This is a guest post from Brian Heys, a freelance software tester, frustrated pianist, and reformed pessimist who blogs at brianheys.com about technology, the Internet, careers, and anything else that takes his fancy.

When I set up my business in the nineties, one of the first things I did was put up a web site. Even back then, in those formative years of the web, I felt it was important for a lone IT consultant to have a web presence.
 
The web site looked great, but I made the classic mistake of trying to sound like IBM, when in fact, my business had just one employee: me.
 

The Wizard of Oz Effect

 
Using the ‘royal we’ like I did back then remains a common tendency today. I call it The Wizard of Oz Effect.
 
Many small business owners are insecure when it comes to admitting they work on their own. Their brochures are stuffed full of corporate stock photography, their web site content is written about ‘us’ and what ‘we’ can do, and how great ‘our’ company is.
 

Attitudes have changed


Nowadays, it’s okay to admit you’re a small business. The customers you really want to attract will no longer hold it against you. In fact, they’ll probably be glad to hear it.
 
In a world where bad service from big companies is the expected norm, it can be totally refreshing to have a positive experience with a small firm. I see this all the time. Often, the smaller the business, the better the service they offer – because they care more about their customers.
 
I’m not the only one who feels this way. As a simple research exercise, I asked a handful of people around the office if they felt the same – and they all do. Dealing with a small business is much easier, much faster, and can be ultimately more rewarding than trying to engage a large company to do the same job.
 

Be proud to be small

 
Instead of hiding behind a facade, why not stand up as a solo business operator, and make it clear to your potential customers who you really are?
 
Chances are you could do a simple ‘find and replace’ on all your web content and immediately have copy that is much more refreshing and engaging to your target market:
 

• Replace ‘we’ with ‘I’
• Replace ‘us’ with ‘me’
• Replace ‘our’ with ‘my’

 
You get the idea.
  
I took the bold step of doing this about eight years ago with my own web site. Incredibly, the same day the new version went live, I received a sales enquiry from a potential client who complimented me on my originality and honesty! I’ve never looked back.
 

You can’t fool anyone

 
We’re all so accustomed to spin we can smell it a mile off. Nobody is fooled by the Wizard of Oz trick anymore. Your 0870 number gives you away. Your telephone answering service blows your cover. The residential address on your business cards and letterheads reveals the truth that your business is … shock, horror … just you.


So why try to hide? Be different. Admit you’re small. You may be surprised by the results.