1. About Us Page
Clients will feel more comfortable working with you if they know a little bit more about you as a person or company. Let people get to know you instead of appearing as a distant entity with no emotions or history. You don’t have to tell them what you eat for breakfast, but let people know who you are, what you are about, and how your business can benefit them.
2. Full Contact Details
The more contact information you have, the better. You may prefer only using specific contact methods. Still, you need to make the potential client feel comfortable, and you will build more trust if you display various contact information, including an office phone number, fax, email, and physical address. This information should be displayed on your contact page, about page, and the header or footer. Make it easy for people to contact you if they need to!
3. Previous Clients List
The portfolio is what most people will go straight for, and that’s why it needs to be the best part of your site. You need at least 6-12 pieces in your portfolio; they should be current, and you should have information about each project. You should also considering including a page specifically for a previous client list if you have had a lot of clients or well known clients.
Working with brand names of any scale can be a great confidence booster for interested clients, especially if they can relate to one of your previous clients. For example some one with a construction business might be happy to see you have done some great work already for other construction companies.
4. Trust Building Graphics
If people are ordering from your site you should consider adding some trust building graphics such as a PayPal verified logo, SSL certificate symbol, secure checkout graphic and so on. These kind of graphics can make people feel more secure about ordering design services from you online.
5. Organization Memberships
Joining design organizations such as the AIGA and actually taking part in them is not only a great way to be more involved in your industry, but it can show clients you really care about your craft. Feel free to display the organization logos on your website and many organizations already have pre-made member only graphics you can display when you join.
6. Explain the Process
Visitors are coming to your site for information so they can make the best judgment about how to design their projects. If you explain the process from start to finish and guide customers every step of the way, they will be much more likely to want to work with you. They will feel more knowledgeable and comfortable knowing they have an idea of how it will all work. It would help if you considered creating a page for this, or you could make something more straightforward, such as a FAQ ( Frequently Asked Questions ) page. Moreover, consider incorporating visual aids to effectively illustrate intricate processes or concepts. You have the option to include images, capture screenshots of entire web pages, and incorporate these visuals seamlessly into your presentation.
7. Professional Website
This one is pretty obvious, but a lot of designers do not have nice portfolio site. Even if you are not a web designer you still need a nice looking website, because the quality of your website will reflect back on you. If you can’t stand doing website designs or are having trouble finding a good web designer, try purchasing and or modifying a pre-made website template.
There are a lot of websites out there that offer both HTML and WordPress theme portfolio templates, which make it super easy to put up a nice fresh looking portfolio website, ready to attract new clients.
Hope you enjoyed these trust building portfolio site tips!