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If you knock on someone’s door to sell a vacuum cleaner, the homeowner may not believe your claims about the item, because you have a conflict of interest. You stand to profit if you can persuade the homeowner to make a purchase. But if the same homeowner is told by a neighbor, “The Acme Company makes great vacuum cleaners,” and the neighbor has no conflict of interest, the homeowner is more likely to believe the neighbor and buy the product.

It’s a basic truth of doing business. Client testimonials are honest recommendations of a service or a product by clients who use the service or product in real life and profit nothing by endorsing it. It is not your fault, but your clients are always going to be more convincing than you are.

And if you are treating those clients right, they can provide powerful testimonials that you can use effectively on your website. Of course, some testimonials will be more effective than others. The best testimonials are personal, clear, and motivational.

In fact, good testimonials can boost the traffic to your website and bring in new clients. Today’s consumers – as you know – have their defenses up against marketing exaggerations, gimmicks, and insincerities. Any claims you make will be thoroughly scrutinized. Online marketing can help you level the playing field, because online marketing is entirely about building relationships and establishing trust. And a genuinely effective way to gain the trust of prospective clients is to share the stories of your satisfied clients.

It doesn’t matter how inspiring your own words are or how effectively you market your product or service. Testimonials tell your website visitors that the general public appreciates your product or service, and testimonials further tell visitors that clients who choose to trust you are not disappointed.

Testimonials establish credibility, so don’t waste space on your web page with vague or half-hearted testimonials. When you create a testimonials page on your website, only the strongest and most powerful testimonials should be posted there. How can you make a page of testimonials strong and powerful?

Here are some tips:

1. USE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS TO INCREASE TRUST

If you are an adult in the United States, you have been genuinely disappointed with a product or service that you’ve paid for, and probably more than once. Bogus promises, misleading ads, and disappearing acts by companies are all routine aspects of consumerism in the U.S. today. And when a service or product disappoints, you actually lose more than you paid for it, because you’ve lost the time and effort that you’ve invested.

Seeing a good report from another client – especially if it’s someone a website visitor can relate to – goes a long way toward assuaging the natural suspicions and anxieties of potential clients. And seeing a picture of the client who is making that good report helps to alleviate any suspicion that the testimonial is a fiction written by a marketing writer.

The psychology researchers tell us that photos make a statement more believable to the average consumer. Photos make testimonials “feel” more reliable. Video testimonials enhance that feeling even more. Researchers tell us that seeing faces increases our empathy, even if we don’t know the people in the pictures.

Obviously, you want to feature satisfied clients that potential clients will relate to. But don’t let a testimonial be “too” perfect. If your “satisfied client” is too polished, in looks or in words, your potential client may sense premeditation or artificiality. Your satisfied clients should appear to be casual and speaking more-or-less “off the cuff” rather than appearing to use a script prepared in advance.

2. TELL STORIES – DON’T STRING TOGETHER ADJECTIVES

Let’s say that you are looking online for a battery-powered screwdriver. You check the reviews and find posts that say, “Great product” or “Exceptional value.” You learn nothing from these reviews. But if a customer actually tells you about the product this way, “I needed this item to accomplish this specific job, and after disappointments with similar items, this is the one that did the trick,” you are probably going to be more impressed. When you seek client testimonials, encourage clients to tell their stories – which will be more than a string of adjectives.

Good stories slip into our subconscious and persuade people when they don’t expect it. Psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris tell us that’s how we’re wired. Our ancestors, according to Simons and Chabris, “learned from specific examples, not by compiling data from many people across a wide range of situations.” Today’s consumer may be an expert on marketing gimmicks, but everyone is wired to be pulled in by a good story.

3. SELL “THE FEELING”

The automobile commercials you see on television seldom sell you the automobile directly. Instead, they sell the experience, the sensation of what it feels like to own and drive the car. Testimonials help you do something comparable. When your website features someone who is easy to relate to, you’re selling more than your product or service. You are selling what it “feels like” to be your client, and when visitors to your website see satisfied clients, they will want that satisfaction for themselves.

It’s not a marketing rule or regulation, but you really must have pictures, and preferably videos, of the ex-clients who are offering the testimonials. Text-only testimonials are just too easy for someone to counterfeit and are as likely to create skepticism as trust. Video testimonials, however, are difficult to counterfeit, and it would not be worth the effort. When your website’s visitors see real people – people not unlike their neighbors and themselves – it eliminates the skepticism for most consumers.

A professional internet marketing agency can help you produce video testimonials and design a testimonials page or a complete website – along with a variety of other important online marketing services. It’s considerably less expensive than you might think. For far too many attorneys and other professionals, a good testimonials page is the single element missing from the website – and the element that might make all the difference. Don’t wait or hesitate to speak with experienced professionals at a good internet marketing agency for help with testimonials or with any other facet of effective online marketing.

Marketing has a single goal. It’s designed to make consumers become customers and clients. Whether a consumer makes a purchase immediately upon seeing an ad, or the consumer acts later in response to a sustained marketing effort, the marketing “works” when and if consumers act on it. When it comes to attorneys and law firms, a lawyer’s first concern is attracting potential clients to your website.

When a visitor lands on your website, it needs to be attractive and user-friendly. You want visitors to stay on your site, read about your legal work, and eventually contact you about becoming a client. The median conversion rate for attorney websites is 2.07 percent. Even the highest-performing law firms barely exceed a 6 percent conversion rate. The reality is that even the best-performing legal websites fail to convert 94 percent of their visitors.

However, you don’t have to let that be a disheartening statistic. Even when a visitor to your website fails to convert on the first visit, that person may still be a worthwhile lead. Remaining visible to potential clients and bringing them back to your site – several times if necessary – is an important marketing tactic that’s now being called “remarketing.” Remarketing is the precise targeting of ads and other marketing content to persons who have already visited your website at least once. Remarketing lets you offer specific ads to specific audience segments based on the actions those visitors took or did not take when they visited your website.

HOW DOES REMARKETING WORK?

Remarketing relies on “cookies,” that are sent to and stored on the visitor’s browser. When someone visits a certain page or clicks a certain link, that action places a cookie in the visitor’s browser. The cookie ID – representing that individual visitor – is then added to your list of prospects for remarketing. Thus, the prospect will keep seeing your ads on websites throughout Google’s Display Network. Display ads are the visual advertisements that you’ve seen on advertising-supported websites all over the internet. Google says that its Display Network reaches over 90 percent of global internet users across two million websites.

Obviously, people will arrive at and then leave your website without converting for a number of reasons. They may simply be in “shopping mode,” doing research. Or they may be interrupted by one of the infinite number of distractions that we all experience online. In this age of information overload, it’s not easy to keep a website visitor’s attention. What you can do, however, is find ways to encourage those who’ve already indicated an interest in your services.

The consumers who come back to your website two or more times are considerably more apt to convert than a first-time visitor. Don’t be concerned that remarketing makes people feel like you’re following them around the internet and showing them the same ad repeatedly. A study conducted by Wordstream tells us that web users who have seen an ad six times are twice as likely to convert as the consumers who have only seen it once.

Remarketing also lets you offer precise and relevant advertising to those who’ve seen your ads previously. For instance, if someone visited your adoption services page, you can offer ads encouraging or providing more information about adoption. You can offer one ad to mobile users and another to desktop visitors. You can offer different content to visitors who downloaded your ebook. Your marketing – and remarketing – possibilities are virtually endless.

When you are remarketing, you are not charged simply because people see your ad – they see it for free. Remarketing works on a pay-per-click basis, so a fee only applies when someone clicks on your ad. You can cap click charges and block your ads from particular websites. You can decide how long a cookie ID should stay on a remarketing list, and you can also deal with “ad fatigue” by offering different ads to consumers who’ve already seen the first ad.

WHAT CHALLENGES ARE UNIQUE TO ATTORNEYS WHO REMARKET?

Google’s remarketing guidelines now prevent online marketers from using “any sensitive information about your site or app visitors” when compiling lists of prospects for remarketing efforts. “Sensitive information” is defined by Google as any allegation of a crime, any personal financial or medical information, and any information relating to a visitor’s marital status or divorce.

Google’s remarketing rules were established in response to a Canadian user who had visited sites related to sleep apnea and was then targeted with ads for sleep apnea products. The man filed a complaint with Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which agreed that Google had violated Canada’s privacy laws because a user’s sensitive, personal health information was used for a marketing purpose. Thus, according to Google’s revised guidelines, if someone visits your DUI website, you cannot remarket that visitor with an ad that says “Suspected of DUI? Call a lawyer!” Attorneys, therefore, must watch the precise language they use when remarketing.

HOW CAN YOU START A REMARKETING CAMPAIGN?

The easiest way to start your remarketing campaign is by trusting an experienced internet marketing agency to handle the work on your behalf. Remarketing campaigns are based on the parameters you set in Google AdWords or Bing Ads. To set those parameters, you’ll first need to determine who should see your ads. Do you want to target everyone who visits your website? Should you create specific ads based on the pages of your site that are visited most frequently? How many different ads should you place? How many different prospect groups should you target?

You’ll probably want to start small, testing ads and prospect lists as you go. Begin with one or two prospect lists. Try out different ads and ad language. Be as frank and as candid as possible while remaining within Google’s guidelines. A personal injury attorney should probably say something like, “If you are in an accident” rather than “Have you been injured?” The first statement implies no prior personal knowledge about the prospect, while the question “have you been injured?” could conceivably imply prior knowledge that the prospect was involved in an accident.

A remarketing campaign takes a bit of technical work. You have to compile one or more remarketing lists, generate a code, and place the code on the web pages of your choice. Your IT team or your internet marketing agency can help. Remember, 94 percent – and probably more – of those who visit your website leave without taking any action. Remarketing lets you pursue those valuable leads and gives you important additional opportunities to convert them.

Corporate online content marketing is increasingly a cross-departmental effort, according to the results of a new survey of more than five hundred European and North American marketing strategists conducted by the Altimeter Group. That conclusion is based on the rising levels of corporate investment in online marketing technology and paid content promotion. Involving more departments – the entire corporation – in adhering to a unified, central marketing content strategy is now a priority according to seven out of ten respondents to the survey.

In fact, more than four out of ten respondents – 41 percent – reported that their company already operates with a unified content strategy that applies to the entire organization, and 47 percent of respondents said their company “somewhat” has a unified content strategy. Still, seven out of ten replied that they intend to increase the resources and time devoted to making their online marketing fully cross-departmental in 2017.

Survey respondents were also queried regarding how they produce branded online marketing content, and 47 percent said its production is centralized – that content is produced and managed exclusively by a dedicated, centralized online marketing team. Those who answered that their online marketing content production is “decentralized” accounted for fewer than a third – 32 percent – of the survey respondents.

One effect of full cross-departmental participation is that content is now used for more than purely marketing purposes. When the whole company works together to create content, content begins to include sales information, customer service information, and even material on human resources and research and development. More than 40 percent of the respondents to the Altimeter Group survey reported that while their online marketing is centrally managed, a number of departments cooperate to create their company’s online marketing content.

Nevertheless, cross-departmental cooperation regarding content creation sometimes faces obstacles. When asked what is the toughest challenge when developing and implementing their company’s online marketing strategy, 55 of the survey respondents said that lining up all of the company’s departments around a single strategy is the top challenge. Respondents additionally said that accessing the relevant customer data and proving the business value of content items were also top challenges.

WHAT ABOUT PAID ONLINE ADVERTISING IN 2017?

Most Altimeter Group survey respondents – 55 percent – also said that their company will spend more on content distribution and paid online advertising in 2017. Facebook, with 1.79 billion active monthly users as of the third quarter of 2016, was singled out for particular attention. Facebook is the digital platform that corporate marketing strategists believe gives them the most engagement with consumers, so increased spending on content amplification through Facebook is a predictable move.

“Native” advertising, that is, advertising that “matches” the form and function of the platform upon which it appears, is increasingly considered one of the most effective ways to engage consumers. The professionals at an experienced internet marketing agency can help any online marketer create effective native advertising. The Altimeter Group’s researchers conclude that “although a native ad could technically be in any format… this finding shows just how important it is to support brand-produced content with ad dollars.”

WHAT ABOUT MOBILE DEVICES IN 2017?

According to Isaac Hammelburger, Senior SEM Strategist at Webbmason.com, “Going into 2017, the biggest trend is mobile optimized content. With Google announcing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP” as well as their new mobile index, content marketers have been working on creating content that would be better served on mobile as opposed to desktop. That means shorter and more to the point articles and fewer pop-ups. Long form articles may work well on a desktop, but mobile users don’t have time to read a 3000-word article. Short and sweet with crush it in 2017.”

Eric Brantner, the founder of Scribblrs.com, agrees that mobile optimized content will continue as an important trend, but he warns that, “Marketers are going to have to rethink design and organization of AMP pages to allow them to convert as well as the original pages did. And that won’t be easy.”

Sean Martin, the Content Marketing Manager at Directive Consulting, says, “The major content marketing trends I see coming up in 2017 are all related to the technological developments of mobile search.” Martin also warns, “Content Marketers and SEO experts alike both need to be focusing on how to target the syntax of mobile users and how to rank for natural language instead of keywords. Otherwise, they will find that their content pages will end up collecting dust on what users will one day call the old internet prior to the mobile-friendly interactive web of today.”

Beth Shockley, the Director of Marketing for Topspotims.com, explains, “Google will be primarily using content on mobile websites to determine rankings in search engine results. Many website owners will need to adapt to the shift in user behavior and Google’s index in 2017 to remain competitive in their industry.” Ms. Shockley adds, “Quality of content and its usefulness to users’ queries will be more important than ever before.’

WHAT ABOUT ONLINE VIDEO MARKETING IN 2017?

Only 53 percent of the survey’s respondents are planning to boost the time and money they devote to video in 2017. In fact, one out of five plan to spend less time and money on online marketing videos. It’s a surprising finding, given that “more video” has been one of the more predictable online marketing “predictions for next year” for a number of years now. In fact, video ranked at the bottom of the survey’s list of the list of the most “engaging” digital content formats.

The Altimeter Group’s researchers explain that many respondents believe video has underperformed. Video can be produced cheaply, but the high-quality video that most corporate marketing demands is costly when compared to other content formats. Still, nearly half of the marketing strategists surveyed intend to hire video production and talent in 2017, although hiring content writers, graphic designers, and data analysts will be a higher priority.

Elizabeth Giorgi, the CEO and Director of Mighteor.com, an internet video production company, says videos will be shorter: “While YouTube tutorials for makeup and fitness were once the dominator in the ‘How To’ category, we think the new trends will be towards one-minute tips – like a single fitness move or a single makeup technique – shared in daily or weekly series on platforms like Instagram.” She adds, “Young people will look for tools to tell micro stories, especially those audiences that really latched onto the platform who are now without a home for their six-second comedy favorites.”

However, Steven Macdonald, Digital Marketing Manager at SuperOffice.com, believes that, “By 2019, 80% of all content consumed online will be through video, and therefore the best marketing experts will aim to get a jump on the competition by shifting almost all of their content production from text to video. At SuperOffice, we’ve grown our blog from 0 to 80K readers per month, but the fastest growth we’ve seen comes from our YouTube channel, which has generated 130,000 views in the last 18 months.”

HOW WILL CUSTOMER DATA BE GATHERED AND UTILIZED IN 2017?

Some type of customer data is used to create online content by 99 percent of the respondents, although precisely how and how much customer data informs content varies widely. More than half of the survey respondents – 53 percent – intend to increase spending on obtaining customer data in 2017. However, fewer than 40 percent of the survey’s respondents said their company creates online marketing content based on customer information compiled cross-departmentally.

Social media metrics and website analytics are the most frequently used sources of customer data by online content creators. Still, in many companies, having quick access to customer data that’s immediately relevant is a genuine challenge for those content creators, according to the Altimeter Group survey. Hiring data analysts with a marketing orientation will be a top priority for many companies in 2017.

Dimira Teneva, Content Manager at Metrilo.com, summarizes the trends for 2017. Teneva says, “Growth in Asia and wider digital adoption” means “content should be tailored for a very diverse demographic group… Since shopping is moving to mobile, content cannot be long articles. Interactive infographics, guides, quizzes, aggregations like Polyvore are much more convenient to be consumed on smaller screens. To provide more product information, video and animations will be a requirement… Content should be used for customer retention, not just lead generation. A shop should be more than a shop now and information provided to customers can make all the difference.”

“Content marketing for 2017 must captivate the audience, not just placate to the algorithms. We want to increase convertible click-throughs, not bounce rates,” says Don Osmond, Managing Partner at OzComm Marketing. “Why people purchase what they purchase is paramount; the what, where, when, and how are merely circumstantial. Businesses that align their why with their customers will find increases in ROI (return on investment).”

Most companies also intend to boost their investments in tools that will enhance content delivery and content personalization in 2017. This is an important aspect of online marketing where many companies can make improvements. Barely a third – 35 percent – of the respondents to the Altimeter Group survey are confident that their company can deliver personalized content in real-time to their customers. A professional internet marketing agency can help marketers effectively personalize the content and delivery of their online marketing.