Building trust is one of the things that you need to give more attention in blogging. It is the one that decides whether you are going to sustain in blogging or not.
Many people have a dream to build a blog that generates revenue and traffic even if Google leaves them broke. For most of them, this is impossible as they heed very less attention to build trust with their audience, and focus less on personal branding.
The trust is the thing that matters. In the real world, you buy things with the seller you trust, you lend money to the person you trust. Without trust, humanity won’t exist.
The same applies for online businesses and blogging.
Why trust is needed in blogging?
- To create networks.
- To increase repeat visitors to your blog.
- To increase sales.
- To be a happy blogger.
- More social shares.
At the initial days of the world wide web, there was no competition at all. But now, with the massive competition to sustain in any niche as a online marketer, you need to build trust with your audience. You should make your audience be loyal to you forever. You need to create such a trustworthy blog and personality online.
But how?
This is what I’m going to explain you in this post.
Have an avatar
People when visiting any page, don’t blindly read the content. They want to know who’s behind the content.
Personally, when I come across a content on the web, I want to know who authored the content before reading it. It eases me out reading the content - like it’s actually worth my time.
When you have a photo of yours on your blog, readers can relate to your blog, when they come across your name or photo anywhere else on the web like forums, social media or guest posts.
Legit businesses often have a personality attached to them, because there’s nothing to hide. People tend to trust blogs which have a personality attached to them.
Not a single blog I trust don’t have the photo of their author on their blog.
No matter how great your content is. You are missing a lot without having an avatar.
Wear a smiling face in your photo, as it connects with your readers instantly and you appear trustworthy.
You can include you photos on blog’s sidebar, about me widget, and even within the posts, opting pages, etc.
Respond to every comment on your blog
Readers are human beings. They tend to value people who care them or help solve their problems. Readers comment your blog for appreciating your content or they may expect solutions to their problems, by you.
Replying to their comments won’t cost a thing. I know you are not that busy to at least reply to them in one line.
Your blog visitors when they notice that you value the comments of your regular readers, they trust you. You’ll be a caring human in their eyes.
On what blogs you are featured in
This is one of the overlooked strategy to gain trust.
You can create a widget of basic HTML on your sidebar or footer, displaying logos of the popular blogs and sites you are featured in - like guest posts, interviews, brand mentions and expert roundups. When visitors come to your site, chances are there that they are a loyal reader of one or more blogs that you were featured in. It will create an instant trust about you in their head.
This the way in which Adam Connell from Bloggingwizard displays his credibility.
The “featured in” widget displays how popular and trustworthy you are; in front of your readers.
Display testimonials
If you are providing any services on your blog such as freelancing, consultation or web design, it’s worthwhile to mention what your other clients say about your service. It acts as a social proof. When other visitors land on your service page, it kickstarts your credibility in their eyes.
The testimonials may become one of the strongest reasons for them to obtain service from you. Whenever you provide a service to your customers, do ask for a favor - testimonial.
Make it easy for people to know and reach you
The about page is the greatest trust-booster. On my blog, 13% of my pageviews are of "about me" page. My about page has the potential to increase my credibility among 13% of my blog visitors.
Read: How to Write Effective About Page to Showcase your Persona
Keep a dedicated "contact me" page for your blog. Not because Google suggests you to do so. It's because, when you make people reach to you easily, you make them trust you.
Don't be yet another blogger, who hides behind the curtains of his brand.
Pay attention to your blog design
Good blog design is one of the trust-boosting factors for your blog.
Having a premium theme installed on your site gives a professional look for your site. It also showcases your readers that you are serious about your online business.
Pay attention to subtle details on your blog, make sure you have a unique logo that reflects the personality of your blog.
Visitors come to your blog to read your content. You should make sure that the main content on your site is readable and your blog typography to good. Get rid of all the intrusive elements on your blog that vex your readers off.
Nurture your list with care
It’s hard to build a profitable list. It takes ages.
You know one thing?
It’s equally hard to maintain your list. A small little shoddy newsletter can turn your subscribers off forever.
Don’t always pitch for something in your newsletters. Follow the golden 80-20 rule. 80% of the emails you send to your subscribers should be informational and educate them (trust-boosting) , and only 20% should be promotional.
Communicate with your subscribers often, and ask them what they are struggling with periodically. Do reply them honestly with your solution (no matter how silly the question may be). Build that rapport. No human forgets any help you did to them.
Hit that sweet spot
What’s the biggest desire of a marketer? It’s knowing about the bring problems of audience in their niche. It’s about knowing the nature of their audience.
As a blogger and an internet marketer you need to know the areas in which your audience are struggling.
Here are some of the tips you to identify the problems your audience are facing in the niche.
- Ask them to share the problems they are facing via newsletters.
- Regularly browse niche forums, and follow with some interesting threads.
- Browse some of the niche mastermind Facebook groups, where group members actively participate with the posts.
- Dig Google Analytics data, and make a note of your blog posts that are getting good traffic than others. Those topics are helping people more.
Provide great content consistently
Consistency is the key here. If there are no regular content on your blog, it looks stale of your readers. When you publish regular content on your site, it acts as a trust factor, and you are actually committed to your online business.
Along with consistency, great content in important. Because, without it consistency has no life.
Here are some of the characteristics of a great content:
- Information backed up with proofs with source links. (trustworthy content)
- Content rich with images and illustrations. (reflects the effect you put creating the blog post.
- Your personal views and experiences.
- In-depth coverage about the topic you are blogging about.
Show numbers
Flaunting comment numbers, share count, subscriber count, etc. all acts as trust triggers for your readers.
Below is the screenshot from ShoutMeLoud, where there is a widget instantly hooking the readers by showcasing the popularity of the blog.
Again, these numeric figures act as social proofs.
Be honest
By being dishonest, you can deceive one or more people; not all.
While promoting any product to your prospect buyers, make sure that the product you are promoting helps your readers, and you’ve personally used the product.
Readers are not that dumb to just read your shallow product review and buy the product. The majority of the sales made by all the leading affiliate and digital marketers are gained through honesty; and nothing else.
Wear your opinion
When you are publishing as blog post about a topic, along with tips, don’t forget to share your opinion or view about that topic.
For example, if you are writing a product review, make sure to include how the product helped and why you would recommend your readers to opt for it.
If you are writing a post on - “What cups of coffee is OK for a day?”, then don’t forget to include what cups you are sipping up daily, and how are you feeling, like your views and experiences!
Tap subconscious minds of your readers
The advertisements of big brands are crafted to as to appeal most of the people's subconscious minds. That's one of the powerful reasons why you develop a brand loyalty for superficially no reason.
This can also be done in blogging. You know what? Some of the greatest marketers are already doing it to boost their credibility and you too may have did it; like accidentally.
Now let me tell you some ways in which you can build trust in your reader's' mind.
The above is an example from one of the Neil Patel's article. In the above sentence, within the article he mentioned that one of his blogs was featured in Technorati. You read it. But your subconscious mind added some credibility and trust to his persona.
Including some things or stuff that indirectly conveys your readers that you are trustworthy works great.
Similarly to how the evil entertainment industry changed the meaning of love in the last decade; but in a positive way.
I suggest you read about subconscious mind.
Exceed expectations
Let's take the e-commerce giant Amazon. Recall - "How many times Amazon have delivered you the product you ordered heck a lot earlier before the estimated date?". Many times right? Every time it exceeds your expectations, it boosts their brand loyalty.
Below is the quote of Larry Page, a co-founder of Google.
"Always deliver more than expected" - Larry Page
Almost all the big brands follow this rule, to delight its customers.
You too can implement the same in blogging and delight your readers. Here are some of the ways:
- Deliver massive value and educate your readers with your newsletters.
- Keep your content more detailed and reader-centric.
- Giving surprise bonuses for your readers along with your products or affiliate products, that are themselves worth equal to or more than the product.
- If you on a consulation session with your clients, delivering value to them with some extra minutes.
- Providing good freebies for your existing subscribers or clients periodically.
These are some of the things you need to pay attention to if you want to increase your trust and credibility with your readers as a blogger. Remember that losing trust takes a second. Whereas, gaining it takes ages. Before taking any decision in a hurry, think twice about the impact it could have on your creditability.
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