To nourish these kind of lasting relationships, guerrillas send thank-you notes after sale -- within 48 hours. They contact customers within a month of sale to make certain they are satisfied and have no questions. They get in touch with customers once again three months after sale, this time suggesting new items that may tie-in with original purchase. And three months after that, they make another contact. This kind of guerrilla follow-up not only prevents dreaded apathy from setting in, but also increases business anywhere from 20% to 300%. That's because customers, in their hearts, silently hope for recognition, acknowledgment, information, advance opportunities to purchase, and new calls to action.

Instead of kind of apathy that loses customers forever, constant attention and follow-up results in healthy back-end sales. This means repeat sales, ancillary sales and referral sales. And this means big profits to you -- because it costs six times more to sell something to a new prospect than to sell that same thing to an existing customer.

These days, all true marketing experts ask you to calculate lifetime value of a customer. If you don't understand damaging effects of apathy after sale, that lifetime value is pretty small, probably a few hundred dollars, if that. If you do all in your power to prevent apathy from ever setting it, lifetime value of each customer may be measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even more. You'll profit from initial sale, from repeat sales, from referral sales and from long, mutually beneficial relationship. It happens only when you defeat most deadly enemy of marketing. And now you know how to do that.

Don't be tempted to try and persuade by twisting truth. Most visitors will sense it. If they don't at first, they WILL catch you later. You lose credibility (and their return visits), but even more damaging is word of mouth that can spread as a result of it. I can think of a number of times where I've seen an exaggeration on a site (although site thinks they've tricked me) that makes me go "Yeah, right". I'll bet you've had same experience. I've even seen this on some of well known guru sites. Be careful, visitors ARE able to sense it.

Bottom line: Write hard hitting copy, but do it tastefully. Expound on benefits of your product sure, just don't cross line by being crass or by not telling truth.

3. Make your web site and your email communication as personal as possible.

The first 2 points above are very important, but I consider this MOST important and effective way to gain trust from your visitors.

The most successful marketing gurus online have long know this. They let it all hang out by putting their name, address, phone number, etc. out there and write their copy like an open letter as if they are speaking directly to you. Think this gains trust? You bet! They are able to convey sense that they absolutely stand by their product and are making themselves as easily accessible as possible.

You may not feel ready yet to put yourself out there to that degree, and that's fine. The important part of this is that you must strive to write copy as if you are talking to a good friend. Don't attract visitors to your site and then start off with "We are XYZ Company. We are located at blah, blah, blah..." Don't greet visitors with a corporate like jingle. Talk to your visitors personally first, offer yourself as friendly and helpful, and you will begin to gain that trust.

Email is lifeline of your business. Don't underestimate its power for gaining trust. Some of you might despise getting customer emails with questions you need to answer. More busy work right? You'd rather be spending time on something else. Don't look at it that way. View it as an opportunity to gain confidence and to develop lasting relationships (which means repeat visits to your site, and positive word or mouth).

As with your site, compose your email messages to customers as if speaking to a friend and strive to respond as promptly as possible. Don't send a form letter like response, take time to write back to them individually (write your autoresponder messages with a personal flavor as well). Also make sure that your message is formatted and spelled correctly. Maintain that trust by paying attention to small details!

Bottom line: Create your web site content and write your email correspondence in a friendly, inviting manner rather than using usual cold, corporate sounding jargon.

Use above 3 points as a guideline for gaining credibility with YOUR visitors. Keep your site well maintained, be truthful with your copy, and speak to your visitors personally and you'll be fine. Don't forget that honesty really IS best policy. Be honest and you will gain that trust that is essential to your success!