Have you visited Amazon.com or Comcast.com lately?   What was the first thing you thought when you landed on the site?  Most likely, it was something like:  “Terrific, now that I’m here, lets get to what I need.” 

Now, try to remember a site you have been on that wasn’t as effective.  It might have looked like all the other cheesy sites out there, or just seemed to be done on the cheap.  I suspect that what came to mind when you saw that web site wasn’t “what can you sell me?”, but rather “is this a real company?”

Trust is the key to having an effective web site on the Internet. This is a critical fact for authors and speakers, who are basically selling their personalities, to understand.   A visitor to your site will click away and won’t return at any time they have reason to doubt your integrity.  I would like to point out a few of the essential ingredients to forging that belief and developing an effective web site.

Number one is to make sure that your web site clearly identifies you as a real person.  Visitors to your web site must know from the first moment they arrive how you stand out from all the others out there.  There are a number of ways you can meet this objective.  You should make sure your text is well written and speaks to your visitor, and you can get unusual graphics to enhance that message.  The core component is to never lose site of how you want to present yourself to your visitors. 

Second, your web site must immediately show people that you have a proven track record in your industry.  Testimonials and effective copy writing are two ways to achieve this.  Don’t hide your victories deep in your website, make sure they are well displayed on every page for your site visitors to view. 

Lastly, you must convey through your web site that you can resolve your customer’s troubles.  Site visitors have plenty to do and would be thrilled if you could offer them a solution to their problem and they could stop hunting for one.  Your effective, believable website is your advertisement to make that happen.

Be sure to stop by ProfessionalSpeakerPromotionOnline.com to find many other resources for successfully promoting your professional speaking career online.