One of the most effective methods of demonstrating trustworthiness on your ecommerce site is to include testimonials from satisfied customers. People trust other people. When those “other people” have good things to say, first-timers are reassured and the value of this simply cannot be overstated. So, here’s how to get customers to submit testimonials.

Don’t Ask for Testimonials

 Yes, we know the title of this article is “How to Get Customers to Submit Testimonials.” However, the moment you ask for one, you’ll pervert the process. If you really want truth, ask for feedback rather than a testimonial. When you ask for the former, people feel freer to express their true thoughts. When you ask for the latter, respondents feel a need to come up with something nice to say and it often comes across as contrived.

Here’s What to Ask

Still though, you have to ask some key survey questions to get the information you need. Let’s say you’re selling ebooks. Put yourself in the position of a person coming to your ebook site for the first time. Ask yourself what they’d need to know to shop confidently. Then, ask your current customers those very questions.

1. What were your primary concerns about buying your new XYZ ebook here?

2. What ultimately made you decide to make the purchase here?

3. Now that you have it, what did you like most about buying your XYZ ebook here?

4. How has the XYZ ebook lived up to your expectations?

5. Would you recommend others buy ebooks at this site? Why, or why not?

6. What can we do to make the shopping experience more pleasant?

7. Is there anything you’d like to say that we didn’t ask?

8. May we have permission to share this feedback with visitors to the site?

What to Do with The Responses 

Read between the lines and you’ll see each question was designed specifically to uncover objections potential customers might have about buying their ebooks at your site. First-time visitors are going to be concerned about your trustworthiness, which is exactly why question number one gets to the heart of that matter. In a similar fashion, each additional question touches upon some other concern a new customer might have about doing business with you. Once you have all of the responses, you can weave them together to form testimonials capable of putting newbies to your site at ease.

The result will look something like this: “When I considered buying ebooks here, I was concerned about the quality of the books and the nature of the service I’d get if something went wrong. After reading about so many positive experiences, I decided to give it a shot. Now that I have the book I am…”

Always Keep It 100…

Your respondents will see their words on your site. Do not spin their responses. Don’t make them say what you want them to say; let them say what you need them to say. If you twist the meaning of their words, everyone on social media is going to know you can’t be trusted. Which, basically, is the exact opposite of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place.

If the feedback is negative, you’ll know exactly what you need to do. Correct the situation, then wait a few months and ask another group of customers for their thoughts. In so doing, you’ll get an honest critique of your site, even as you get customers to submit testimonials.

Many people consider buying a home a rite of passage. But how do you know when it’s your time? Ultimately, that is the essence of the starter home debate: when should you buy real estate?

It’s All About the Money — Mostly

Let’s say you’re renting a place and the landlord hits you with a rent increase. You look at the new amount and think, “Goodness, that’s a mortgage payment.” Now the wheels are turning. But before they turn too far too fast, know you’ll be looking at additional expenses if you choose to buy a home instead of renting. These can include property taxes, mortgage insurance and HOA fees, along with maintenance costs, water usage and garbage collection. If your budget can swing all of that, you might be in the running. But wait…

The Down Payment

Coming up with the down payment cash takes most people out of the game. If you’re buying a home and you want the best interest rate on the loan you’ll need to get it, you’re looking at handing over 20 percent of the purchase price. If it’s a $200,000 home, you’ll need $20,000 in cash just to get the party started. Oh, by the way, there are also these things called closing costs that will typically require you to come up with another three percent of the purchase price, also in cash. Fortunately, there are ways to swing a buy without the full 20 percent, although they are more expensive in the long run. But hey, if that’s not an issue either, you’ve still got a shot. Unless…

Debt-to-Income Ratio

To qualify for a home loan, you have to be able to demonstrate to the lender you can afford to make the payments comfortably. Most financial institutions make this determination by measuring the monthly payment against your total monthly income. If the payment comes to less than 28 percent of your pre-tax income and all of your other debts — like credit cards, car loans and homeowners insurance rates — comprise less than 36 percent of your pre-tax income when combined with the mortgage, you’re still looking good. However,…

Credit Rating

Bad debt will come back to haunt you when you try to buy real estate. If you have some and are in a position to pay it off, that’s great. But know it will have already impacted your credit score negatively. Cheer up though, a less-than-pristine credit score won’t disqualify you; it’ll just mean you’ll pay a higher interest rate to get the loan. However, this will make your monthly payment higher, which will make your debt-to-income ratio higher, which could make it more difficult to show you can pay back the loan. But if that’s not a problem either, you’re pretty much relaxing in your new home.  FYI – if you’re a european reader, don’t forget you’ll need a “trust deed”.  If you’re in Scotland, check out: Scottishtrustdeed.co.uk, they might have a product that will help you.

Commitment/Responsibility

When you buy a house, you’re committing to putting down roots and becoming part of a community. There’s a certain permanence implied, one underpinned by a willingness to take on the responsibility of maintaining the home, as well as your relationship to the neighborhood. Because the financial outlays are so significant, you should be prepared to live there for quite some time. When you do get ready to move, you’ll have to either become a landlord, or sell the house. Either way, in exchange for homeownership, you’ll give up a measure of flexibility. Now, if that isn’t a problem for you either, congratulations, you’ve just won the starter home debate. And yes, this is when you should buy real estate.

Are you one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who operate a business, but don’t have a website? Saying “yes” to this will automatically mean that you’re missing out on a LOT of opportunities and benefits owning one entail.

In our modern era, people swarm the internet for information – why do you think people are on their computers or smartphones all the time? It’s to look for certain information. More and more people find online transactions to be easier and more accessible, which begs the question – why isn’t your business online right at this very moment?

You will boost your customer base. This is your primary reason for finding new money-making avenues for your business. If used right, a website will undoubtedly help you get more leads and increase your bottom line in the process. A website helps you generate customers not just locally, but worldwide. The internet offers you a global community. With a website, you are making your brand available around the world.

You spend less in advertising. Advertising your business through various forms such as printed media, television, radio or other means is very expensive! And while investing in advertising is vital for a growing and steady business, you don’t want to burn your businesses’ finances on advertising. Having a website allows you to promote your business directly to your audience and at a very cheap or no cost at all.

You are open 24/7/365. Which is to say that your business runs while you sleep, eat, exercise, or play golf. Have you ever experienced needing to turn down some clients because you need to close? Well, this issue doesn’t exist with a website. An e-commerce store, for instance, can be accessed at any time of the day. People will simply look at your site instead of going to your shop because it’s more accessible. This means increased leads and sales for you!

You help the environment. No paper advertisement means hundreds of thousands of happy trees. And while this might not be a top consideration for some to take their business online, it does feel good promoting your business and helping the environment at the same time. There are tons of ways to advertise your products or service through the internet. Along with your website, you can integrate Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. to boost your reach.

You build loyalty. Any entrepreneur worth his/her salt knows that a returning client is the best client to have. With a website, you can potentially create a loyal following who will buy your products or use your services daily or contractually. Owning a website gives you an opportunity to gain more clients that will help your business flourish.

How to get started on your web presence

Now that you have a clear grasp of some of the benefits a website can bestow on your business, it’s time to follow suit. And it all starts with domain name registration.

When choosing a domain name, take note that you’re basically choosing a company name – it needs a lot of thought and consideration. Follow these quick steps to pick the perfect domain name:

• Make it easy to type
• Keep it short and simple (KISS)
• Use industry keywords
• Make it memorable
• Prefer .com as domain name extension

Registering your domain name

When you’re ready with a list of possible names, the next step is to do a domain name registration from a top online presence service provider like Crazy Domains. Domain name registration officially lets you reserve your chosen web address to yourself before you can start building your website around it and ultimately promoting your brand online. The most crucial thing about a domain name registration is that it gives you recognised identity and personality.

End Note

Your move. Best of luck with your future website!

One of the games most online casino real money players choose nowadays is a slot machine called Mega Moolah. Aside from being a cute game with its reels filled with African animals, Mega Moolah is popular at the Wild Jack Casino and beyond because of its generosity. Released in 2006, Mega Moolah has paid outs its consistent progressive jackpot over 35 times, making the same number of millionaires – the Wild Jack’s most popular game has a jackpot that resets to 1 million euros when won. And it is hit quite often, too – this June, the jackpot was hit twice, paying out over $1.5 million to the lucky winners each time.

Reading the above might suggest that it’s easy to hit a jackpot on a slot machine. Which is not quite true – for every jackpot winner, there are thousands of players who don’t hit it. So, before you run over to the closest casino, online or otherwise, to try your luck, you should know about the chances of you hitting that jackpot – and those of winning big on other similar games.

Safe bets, safe games

The simplest game of chance ever invented is the coin toss. Here, each side has an exactly 50% chance of landing on top – or the chances of heads or tails landing (and you guessed right) are one in two. Some casino games have bets as safe as a coin toss, like the red/black and odd/even bets in roulette. Here, the chances of you winning are 50%, and the money you win is twice your original bet – which is the lowest possible payout in the game. Blackjack, while it is a much more complex game than a coin toss, also gives players an almost 50% chance of winning each hand. As such, it also pays out a win equal to the initial bet – or, in gambling terms, even money (with the exception of a Blackjack, which pays 3 to 2 or 6 to 5, depending on the table, the casino, and the variant of the game played).

Big wins, big risks

The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward – this is valid for many situations in everyday life and especially true in casinos. Usually, the bigger the potential win attached to a certain bet, the lower the chances of you winning it. Let’s take a look at roulette again for an example: placing a bet on a single number has a chance of 1 in 38 (or 37, depending on the variant) to be successful. It also comes with the highest reward: a 35 to 1 payout or 35 times the original bet.

Slot machines are a mix of the two types of bets described above – they come with more frequent winning combinations with lower payouts and more unlikely ones with higher rewards. As you might expect, jackpots are the rarest and highest prizes you can win playing a slot machine – you need a very specific combination of symbols to land on the reels to have a chance to hit them, and these can also trigger further side games (like a wheel of fortune in some games) that stand between you and the top prize.

The chances of winning a slot machine jackpot are hard to express with numbers as they are different for each individual game. The chances of hitting the jackpot of Megabucks, one of the most generous Las Vegas slot machines, are 1 in about 50 million – there was one man called Elmer Sherwin, though, who hit it twice.

The Lottery

Lotteries are perhaps the most popular games of chance – and the ones with the lowest chances to be won. Predicting a sequence of five numbers out of a pool of 90 or six of them out of a pool of 45, respectively, might not seem such a big deal – but there are people who have played the lottery for decades without winning as much as a cent. To win the Powerball, America’s biggest lottery, you need to correctly predict five numbers out of 69 (white balls) along with one out of 26 (Powerballs), which gives you a 1 in 292,201,338 (that’s more than two hundred and ninety-two million) chance to win its Jackpot.