Ms. Greenstreet goes on to say that over a 4 year period she tracked the conversion rate, that is, the number of people who actually made a purchase as opposed to those who just visited the the various sites, and it "ranges from 2% to 14%, depending on the site."  Well, with the success the ebook, she decided to launch a second edition earlier this year.  This time, she added a graphic to each site that said SECOND EDITION.  Now, check out what happened:

"Six weeks ago, I ran a test, removing the current book cover graphic and replacing it with the exact same book cover, but without the 'second edition' graphic on it...An amazing thing happened: conversion rates FELL by 75% using the plain book cover without the 'second edition' graphic...Conclusion: People who visited the article page felt more trust when an ebook was in its 2nd edition, deducing that an ebook that had been updated was a popular ebook that contained up-to-date information...As we know, trust is a key element in marketing, especially ecommerce.  What are you doing to instill trust in your site visitors?"

Well, this is truly compelling data.  So, how do we relate this to the voiceover business?  I'm no marketing person.  People like Peter O'Connell and others know much more about that than I ever will.  However, you and I both know how important "trust" can be.  I think one way clients sense an element of trust, as it relates to hiring voice actors, is by seeing a list of credits and testimonials on our web sites, among others such as quality demos.  The more at ease our potential clients are about our abilities, the more likely they may be to take the next step of requesting an audition.  

For example, let's say I didn't know who Joe Cipriano was but I found his site in a search, pulled it up and saw the astounding credits and heard the demos.  Then I pulled up ABC voice guy with no credits listed and only a short montage demo.  Your trust and mine would easily go to Joe!  

I know I have a ways to go in offering up the trust factor, however I'm always up for a challenge.

...to be continued