While having a website is a step in validating the credibility of your business, a badly laid out website can cause your visitors to wonder about the credibility of your overall operation. Creating a website is no longer something that only large companies can afford to do. “Home-made” websites are popping up all over the place. While being online increases your reach, a bad website can chase customers away.
The key is to design your website in a way that gives your business credibility. What is credibility? Credibility is the trust that you inspire based on factors like usability, accessibility, security, search engine ranking and others. Credibility is the trustworthiness you have in the eyes of your customers. While you may be a legit business, a bad website can give the wrong impression. Here are a few tips that can improve your website’s credibility:
Have Contact Information Readily Available
There’s no worse thing than having a website that does not display complete contact information. Just because you provide a “contact us” link it does not mean you are covered. A trustworthy website will have a phone number and physical address readily available. Adding a online-chat system gives even more credibility to your site as visitors can have questions answered instantly. This feature gives your visitors a taste of your customer service and support system.
Professionalism
If your website looks like it was made using one of those “make your own website” kits, it’s probably a sign that it’s no good. When a prospective client visits your website, they want to know that your site looks professional and that it isn’t just anyone’s attempt at selling a product or offering a service. While investing in professional web development and design is more costly, it’s worth it.
Be Your Own Entity
When choosing a domain name, make sure it makes sense as far as what your website is offering. Additionally, make sure you purchase a hosting package that allows you to support e-mail accounts so you can provide a legitimate corporate email address. There is nothing more tacky than being yourbusiness@yahoo.com or something similar. By having your own domain name, you add validity to your business.
Provide Security Features and Confirmations
This is especially important if you are an e-commerce website. The more security features you offer, the more trustworthy your site appears. Make sure that if you are doing online transactions you are protecting your shoppers by having an SSL installed on your website or use well-known third parties such as PayPal or Google Checkout to accept payments. Add confirmation features like the ability to print receipts after every transaction and sending an e-mail confirmation for all purchases. This gives your shopper the security that they will receive the product they just bought.
Add Legal Terms to your Site if Needed
No matter the purpose of your site, adding terms and conditions ups your credibility. If it is simply a privacy notice and permission for collecting information or the terms and conditions for purchases such as return and exchange policies, this gives your site extra credibility.
Increase Your Search Engine Ranking
Whichever way you look at it, increasing your ranking in search engines is only going to improve your chances for attracting more visitors. Invest a little in search engine marketing to increase your ranking, give you more visibility and ultimately more credibility.
Ready to create your website or looking to improve the credibility of your website? OneIMS is a premier marketing firm with a team of experts ready to help you improve your website and your business. For more information about how to create a trustworthy website, contact OneIMS today at 1-888-ONE-IMS1, or send an e-mail to info@oneims.com.
by Rob
On July 10, 2009 at 9:29 am
Contact information is a big one, especially if you are selling products. On an analysis I do as a service, I find way too many sites having a contact page, with nothing more than an email for on it. They don’t even include the company name! The contact page should offer as much inforas possible about your business including business hours.