5 Ways to Make a Trustworthy and Professional Looking Website
1. Having Before and After Photos
People love seeing dirty things get deep cleaned. It is a feeling of completeness. Providing pictures of our work scratches this itch for homeowners. They want to see a portfolio of things we have cleaned before. Nobody wants to be your first customer and trust you with their expensive house. People want proven results…..and more importantly, the customer wants to see that you are proud of your cleaning projects and display it prominently on your website.
The pressure washing industry is a visual industry. Writing on your website that, “We clean the exterior of homes until they look brand new” does not have the emotional impact as a before and after picture of a stucco house with black and green streaks and a fine layer of dirt coating it — transformed into a completely cleaned, bright white exterior.
If you want to charge more for your services then you need to separate your company from the competitors by competing on quality and getting results. You communicate this value through a combination of copywriting and imagery.
2. Have Procedural Photos or Videos
When people think of pressure washing a house, most people do not think about soft washing the house safely from the ground. They think of someone balancing on a ladder with a pressure wand, blasting vinyl siding 20ft up in the air.
Having pictures of your employees’ soft washing shows just how safe the process is and alleviates this concern a homeowner might have. A video of someone softwashing siding is an even more powerful way to communicate the safety and effectiveness of softwashing. By showing potential leads that we do almost all cleaning from the ground in a safe and effective way, we are eliminating another objection a customer might have.
Cleaning a house’s siding by softwashing also displays a level of expertise and cleaning protocol knowledge that can command a higher price. Many homeowners are blown away by a downstream injector and a J-rod.
3. Customer Testimonials
Having customer testimonials included on your website lets people know that you have gotten results for other people. Amazon has become so popular largely because you can see exactly what other customers are saying about the product. People want to hear from other people about you and testimonials are a great way to gain credibility.
What we have found to be an incredible way to showcase customer reviews is to use the ‘Google Review’ widget to display your customer rating and Google reviews on your website for people to look through. The gold star rating system also provides the customer with imagery they are familiar with and associate with measuring trust.
Another way to show customer testimonials is to show screenshots of customer conversations (with the customer’s approval first). If the customer texts you to let you know how impressed they are with the amazing cleaning job that you did, use a screenshot of that text or email conversation for your website or social media.
hint: the customer that texted you the amazing review might be a good candidate for your referral program.
4. Show Your Crew
People want to see who is going to be showing up at their house with a bright smiling face. Put potential customers at ease by showing them a picture of you and your crew. Use pictures to emphasize your company. Smiling customer support, clean and respectful-looking employees, and new equipment convey a wonderful customer experience. Pictures sell far better than words can at times.
Showing a picture can also help create more of an emotional connection to your company. I am not saying that potential customers are going to put a picture of your company on their fireplace mantle and invite you to Thanksgiving. Instead, there might be a spark of emotion that is enough to win them over versus the faceless website of your competitor. The ‘About Us’ page is often one of the most clicked-on links in an entire website. Do not undervalue the role that an ‘About Us’ page plays. Let your personality and personal story shine through on this section of your website.
5. Consistent Branding
It is the little things on your website that build trust. Not having spelling errors is the bare minimum. A consistent color scheme for your website shows that you are detail-oriented. A sloppy website implies your pressure washing might be sloppy. This isn’t mental gymnastics, studies show that fuzzy website pictures, misspellings and grammatical errors, and non-consistent color schemes indicate a lack of trust and a potentially spammy website.
Would you give your credit card information and buy something online if the checkout button said “add to kart”?