Personal Connection - Why You Should Add Personal Touch to Your Website

Personal Connection - Today's online market is competitive. Couple that with the fact that consumers are no longer satisfied to buy from just anyone but instead are looking to make some type of connection, and it's become almost imperative for business owners to have something of themselves on their website - a personal touch.

Let's take a look at just a few of the personal touches you might want to consider adding to your website, and how they can benefit your business.

* Photo. When you read a book, do you ever flip to the inside back cover to see if there's a picture of the author?

There's a reason the author's photo is often back there - it's because people want to know what the author looks like.

Who is this person who wrote this book? It doesn't have any effect on whether they buy the book or like the story, but they want to make a personal connection and a face seems to tell us a lot about someone.

Adding a photo to your website is a very simple thing and it can have tremendous power. Now all of a sudden your website visitors can make a connection. It demonstrates that you're a real person, not just a nameless, faceless entity.

* Audio and video. These two mediums take the photo and go several steps further. The video specifically does because people can see you and hear you. When you're speaking, the way you speak, the things you say and your personality all come across much differently than they do in print. Audio and video create a very personal connection. And it doesn't have to be anything complicated - a simple welcome message can set the foundation for your personal connection.

* Content. Sometimes it's tough for business owners to share their personality in their written word, particularly if they're talking about a subject that is dry or very fact based. However, sharing personal stories is not only a great way to make a personal connection with your readers, it's also a wonderful selling tool. Share hardships, triumphs and even humorous events with your readers to let them feel as if they're part of your community. Community builds loyalty and loyalty builds profits.

* One easy way to begin forging a personal relationship with your website visitors is to have a blog. The blog-style format is much more adaptable to sharing personal experiences.

* Network socially and include your posts in a feed on your website.

There are tools which let you share your social networking posts and conversations right on your business website.

Visitors can see your latest post and subsequent comments or conversations.

It's a little thing, but it engages your visitor and may even prompt them to connect with you via social networking.

Adding a personal touch to your website not only engages your visitors and invites them into your community, it gives them a sense of who you are as a person. This connection can foster loyalty, repeat visits and purchases, which all result in profits.