Having a professional, mobile-friendly website is a must for a small service-based business.
An easy-to-navigate, modern site helps your potential clients find you, confirm that you have the solution to their problem, and take action toward working with you.
Particularly when searching for a service provider, customers want to feel connected with the brand they choose. Your site needs to build trust so that web visitors feel confident inquiring about or purchasing one of your offers.
In this post, you’ll learn nine ways to establish trust with your audience on your website. Many of these ideas involve simple changes you can make immediately to maximize your site’s effectiveness.
1. Use Your Authentic Brand Voice
Skip the stale marketing jargon, and don’t rely on the output of AI to share your one-of-a-kind message on your site.
Site copy written in your true brand voice is a foundational trust-building strategy. Remember, the goal is for site visitors to move toward becoming clients. Eventually, they will interact with you outside of the confines of your website. Nothing shakes confidence more than feeling like the brand they met online differs from the one they encounter on an inquiry call or as a client.
When you speak your target audience's language in your brand voice, you invite visitors into a relationship grounded in authenticity. Remember, plenty of other service providers offer what you offer. When you do the work of establishing and committing to your brand messages and voice, you'll more easily attract the right people and repel the wrong ones!
2. Incorporate High-Quality Images
The images you use on your website help visitors form their first impressions of your brand. Professional, cohesive, high-quality images signal professionalism!
Avoid stock photography and invest in real images of your team, offices, and process when possible. This will not only build trust but also highlight your brand personality in ways that make you memorable.
Brand Photographer Lyndsay McNiff of Lyndsay Hannah Photography explains, “Stock photographs are created by photographers to fit the widest amount of scenarios possible…basically, making images as bland as possible so that they are purchased by a large number of people. This is the opposite of what you want to be the initial impression of your business! Hyper-personal, focused images that tell your specific brand story are what will captivate your audience and set you apart from the competition.”
3. Prioritize Site Security
Online security is a top concern for your website visitors. Ensure your website uses HTTPS to encrypt data to prevent eavesdropping and data manipulation. This measure is essential when customers can make purchases or deposits directly on your site. Most internet users know to look for the little padlock symbol in their browser's address bar to confirm that a site is secure.
Other security measures include updating your security certificate, maintaining plugins, and using CAPTCHAs on any form submissions. CAPTCHAs (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart") help prevent automated spam, including data scraping, on your site.
4. Include Your Location
Grounding your business in the real world matters—even if you serve clients virtually across a wide geographic region. There are, unfortunately, plenty of scams out there, and your location can reassure potential clients that your business is real.
Make the full address easy to find if you have a physical location. (Ex: 135 Main Street, Norton, MA 02712). If you serve clients at their homes or offices, your geographic service area clear. (Ex: Serving homeowners in the Greater Worcester area.) And, if you are a digital service provider, you can simply indicate where you are based to give people peace of mind (Ex: Based in Boston, MA, and serving clients nationwide.)
Here are three smart places to include that location or service area info:
Your Footer
Your Contact Page
Your About Page
As a bonus, including this info can help boost your local SEO, especially if you have a Google Business Listing and are tagging social media posts with your location.
5. Make It Simple to Contact You
Don't make your visitors hunt for contact information. Place your contact details prominently on your website, ideally in the footer of every page and on a dedicated contact page.
Offer multiple ways to get in touch—email, phone, contact form, and even a chat feature if possible. The more accessible you are, the more trustworthy you appear.
6. Be Transparent About Pricing and Process
People like to know what they are getting into. By clarifying pricing, you can help clients determine if your services are within their budget. If you are hesitant to list prices outright, even offering insights into your starting rate or the amount most clients invest can make visitors feel more confident reaching out.
Explaining your process to potential clients is also key. It demonstrates your professionalism and sets expectations for what clients can expect.
Distill your approach into simple terms and include it on your home page and your service or “work with me” pages. Make sure you highlight what you do that’s different from others in your industry, creating a signature framework for success when possible.
7. Leverage Social Proof
Humans are social beings, so it's not surprising that social proof can significantly impact purchasing decisions. In line with many similar findings, WikiJobs found that testimonials increased purchases by 34%.
Incorporate testimonials throughout your website, along with the names and smiling photos of the clients who provided them. Remember, each testimonial should have a specific purpose and should highlight aspects of your offer or process that will help visitors take the next step in reaching out. In this post, you can learn more about how to get the most out of happy clients' words.
Proof bars of featured client logos are another valuable form of social proof and work especially well toward the top of a homepage as an immediate legitimacy check for your business.
8. Highlight Awards, Affiliations, and Certifications
Do you or your business have awards, hold relevant certifications, or belong to professional organizations or industry associations? If so, displaying these prominently on your home page, about page, service page, or even your site footer is wise.
You can use icons, professional organization logos, or official badges from the award or certification-granting body. For instance, you might add the Better Business Bureau Accredited Business badge or use an icon to inculcate an AIGA graphic design award. According to a study by Actual Insights, 75% of respondents said that trust seals increased the perceived trustworthiness of a brand.
9. Keep Content and Copy Current
Be sure to update your website's content and copy regularly. Outdated information can make people wonder if you're still in business. It can also raise doubts about your organization and professionalism.
Set a regular reminder in your calendar, at least once a quarter, to review your site to ensure that current offers are reflected and that your team bios are up to date.
Beyond that, make it a priority to publish blog content on a regular schedule and to update any event call-outs or news items. Fresh, relevant content also improves your search engine rankings and engages visitors.
Is your site feeling safer already?
Remember, building trust is an ongoing process. Your website is a dynamic tool that evolves with your business. By consistently incorporating these ten elements into your website strategy, you'll build trust and strengthen your online presence, connect with your target audience, and, ultimately, attract more dream clients.
If you have questions or need help getting more from your website, you don’t have to go it alone. I love helping service-based small businesses reach their next level of growth with the help of strategic website copy. Reach out anytime to get more information!