We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread strategically throughout site or all together on their own glorious page. They’re there with intent of leading us toward that high dollar purchase or convincing us of something’s legitimacy. Sometimes we read them and sometimes we won’t. Sometimes we believe them and sometimes we don’t. Well, are they really worth all time and effort?

The quick answer: Only if you do it right. When done correctly, testimonials can really serve you in establishing your site’s credibility. Testimonials give you an opportunity to back up your claims. Believe it or not, as soon as someone visits your site you have immediately begun a relationship with that person. Your site will be one of determining factors in solidifying that relationship and your testimonials can be a key component in building their trust. When done improperly, you might actually drive people away from you and what you have to offer. If your testimonials aren’t believable and honest then you probably don’t want them posted in first place.

Here are a few guidelines to follow if you decide to use testimonials on your website.

In such a cluttered on-line world (and getting busier every day), you need to have something on your site that grabs people's attention and more importantly keeps them coming back again and again.

The first thing that you need to make sure is that content you have is current and if possible updated regularly (regularly may mean different things to different businesses, from daily to monthly). This may mean text, pictures or even a seasonal redesign or makeover. Google do this well by simply changing graphic of their logo to represent different events.

Once content is being refreshed, it gives your customers a reason to come back. For many, products or services we sell are not commodity items and so return business is less certain due to infrequency of purchase.

If your content is changing (and obviously worth reading) then your customers are going to return to keep up to date with developments.

To increase your stickiness, you are going to need something extra, something that can entice visitors to your website to return, something SuperSticky!

This elusive element of your website will be different depending on your business and target audience.

Some possible options are:

- Discussion Forums - Auctions / Classifieds - Picture Galleries - User/Customer Reviews Let's discuss each in turn.

Discussion Forums

Discussion Forums, depending on your business and audience, are one of best ways to keep your customers coming back for more. The key here is that your customers are generating your sticky content for you. Just think…every time one of your visitors to your website posts a comment in forum, they are pretty certain to be back to check on responses to it.

You can develop this format into questions and answers. You expert can answer questions of visitors and hopefully your answer to people's problems generates more and more traffic to your site, as you become known as a place to come for advice.

Auctions / Classifieds