers with pricing that doesn’t tell the whole truth, such as shipping costs, taxes and other costs over and above the base price.

Use advertising appropriately-

Advertising from companies that are reputable and known to others reinforces a visitor’s confidence in your own business. But make sure any advertising is relevant-and appropriate-to your type of business. Having a BBB image or “as seen on TV” or “as seen in “such magazine” can really build trust.

Link with other reputable sites-

Again, visitors will feel more comfortable with your site if they see familiar, reputable logos, such as Google Search, Pay Pal, Visa/MasterCard Logos, etc.. If you are involved in prominent industry associations, by all means post links to these as well.

Provide security to your customers -

The importance of this cannot be overstated, even if it should be obvious to anyone trying to sell goods and services on the internet. You should use the highest level of security when dealing with credit card purchases, and make sure your customers know so. Clearly post your security and privacy policies, and provide prominent links to them on any page on which your customer will be submitting personal information.

If you take these important steps when setting up the website for your business, you are making your long-term success that much more likely. Small online businesses come and go every day, and consumers have far too much choice to be willing to settle for the second-rate.

Other web design resources you may like:

Another interesting article: ‘Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design‘ that I found useful and insightful.

What a Good Website Designer and a Web Developer Should Know about …
- The topic is as broadly debatable as Windows over Linux is but it all boils down to the two important keywords: development and design! A good web designer offering web site design services must know the differe. …

10 ways to make your Web site design project go smoothly
- Time and time again, I have seen companies struggle with Web site design projects. Initial Web site design and redesigns of existing sites may each face a few different challenges, but overall, they are similar. …

Many small business owners are still not sure what Web 2.0 is. The following video should begin to fire off the connectors that will bridge this gap, and help you understand how your customers control your success. If you are a small business owner, it is imperative you start this journey of better understanding and harnessing the power of Web 2.0.

Social Media simply means that users contribute to help create a website’s content. This concept is not really new; it has been around since the birth of the Internet (back then it was called “message boards” and “bulletin boards.”). However, using social media and social marketing (referred to as Web 2.0) is the hottest trend these days—and it’s a trend that’s not likely to go anywhere soon.

Web 1.0 had a static, one-way interaction with internet surfers. The webmasters and designers provided all the content and the people who surfed clicked around reading other people’s published works. Internet surfers were merely spectators.

Fast-forward: today, Web 2.0 is thriving! Anyone with an internet connection can create and contribute amazing content without knowing anything about web design, html code, etc. People can easily add photos, videos, comments, tips, reviews, articles, statistical data—you name it and the “collective” is adding it. Just look at the growth in blogging and e-zines and the rise of sites like Facebook, Myspace, Squidoo, Flickr, YouTube, Epinions, Wikipedia. This is not about to disappear.

So what does this all mean to the small business owner? A lot! It means people are gathering by the millions online to find like-minded people to have conversations with, and are creating niche communities where they will share, visit and return (all the while consuming products and services faster than ever before). If you are not smack dab in the middle of all this interactive energy, then the chances of your business not surviving may not be far away.

The good news is that this is all very easy to grasp, and the tools available make it inexpensive and easy for anyone to participate. If you are a small business owner but are nervous and scared because you are not tech-savvy, don’t be intimidated because times have changed and webmasters have designed the internet so anyone can contribute. This is a huge opportunity for you and your business to find the vibrant interactive communities that are just dying to know about you!