Including testimonials on your web site and in your marketing material is a great way to establish trust with your potential customers and boost your credibility.

Giving a testimonial to someone else is also a good way of building your business, and getting visitors to your site.

When a potential buyer is considering whether or not to buy from you, testimonials may reassure her. Use testimonials on the back of your business card, in your brochures, web site, letters, e-mail, and so on.

Include the name of the person providing the testimonial, otherwise people might think you just made it up. Also, print the provider's full name, company name, and city, state/province, country, etc.

Provide links to their web sites and if you can get a picture of them, even better.

Testimonials like the one below will do very little to add credibility or believability to your business ...

"Thanks to your help in getting clear on my goals, I am moving forward much quicker than I was before we started working together. - J.S., New Zealand"

Not only is the testimonial void of any significant content, it's very difficult to accept the provider as being real. There's no way for us to confirm he or she even exists.

Here's a testimonial I received a week after promoting a new book.  Notice how it is detailed and provides full info on the provider so you can verify that yes, she is a real live person and a trustworthy source. (Personalization has been removed for the purposes of this article.)

"I've been a subscriber to your ezine for over a year and love the information and ideas you provide.

I wanted to thank you for sharing special products and offers and to let you know that as a result of a promotion you sent out, I won an 8-month coaching certification program valued at 6,000!  - What an incredible gift!

I'm already a Professional Certified Coach and run a full-time business from home, and I'm the first to acknowledge there's so much in the world of coaching to learn.  I am thrilled at this opportunity and thank you for creating it for me!

Writer's Name, Occupation, Country

Company name

Company website address

Picture of writer"

I posted the complete testimonial on the newsletter sign up page of my web site.  Do you see how this will add credibility to the benefits this ezine provides?

If you're just starting out and don't have any professional testimonials under your belt, get personal ones.

When I first began as a Life Strategy Coach, I asked friends and acquaintances for testimonials. What their testimonials did was add to my likeability and trust factor, and helped portray who I am as a person.

When a prospective client is looking for a coach, one of the first things they're looking for is someone they can connect to, someone they're attracted to through certain characteristics, energy, etc.

Even though I since transitioned to coaching entrepreneurs to build thriving home-based businesses, the forming of our relationship isn't only about results.  It still boils down to chemistry, how well we connect, trust and likeability.

Achieving results is paramount, but as a client or customer, you need to feel closeness and trust with the person you hire.  The personal testimonials I collected helped create that trust in the beginning, then the professional testimonials I collected in the years following, provided the additional credibility.

As you begin to promote yourself, start asking friends, acquaintances, co-workers, whomever you can think of who can provide a testimonial that will portray your strengths, skills and character.

Ask their permission to provide their full name, town, state/province and a picture for added integrity.

As your business grows and you gain satisfied customers, ask every single one of them for testimonials and include them in your marketing materials.

This one practice alone will pack a powerful punch in your business building efforts.