Use Testimonials Effectively

Testimonials are an excellent choice for small-site
builders stumped for content to put on their site.
They’re short (or should be short) and an easy read–
the perfect bite-size bit of text to put on your page.
Testimonials also help connect your site and your
business to visitors by helping them vicariously
experience the satisfaction they will get from working
with you. They’re a great way to present an authentic
case for why someone should do business with you.

by Doug Addison

Testimonials are like guilt-free gossip. People love to
read what other people say. And as a business owner,
soliciting testimonials offers the added benefit of
helping you stay in touch with loyal customers. You
don’t even need to ask for a formal testimonial. If a
customer e-mails you a thank you such as, "As always,
we are enjoying working with you. Your service is
great!" ask for permission to reword it in the
third-person and post it on your site: "We always enjoy
working with the folks at Acme Welding. Their service
is great!"

Performers, authors and restaurants should always
consider using excerpts from favorable reviews on their
sites. Testimonials or product reviews also make a
great addition to sites that sell or promote an unusual
service or unfamiliar product.

It’s always legal to link to a newspaper or magazine
review from your site, but seek the publisher’s permission
before posting an excerpt from the review. As a courtesy,
you should always get an individual’s consent before
quoting them on your site.

Here are some other tips to follow when adding
testimonials or reviews to your site:

*Use italics, quotation marks, a box or colored
background to indicate that the testimonial is not
ordinary text–it’s something special that must be
read.

*Set off the name of the person who gave the
testimonial with boldface or a slightly larger font
size. Link to their company Web site. Giving special
treatment to the attribution signals to visitors that
the text is interesting and important and lets them
scan the names to see if they know or have heard of
any of them.

*As with everything else on a small site, less is more.
Three to five testimonials–especially on your home
page–are plenty. If you have more than that, offer a
link to a subpage with the full list or categorize the
testimonials based on the services or products they
pertain to. Also, consider using some kind of
JavaScript script to rotate a variety of testimonials
on your page.

To read this and other related articles online, visit:
http://www.NFIB.com/object/IO_20732.html