Trust is the single most important aspect that can make your business mediocre or wildly successful. There is a difference between 1000 customers buying your product and never thinking of your company again and 1000 customers who buy your product and each of them becomes a personal brand ambassador to your company and products. This is where successful business are very good – they know very well on how to market trust among customers. Marketing trust is the first aspect that a business should focus on, before even thinking about marketing their products/services.

Why should a business market trust among customers?

One should understand the gap between rampantly marketing products versus initially marketing trust to build trust among potential customers. For your easy understanding, let me break it into two points why it is necessary to build trust among customers:

1) The number one reason to build trust is because you will gain a loyal fan base. These brand ambassadors are going to Like you on Facebook, Tweet about you on Twitter. There is no marketing like “word-of-mouth” from your customers. If one customer says to another customer that your brand is good, it makes it much more trustworthy than a company that simply states that is trustworthy. Invest your time and money to generate trust among existing as well as potential customers. Your returns will far exceed what you give.

2) Secondly, trust is what increases the probability of visitors returning to your business for the product or service. Loyalty is a by product of trust that you generate. People will find it hard to return back to your brand if they lack faith in you.

3) Lastly, it makes the price more tolerable for customers. Trust in a brand or business build affinity. It is what makes customers not mind the extra $100 or $1000 in the price tag compared to other products/services in the same segment.

Now that we have a good understanding of why it is important to build trust by marketing it to our customers, we will learn how a business can market trust.

How can a business build trust?

With the advent of internet, building trust for businesses has become more simplified and it can be explained in more quantified ways.

Regular PR Releases: PR releases are a great way to keep the momentum alive and keep reminding people that your company is still doing great business and is making developments. In fact, continual existence and consistent growth are good base for trust. This is what regular press releases achieve. One PR release a month will more than suffice.

Build Blogger Relations: Bloggers are the new face of journalism. They have a powerful way to reach out to a wide audience and further viral your brand. And being mentioned by authoritative bloggers is one of the best ways that a company can work to build trust in their brands. It would be a good idea to pay the bloggers in return for what they do. Because when they write an article that details you, there are multiple benefits that you get. Also, it will help in better building relationships with bloggers – so that you can deal with them in future instances as well.

Social Media Development: Make use of all social media channels to properly build trust. The best way is to have a face to all your social media campaigns – it really helps rather than simply having someone do everything under the aegis of the company name. Work on finding someone who can efficiently be the face of your trust marketing campaign. It is very difficult to think about building trust on a social media platform without a face. You can leverage social media to retweet positive client feedbacks, address queries and questions from the community etc. It will go a long way to building a trustworthy reputation for your business.

You might also find this an interesting read: How To Win The Trust Of Your Customers for an Internet Business?

Let me know your ways to build trust with customers!

In 2011 we will be seeing so many more cool, young startups kick start their operations. And of course most startups need a place to operate from. Starting up is never easy so it is important to keep costs low. Like many entrepreneurs, we aim high, we over dream and under calculate our expenses. An office is something that can suck your bank dry. And if you end up going after the fancy business address rather than bootstrapping then it can play havoc with your capital. Most successful companies have bootstrapped themselves with the office while starting up. For example, Microsoft was started in a basement and Google out of a garage.

Here are 3 tips for startups on how to locate the first office:

Home Office

Operating from an office in your home is the most cheapest and affordable way to start up. You can turn your garage, basement or for that matter your own room into a full-fledged office.The concept is to basically upgrade your home and find a part in it with dedicated space for business.

There are a few drawbacks of course, such as, it can get very difficult to manage when there are more than 3 people or so on your team. And of course, your business address might not be very impressive. But these are drawbacks you need to bear for staying frugal.

Shared Office

Another great option that is available for startups is sharing office space with another company or startup. You are not the only startup which is looking for a cheap office solution. But lots of entrepreneurs do not understand where to find people to share their office space with. A good idea is to put it on CraigsList.

Office Lease

Leasing the office space is actually a decision you need to make when you know that  all other conservative options are not employable by you. Then again, leasing an office space need not mean it has to be expensive. There are many properties out their which you can get for great value for money. You can forego somethings such as small bathroom(s), balconie(s) etc. and get a good bargain.  Also, it is noticed that many leased places already have telephone/internet connection.

A final note…

To me personally, if you are selling a product or service all you require is a desk, chair, telephone and a computer with internet connectivity. But it depends on the type of startup.

Another thing is, unless you have a very rich father who likes to watch his money drain try not to want a super sexy and sleek office that costs a bomb to renovate and setup. A startup is supposed to be lean and effecient at the same time. Saving money by locating your first office smartly is a great way to remain lean.

Inside every person sleeps an extremely creative, innovative and powerful entrepreneur. This entrepreneur within you is capable of giving you all the riches in the world. But you will see that in real life, only a small percentage of people actually tap into the entrepreneur within them. The rest of them get by in life, not even realizing that there is a money-making giant within them.

This fact brings us to face the obvious question on – How To Discover Your Entrepreneurial Strengths?

There are a few ways as effective to find your entrepreneurial strengths, than doing a honest self-analysis.

Tip #1: What Can You Give?

The self-analysis you do must be a frank picture of your strengths, intrests and weaknesses. Your entrepreneurial strengths will largely depend on the areas of your interest. Also, inside each person God instills a sense of purpose. Can you hear the voice within your head that says what you want to give to life.

As Napoleon Hill says in his legendary book – Think And Grow Rich,

“Today Success Is Not Achieved By Go-Getters, it is by Go-Givers“

This is a very true statement. Entrepreneurs today are rewarded by what they can do for the society and what can they give. Generally, those who are good at providing benefit to the society will always be successful. You want some examples? Well, lets take Peter Thiel (he is a billionaire – one of the richest internet entrepreneurs), he is the founder of Paypal. He gave the internet one of the most indispensible tools today- secure internet transactions made possible through Paypal. Because of Paypal millions of merchants and bloggers like you and me will recieve and send money with so much ease.

Tip #2: Listen To Entrepreneurs

You will never hear the entrepreneur within you banging at the door to let it out, unless you give it a chance to be heard. Being associated with other entrepreneurs and hearing to their plans will be able to bring out the entrepreneur within you.

It is always a great way to find your entrepreneurial strengths by searching for stories of normal people who are making a lot of money by simply doing what they love. Because these normal people are called entrepreneurs. Some are successful entrepreneurs on the internet – making money from writing what they love while others may be making money by motivating other people.

It is indeed up to you to leverage what you love and make an entrepreneurial venture with it.

Tip #3: Aim Above Being Normal (mediocrity in life)

No person can discover his entrepreneurial strengths until he aims above mediocrity or living a normal life. If you are someone who is too scared to step out of your comfort zone then there is a very rare chance that you will be able to discover the entrepreneur within you.

It is true that sometimes you need circumstances that force the entrepreneur out of you, so unless you are ready to take a jump and dream big, there is a difficult chance of you being able to discover your entrepreneurial strengths.

Your discovery of the entrepreneurial strengths within you could be the ultimate key to unlock the riches which life has in store for you – and I don’t mean riches only in wealth.

Hope you enjoyed this article.

Most bloggers want to make their WordPress blog “DoFollow” but unfortunately, many are clueless on how it is made possible. Of course, you can directly customize the code to make your blog “DoFollow” but it is not at all recommended as it is risky and you may damage your template code.

However, the easiest way to make your WordPress blog a DoFollow blog is by downloading and installing a plugin. You can download the plugin here or you can search for “DoFollow” in your WordPress dashboard – the plugin is created by Semiologic.

DoFollow blogs are in great demand on the internet and there are many bloggers who release a list of “DoFollow” blogs. The main reason why there is such a great demand for “DoFollow” is that Search Engine spiders then consider your commenters link as a backlink to them. And of course, then it becomes obvious that commenting on DoFollow blogs is the easiest way to generate valuable backlinks back to a site.

The “nofollow” attribute was introduced in 2005, in an effort to discourage comment spam. But one of the biggest disadvantage of a “NoFollow”attribute is that your interlinking between posts may also turn out to be “NoFollow” – which means spiders do not crawl it.

Make your WordPress blog “DoFollow”, as in my personal opinion, it is useless to have a “nofollow” blog as it does not make any difference to you and you stand nothing to gain from it. Whereas, if your blog is “DoFollow” then you can be assured that soon you will be able to create a loyal reades base who will comment on your blog posts passionately.

How to Comment on Other blogs?

We all know that commenting on other blogs is a great way to provide exposure to your blog. It is also a way that you can make other bloggers aware that you exist in this almost infinite blogosphere. Like many bloggers who have started up will tell you – commenting on other blogs will also help you generate some residual traffic.

Another major advantage of commenting is the back links which you can earn. It is especially beneficial if you comment in a DoFollow blog. CollegeFallOut is DoFollow blog.

But there are also certain things you must keep in mind while you comment on other blogs. Here are a few tips on how to comment on other blogs:

Positive: Always comment on other blogs with a positive attitude. There is absolutely no need for you to be very high on attitude when you comment. Be gracious while you comment. It is okay to get your point across, but, do it in a very positive such that the author is not repelled.

“Nice Article“: It is perfectly fine if you just want to leave a comment such as “Nice Article”. You need not forcibly add extra thoughts which you do not have to an article. Remember that if you end up commenting something really silly then it is your image which is at stake. It can really hurt your credibility.

Try and Add Value: One of the biggest favor which you can do for a blogger is to start a good conversation in his article. When you make a comment let it add value to the post. Make it thought-provoking and related to the article that is written.

When You Ask a Question!: It is also a great idea to ask a question to an article you read. It is indeed a nice way to let the author explain and  show his real depth of knowledge. Also, you help in improving interactivity at his blog.

The bottomline is that whenever you comment, be cordial and always try to promote interaction to the article which you have read.

There are many key points that a successful blogger employs when he frames a title for his post. For he knows that no matter how exquisite his post may be or how life-altering it may be for the reader, a poor title will ensure only one thing – that his post remains unread.

Simplicity: This is one of the key points of any successful post. Suppose if this post which you are reading was kept the following title – “Secrets of Optimality Conditions for a Blog Article under the Title”. Obviously, you would be totally put off. A simple title will also help you in search engines. If you keep your title under 40-words then you ensure that the whole title appears when it turns up in the search engine results.

Magnetism: The title should be so magnetic that it forces a reader to click on the title to read what it is all about. This can be done by some controversial topic, a shocking claim or humor.  These things add to the magnetism of a title.

Satisfy a Need: The most successful posts on Digg and other book marking sites are “How to” posts. These posts meet a need of a reader. Tutorial posts teach a person something new which they can apply. So invariably, most bloggers will find the topic quite attractive.A title which suggests that it will  help in solving some of the readers problems are quite popular.

Describe: Don’t try to be extra smart and create an element of suspense in your post by not letting your readers what it is about. Most will end up ignoring it. Best title is one which informs the reader what they will get out of it when they read it.

Key Word: Be sure not to forget including a key word into your title. Your title is SEO gold. So if you do not enter any key word in post then you will find that your post will fail to be optimally placed in search engine results.

The final tip is to tell you that take your time when you keep a title. First impression is the last impression. Most readers unfortunately judge a book by its cover, so make sure that your title is attractive for a readers. This will also help in enhancing his reading experience.