This guest post is by Darren of Findermind.com
Isn't the best way to impress readers by providing great content? My answer would be yes, because most people come to your site for your content.
There are, however, some things you can do to impress and build credibility among your (first-time) readers even before they start to read what you have to say. How? Let me explain.
Provide quantitative instead of qualitative statements
People are not stupid. Messages like "we are the best blog providing blogging tips" won't work. Your visitors are skeptical. They want evidence to show you’re the best blog for blogging tips. That's why it's important to provide quantitative instead of qualitative statements. Here are some examples of quantitative statements:
- 116 new subscribers daily
- over 56 new twitter followers every day
- join over 170, 000 subscribers (this example’s from ProBlogger!).
In conversion rate optimization, using statements such as these is considered a best practice. Why? Because it consistently produces higher conversion rates.
There is, however, one good way to provide believable qualitative statements…
Let somebody else do the bragging for you
This concept is used a lot around products releases, where it’s known as “providing testimonials." But, of course, you can use the same concept for your own website? If, for example, Darren mentioned something nice about your blog, why not showcase it to your readers? An example might be:
"Absolutely the most useful blog on WordPress Tips"—Darren Rowse, ProBlogger.com
As you can notice, this is a qualitative statement (without any specific evidence). People won't believe you if you brag about yourself. "We're the best, the greatest, the cheapest…" Sorry, that doesn't work. Do you believe it when the author of a specific...
