Increase Your Website’s Credibility to Make Revenue Skyrocket

You don’t need me to tell you how important credibility is in a funeral home business. Anyone considering either at-need or pre-need services needs to feel complete faith in a provider.

Without a doubt, you carefully guard your reputation within your local community. Your credibility is everything. But here’s my question: Are you as careful about ensuring the credibility of your funeral home website as you are about your business’s credibility in general?

It’s a bit of a trick question, because credibility means something slightly different in the online world than it does in the offline one. The concepts are related, but regarding online credibility, what I’m largely referring to is how Google and other search engines view your website.

You see, for organic (unpaid) search results engines, Google and other search providers rank websites within a given geographical area based upon how credible each site appears to the engine.

If a funeral home website has little more than a couple of pictures, some general text, and contact information, that doesn’t seem especially credible to Google. That doesn’t mean the funeral home itself is bad at all — but if that’s not being communicated to Google, the website won’t rank well.

Don’t let this be the case for you. Simply by adding a little more important content to your site, you can clearly demonstrate why you’re a trusted funeral services provider in your area, just as you do in person.

It’s important to remember that no matter what type of business, a website is ultimately a marketing tool. Getting people to visit the site is only one front in the battle. The site itself then has to convert those visitors into clientele.

While many techniques play a role in converting visitors, they all start with your site’s credibility. If visitors don’t feel comfortable and confident in your abilities when they view it, they won’t do business with you, either for at-need or pre-need services.

The very best way to communicate credibility is a richly detailed “About Us” page. Unfortunately, that’s one area where business owners often just phone it in.

This isn’t the place to merely plop in a couple of brief biographical sentences about yourself and your staff. Have a good story. Clearly explain who you are, what you do, your history, when the business started, where it’s located, the areas you target, why you’re in this business, etc. Be sincere and to make a personal connection with the visitor.

If you have strong roots in the community, note that fact. If you and/or members of your staff do local volunteer work or, for example, put it in there. Doing so conveys trustworthiness and interest in the people you serve.

Include head shots of you and your entire staff. Faces are extremely important for communicating credibility. Get clear, sharp head shots of each staff member, preferably taken by a professional photographer, and make sure everyone looks their best for the shoot.

Ideally, you’ll also include some biographical information about each member. For example, you have each person’s face and title on your About Us page, and when the visitor clicks on the face, it opens a link to a short but illuminating bio. Include pictures of your business. Display professional shots of what your funeral home looks like inside and out.

You also should include testimonials. If you receive thank you cards and letters or postcards, scan them in and add them. (In all cases, be certain you get permission first from the sender to use these on your website.)

Above all, make sure it’s obvious to your website visitors that these testimonials are from real people. If they don’t look real, they will do more harm than good.

You should also add a business profile video. Don’t assume DIY is the way to go just because your vacations videos turned out decently when shot on your iPhone. The difference between a professionally shot business video and a homemade one is often substantial.

If you’re having trouble creating a professional video on your own, you likely should contract with a reasonably priced professional to assist you with it.

Finally, it’s always a great idea to include badges and third-party reviews. Google review badges demonstrate credibility — but keep it subtle and professional, of course. If you’re a member of the local chamber of commerce, and/or have a great rating with the Better Business Bureau, include those as well.

These are all great ways to increase credibility with both human visitors and the search engines you count on to rank highly in online searches, which results in more case counts and increased revenue.

(NOTE:  All the traffic in the world doesn€™t help if your website doesn€™t efficiently convert visitors into clientele. Test your site with our free Website Analyzer now and learn how to improve conversion rates.)