1 big reason NOT to have fake Testimonials, Reviews or Portfolio

By Ufuk Erdogmus 11 years ago
Home  /  Weplog  /  1 big reason NOT to have fake Testimonials, Reviews or Portfolio

If you are working online (developer, designer, etc.), no matter if you are a lone freelancer or a small specialized team like we are, the biggest mistake you can make is to try to look different in any way than what you really are. (Wow, that was a long sentence…)
Long story short, it’s wrong in many levels for example:

  • To pretend as if you are a big company when you are just a small team
  • To pretend as if you have an in-house designer if you are just a freelance developer
  • To use a fake portfolio
  • To post made up testimonials on your website
  • … and the list goes on.

Basically, you just have to look like, exactly like what you are and however you are. This is in fact the only way to guarantee that you will match up with the ideal clients for you, and your ideal clients will find you. But sadly there are tons of fake portfolios out there for fake “groups” made up of only 1 person.

Normally we wouldn’t care about what others do. But I felt the need to mention this so we could get some bragging time!

Here’s an e-mail we just received from a potential new client. The best example we could have to why you should not make up  fake reviews on your website:

[blockquote width=”90%”]
Hi Ufuk,

Thanks for answering all my questions!  You’re great and I really appreciate you being straightforward with me.  I reached out to few of the companies you have featured on your site and they all have great things to say about your work!
[/blockquote]

This is what happens when the reviews are real, with real names and with actual comments.

*Bragging time over*

If you have fake reviews, you will get “busted” sooner or later. So if you think you are good, there’s no need to fake anything. Just do your best and the rest will happen itself. As one of my favorite Turkish proverbs say:
“Akan su yolunu bulur” (“Flowing water will find it’s own path”)

P.S. I think I’ve lost some of it in translation 😛

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