Website Credibility. Website Sales.

By Walt F.J. Goodridge

Special to the Saipan Tribune
Originally published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010


The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest—in other words, your passion!

 

Website Credibility. Website Sales

[excerpt from Websites That Sell]

 

       The key to making sales on the internet with your website is “trust.” In other words, people will be more willing to make purchases through your website if they trust you. That means that establishing credibility is an essential key to online success.

How do you develop that trust? Well, on the internet, doesn’t have to take months or years to establish trust based on your years in business. There are a few simple, yet vital things you can incorporate into your site design to help you do just that. The following are offered by the Stanford Web Credibility Project

 

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.       You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don't follow these links, you've shown confidence in your material.

 

2. Show that there's a real organization behind your site.  Showing that your web site is owned by a legitimate organization will boost the site's credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.

 

3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.   Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don't link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.

 

4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.   The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies.

 

5. Make it easy to contact you.  A simple way to boost your site's credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.

 

6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).       People quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site's purpose.

 

7. Make your site easy to use--and useful. We're squeezing two guidelines into one here. Research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company's ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.

 

8. Update your site's content often (at least show it's been reviewed recently).       People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.

 

9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).      If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don't mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.

 

10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.   Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine. It's also important to keep your site up and running.

 

For more information on how to increase your website’s success at attracting, converting and keeping customers, check out “Websites That Sell” at www.passionprofit.com which features a special chapter on Blogging your way to internet success by Saipan’s own Angelo Villagomez

 
 
 
 

 

 

Note: Where will YOUR passion take you? What sort of life would you live if you could? Find out what's possible. Check out my new adventures on jamaicaninchina.com.

 

Note: Ever wanted to direct your friends and family to a set of websites that revealed the best things about Saipan? Do what I do: send them to www.bestofsaipan.com!

 

Until next week, remember, success is a journey, not a destination!--Walt

Send article suggestions, entrepreneur nominations and feedback about this article to walt@passionprofit.com