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1. Your website's design is the first
impression. Make sure it is professional and relevant
to the subject matter.
2. Navigation must be intuitive. If visitors can't
find what they are looking for easily, they will question
your competence.
3. Make the website personal by giving it its
own tone and voice. People buy people.
4. Follow the HEART rule when creating
content. (Honest, Exclusive, Accurate, Relevant &
Timely)
5. Use language that is appropriate to the
audience. It will build empathy.
6. Regularly add new content to your site!!!!!
It's good for your visitors and the search engines will
reward you for this.
7. Review all links. Doubts will quickly form if
links don't work.
8. Good grammar and spelling matter.
Errors give the impression of sloppiness and
carelessness.
9. Don't make outrageous and unbelievable
claims, visitors will think it's a scam.
10. Publish REAL testimonials and third-party
endorsements. Try to always use real names and link
to websites where possible. Showing images of
letters sent by happy customers is always good.
11. Publish case studies about customers
you've helped / who use your product.
12. Don't put down or insult competitors. It's
unprofessional. It's best to offer an objective
comparison of competitive services or products.
13. Focus on building your long-term
reputation, not on making quick sales.
14. Write articles for humans, not search
engines.
15. Make your 'About Us' page personal and
comprehensive. It plays an important part in making
visitors feel comfortable that real people are behind
the site.
16. Publish your photo or the photos of the key
people involved with the site. Again, this reinforces the
fact that there are real people behind the technology.
17. Clearly identify who's behind the site. On
the 'Contact Us' page, provide an email form,
telephone number, fax and address of the company.
Nothing creates more suspicion than a site that tries
to hide the identity of its publishers.
18. Your telephone number should go to a
person, not a voicemail, etc.
19. Provide email addresses linked to the
website domain, not addresses from free web mail
services such as Hotmail and Gmail.
20. Don't participate in "white lies". For
example, you should not write a glowing report about
a product or service just so you might earn affiliate
revenues from it. Visitors will see right through this
and won't come back, or worse still, they may actively
condemn your site on forums and blogs.
21. Think carefully about reciprocal links. If
your site is about organic food and you have links to
Party Poker, people are going to question your
integrity.
22. Think carefully about any advertisements
you may want to display on your site. If you do, ensure
that they are relevant to your subject and audience.
23. Write and publish a privacy policy. Be clear
about what you will and will not do with any personal
data you collect. State that you adhere to all data
protection laws. Make it easy to read and try not to use
a bunch of legal jargon.
24. Write and publish a security policy. State
what measures you take to ensure that all
transactions are secure.
25. Ensure that you have a security and
privacy policy which is linked from the footer on every
page. Make the link more prominent on any/all order
pages.
26. Clearly publish your guarantee. I would
recommend making it a 100% money-back guarantee
if possible.
27. Clearly state your refund and returns
policy.
28. Piggyback off reputable brands. If you use
PayPal, put the PayPal logo on your site. If you have a
merchant services account with a major bank like
Citibank or HSBC, put its logo on your site.
29. Use Google search on your site for two
reasons. First, it's a great search solution which will
help your visitors find what they are looking for.
Second, having the Google name on your site instills
trust.
30. If there are well-known industry
associations for your subject, join up and put their
logos on your site.
31. Have a forum on your site and respond
quickly to questions. Have the attitude that you are
happy to help others without receiving immediate
reward. 'Givers gain'
32. Allow people to comment on articles.
Interactivity and an exchange of views build community
and a sense of involvement.
33. If people provide constructive criticism or
comments in the forum, don't delete them, but
respond with your point of view.
34. Put photos on the website of the owners,
publishers and/or team. Let visitors know there are
real people behind the business.
35. Put images of the credit cards you accept
on every page of the order process.
36. Use the words 'secure website' whenever
you try to get any information from visitors, including
newsletter sign-ups, forum input and payment.
37. On every page, state, "We take your privacy
and security very seriously." Link the statement to the
security and privacy policy.
38. Remember, reputations take years to
build and seconds to destroy.
39. If you are selling a subscription, offer a
low-cost, entry-level option. This could be a one-day
taster, 'a week before billing starts' or a monthly trial.
40. Use a high level of security when
processing credit cards. Make sure you make your
clients aware of all the steps you are taking.
41. Don't send credit card information or
personal details over the Internet unencrypted. Tell
your customers that their data will be encrypted.
42. Only ask for information from customers
that you really need. For example, for an email
newsletter sign-up, the only information you REALLY
need is an email address, so that is all you should
ask for.
43. If you have pricing on your website, make
it transparent. I recently went to buy a book which was
advertised for $10. When I checked out, they added
tax, post and packaging, and the final bill was $19.50.
I didn't buy it as I felt they had deliberately tried to
mislead me.
44. Keep your SSL certificate up to date. Let
people know you are using SSL encryption and who
the provider is.
In Summary:
You can't do too much to build trust. Most of it comes
down to common sense and good business practice.
To ensure that you are continually improving your
trustworthiness, every time you go to a website, ask
yourself whether you trust it or not. Then ask yourself
why you have formed the opinion you have. Continually
try to learn what makes a site trustworthy or
untrustworthy and implement the relevant changes to
your site.
If people trust you, the revenue will follow!
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