Decided to build a website for your recruitment agency but don’t know where to start?

Trust is a very important factor for a visitor looking at your website – if you’re wary of the website you’re looking at, why would you want to continue to use it?

If you’re worried that your website is losing customers or clients, then you’ll want to build a website with Chameleon-i. We offer affordable options that you’ll love.

Before we show you how to gain trust from your visitors, here’s a little stat for you:

You have just 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression with your web page.

Not much is it?

There are 7 expert ways to create a trustworthy website for your organisation.

  • Copy
  • Helpfulness
  • ‘Real’ images
  • Social proof
  • Logos + awards
  • Availability
  • Testimonials + reviews

1. Write clear website copy to outline what you have to offer

Clear, easy-to-read copy will help visitors to understand everything about your business.

They also need to know how to locate important information. If you can, test out your website and see if people find it easy to navigate, as well as find everything they need.

There are many ways to test whether someone understands your website. You can watch them find their way around or set them simple tasks. There are also online testing sites that will help you to get feedback on the website you’ve created.

2. Be helpful by creating useful content

Be helpful and create useful content that will interest your visitors. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are my visitors interested in?
  • What do my visitors want to understand?
  • How do I want to portray my business?

Consider writing long and well-written guides about your industry will help to firmly place you as an expert, and as an organisation to trust.

Another great tip when writing is to create ‘Evergreen’ content. These are the stories that will always be of interest to your readers, whatever time of year it is.

‘Evergreen’ content won’t grow stale with time and will continue to be valuable to your website. Try thinking of pieces such as beginner guides, answering questions, case studies and lists.

Google Analytics can help to shed light on the type of content your users already love, so take a look today.

3. Use ‘real’ images to portray your recruitment business

Genuine images can help to set you apart from other websites. Show off pictures of your actual office, real staff members and even that office dog that comes in every Thursday.

Most people have a high-quality camera on their mobile phone these days, so take advantage of this and get snapping away.

There’s no need to get the Digital SLR out – if it’s a little rough around the edges that will only help your image to have that human edge.

Authenticity in your photos will show an authenticity to your brand. People like people and humanising your brand with real-life staff photos are far more interesting than a stock photo.

Think about the story you want to tell, and if you’re a small business, why not brainstorm with all members of staff? They might have some fantastic and unique photo ideas.

4. Use social proof on your website to highlight your influence

Trust is important, and there’s nothing like social proof to help boost your reputation.

There are five different types of social proof to consider, as shown in Social Proof Is The New Marketing on Tech Crunch:

  1. Expert – approval from a credible expert
  2. Celebrity– approval from (you guessed it) a celebrity
  3. User– user reviews or testimonials, user-generated videos
  4. Wisdom of the crowds – visitor numbers, customers
  5. Wisdom of your friends – friend referrals, recommendations, testimonials

It’s important to consider what types of social proof are suitable for your business.

Do you have testimonials on your website? Add real photos to show that there are genuine faces behind those comments. If you’ve got lots, then show off the number of Twitter or Facebook fans you have.

Do you have many subscribers to your newsletter? Add this to your sign-up page. Fill potential subscribers with confidence that they’re doing the right thing by joining your mailing list – look thousands of people have done it already so it must be good!

Do you know an industry expert? Ask them for a quote about how they love your organisation and everything you have to offer.

Twitter can be extremely useful when it comes to discovering experts in your field, so get searching.

Why not try out a referral scheme? This is a great way to get your visitors marketing for you.

There are lots of ways to use social proof, it’s all about finding the right path for you.

5. Display logos + recruitment awards on your homepage to show off

Logos can be useful, especially if you’ve won awards, worked with big-name clients, or were featured in local or top tier press.

Visitors should be able to recognise very quickly the brands you’ve displayed, so make sure you include well-known logos, or at least logos that are recognisable in your industry.

Remember not to be misleading when using logos. Use phrases such as ‘Seen in’ or ‘In the press’ to be clear.

If you have won awards or have accreditations or partnerships you want to shout about then display these on your websites too.

6. Make it easy to contact you

Ensure that the customer or visitor can contact you with ease. Make yourself available through contact forms, live chat and display such as your phone number or address.

If they should have any problems or any questions, it means they’ll be able to get in touch with you quickly, rather than hitting the back button and heading to another website.

7. Include testimonials + reviews

Testimonials are personal accounts written by customers and clients. Reviews are a critical analysis of a product or service and should remain impartial.

Dedicate some time to get some wonderfully written testimonials about your organisation. These should answer any doubts that people may have, and they should boast about what a great service you provide.

Consider uploading real video reviews to help humanise your service or try gaining recommendations through dedicated review websites.

 

I hope you’ve learnt new ways to create a trustworthy website from this article. If you have any questions or would like to hear more about the affordable websites we can build your agency, please contact us.