How to Improve Website Credibility
Credibility is essential in order to make people: register, click on your ads, download software, resort to your services and so on. Therefore, website credibility can be identified to some extent with the idea of a successful business.
Content
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
How to Improve Website Credibility
43 Steps to achieve site credibility
Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager, Avangate B.V. Website Usability, Published date: June 04, 2007
Web credibility has become a very important topic today. The fact that you have a site should not make you rest on your laurels. In these times, where facts are certainly more important than promises; if you have an online business, one of the most important matters that you should give due consideration is online credibility: you have to persuade web visitors that there is truly something worth wild behind a good-looking, usable website: you have to convince the visitors that the image you try to promote is trustful and that you intend to keep your promises advertised on the internet. Generally speaking, credibility results from evaluating multiple dimensions simultaneously; most of researchers identify "trustworthiness" and "expertise" as the two main components of credibility. At the same time, it's important to differentiate between trust, which is related more to "dependability" and credibility, which is connected to the idea of "believability". Gaining online credibility is indeed a difficult task, but necessary in order to have a successful online business. Researches conducted among common web users proved much reticence in buying or doing business on the internet (the Stanford-Makovsky University demonstrated in 2002 on a sample of 1481 people that only 52, 8% believe online information to be credible).
Why is credibility important?
Credibility is essential in order to make people: register, click on your ads, download software, resort to your services and so on. Therefore, website credibility can be identified to some extent with the idea of a successful business. Credibility is vital in order to make users return to your page.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 1
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
On the other hand, when talking about this matter, it's worth mentioning that credibility is quite a general term comprising many factors like: usability, accessibility, security, search engine ranking etc.
Very few people take credibility for a specialized issue to deal with; they concentrate their attention rather on the above mentioned factors, most of the time resulting in a failure to complete all the requirements for a credible website.
43 steps to a credible website
Here are some of the most common methods employed by web users in order to make their site more believable; most of them are based on the Stanford University research. What you should notice is the fact that these steps will not necessarily improve your sales, but will aid you in creating a respectful image in eyes of the website visitors.
1. Publish photos of real people (the team you are working with) on your website! This action has two beneficial implications on your business: on the one side, the team you are working with will have a growing self-respect, and on the other side, visitors will think higher of your site. Consequently, the prospect of new clients will also be higher. 2. Give your contact details online! Be sure to introduce in a different section of your website the physical address of your company and also the telephone number; the existence of a real organization (or at least the impression) behind a website is essential.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 2
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
3. Provide the clients with quick, flexible answers to their needs.
Every client needs to be shown respect and care. Make sure you provide them with individual, flexible treatments (auto responders are sometimes annoying). Think there wouldn't be any business, any financial gain on your part but for the clients. In order to have better results in your business, it is highly advisable to be very attentive and respond promptly to their needs.
4. Make your site useful to visitors!
If you have a business and if you have a new website, it can be quite difficult to get customers. A tip that you could consider is the fact that websites have to provide visitors with information they need. So, try not only to promote the product or services you offer, but also give helpful hints on various matters (for instance having a section of articles or of interviews might be a good point to start).
5. Publish information that can be easily verified
Indicating resources or references leading to trustful websites on your web page is certain to persuade clients of your "good intentions" and your position on the market; not only will you prove your "synthetic", and analytical sense, but you will also show interest for placing information in contexts.
6. Update your site on a regular basis
New information always attracts new visitors. Sometimes, adding some indicators (icons, special signs) with the inscription "new" can be a good idea for drawing attention.
7. Design your site in a professional (first and foremost) and aesthetical (second) way
A good website layout is always indicative of a good structural organization. The benefits that are worth considering are: site usability and web credibility. Notice that a beautiful graphic
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 3
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
design will not save a poorly functioning site.
8. Make sure to put your contact details at hand
Sometimes, placing a link with you contact details on top of your website might provide an extra of credibility; web users will spot this information easier. 9. Promote your and other products cautiously!
Most of the time, over usage of ads and promoting materials are not hints of a trustful, reliable website. Moreover, make sure web users are able to differentiate between ads and content!
10. Errors of all types must be avoided
Lack of errors is a sign of trustfulness; researches showed that spelling errors on web sites have a devastating effect on business in general.
11. Convince satisfied customer to give you a testimonial
Posting a favorable citation of one of your satisfied customers on your site implies a huge benefit as far as credibility is concerned. To increase the credibility add the full name, website and company of the client, their picture if possible or even better, a video material.
12. Paraphrase brilliant minds
It is not very important to quote historical personalities; sometimes paraphrasing someone in your field of activity might be even more useful in creating a credible image.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 4
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
13. Invite guests on your site
Having a personality invited to write for your website might be an intelligent step to follow; the process is similar to a transfer of authority - the trust and the notoriety that that certain person has, is given up to you.
14. Answer as many emails as you can
As mentioned before, this action is an indicative of your preoccupation for people. Conversely, failure not to do so might result in a loss of the entire image you have so much fought for, showing infatuation and ignorance.
15. Demonstrate your philanthropy
Charity is the most important aspect that people in general appreciate. If you take into account this problem, more people will get to know you; more will be eager to get in touch with you. Still, making too much fuss about your good deeds is not advisable due again to the prospect that people might regard you as conceited. 16. Ensure you add some terms and conditions on your website!
In this respect, almost always the help of a solicitor is required. Broadly speaking, terms and conditions should tackle aspects like: who is the rightful owner of the material promoted description of services the fact that the rightful owner is entitled to change the content published on the site to whom the site/ program/ service is destined privacy and protection of personal information acceptance of terms ownership of trade marks (different from a company to the other)
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 5
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
Terms and conditions should account for the services provided.
17. Make your contact email address visible
A contact email address such as "[email protected]" is most of the times highly recommended in building up trust because it makes the company "xyz" appear as a sole entity.
18. Submit your site to trustful websites! A good promotion policy is always constructive; people will certainly think higher of your website provided that it is linked or recommended by a website that they already know and they regard it as a trustful source.
19. Link external materials and sources.
Do not use information that you do not own; linking external sites will both prevent the risk of legal action and get you more traffic.
20. Promote your site in a newspaper or media support!
The effect is absolutely evident: notoriety also gets you credibility
21."Rephrase" your web site URL if needed!
Name your site after your company or even better: make a different site for every product or service you have.
22. Change your domain name if necessary
Websites with extensions such as ".com", ".org" or ".eu" are sure to be more effective in gaining more visitors.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 6
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
23. Respect your customers
A satisfied client is the key to more clients; the most important asset in this consists of your positive growing popularity.
24. Make your website's design appropriate for the products/services you are trying to promote!
The style of a web site should be in accordance with the product that you are trying to advertise; this discrepancy should be avoided at all costs because it is certain to lower sales.
25. Make your web pages printer-friendly
Make your site easy to print; finally, it is recommended that you put an icon at the top of the page indicating this aspect.
26. Provide your clients with live-chat!
An online discussion with someone who has a question, is again a factor which improves credibility. 27. Improve your search engine status!
This is maybe the hardest step that you have to deal with in building credibility; a high rank in search engines is quite hard to achieve due to a long and "tiring" process, which involves most of the aspects here mentioned.
28. Do not "oblige" web users to login unless necessary!
Make most of your site available to all visitors. The explanation is based on the researches which proved that sites that required logging in are not very popular (usually because of the long time taken to register for an account)
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 7
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
29. Make sure the content of your web site is easy to download!
Do not put information on your website that takes a lot of space; download speed is of utmost importance.
30. Links in your site must be credible.
Credibility goes like in circle: you are either linked by trustful sites or you are the one to link other sites; both ways are necessary but not sufficient.
31 Make your site usable and easy to navigate
Site usability is very important with a view to make users come back again. Ease of finding information and also good site structure make users believe more in you.
32. Post some information about the author of the site
Mentioning the biography of the site's creator might help you in gaining credibility because the visitors might realize the experience and the legitimacy with which he created the site.
33. Place a search engine on your site.
This will certainly improve the site's accessibility; the web users will find easier the information they need and will come back later again.
34. Rewrite your URLs if necessary
There are two reasons for you to rewrite your URLs. One of them is related to Search Engine Optimization; search engines are much more at ease with URLs that do not have long query strings. Secondly, the search engines can better distinguish folder names and can establish real links to keywords.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 8
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
35."Muliply" your languages!
Make your site available in different languages in order to have more traffic.
36. Replace broken links!
A broken link, as well as spelling errors is a sign of negligence on part of the company behind the webpage.
38. Place ratings and reviews on your website
This could be a good opportunity for your visitors to give you a mark. Be careful: if remarks are rather negative, the effect will reduce your traffic.
39. Display any awards you won! Awards are a kind of recognition of your merits which are certain to increase your notoriety.
40. Send clients emails with the transactions they made!
Users will trust this way your site more; that email will play to some extent the role of a receipt.
41. Be careful with paid subscriptions.
Researches proved that paid access to websites lead in most cases to a loss of credibility.
42. Describe your products thoroughly
Giving your clients all the information they need leads to bigger sales. Create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, in case any additional information is needed. Also make sure you provide an efficient answer to client problems.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 9
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
43. Don't forget about "sense of humor"!
Even if we talk about the most serious website, one cannot forget about this issue; nevertheless, the extent to which this can be used stands for another problem.
Conclusions
All in all, like many aspects of our society, credibility is becoming increasingly important for computer products. In the not-too distant past, computers were seen by the general public as virtually infallible. Today, the assumption that computers are credible seems to be fading away. At the same time, keep in mind that credibility is the result of a time-consuming process, which can be destroyed in the blink of an eye; once lost, credibility is quite hard to be achieved again. The bottom line is that some of the keys of a successful business are: quality of the products/services provided and the "capacity" to keep your word, which might make the difference between you and your competitors.
*** Sign up now for the Avangate Digest Newsletter to keep in touch with the latest trends in the software industry, to find out what the top software people say and recommend, and to get access to resources about shareware industry tools and techniques. E-mail this to a friend ***
Copyright © 2007 www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by a Web Marketing Manager at Avangate B.V. The author has in depth knowledge of internet marketing services and website analysis applied to the software industry and ecommerce development.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 10
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
This article may be reproduced in a website, e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as the above information is included in full, including the link back to this website. Please e-mail at [email protected], before using the article.
***
About Avangate B.V. Avangate B.V. provides solutions for electronic software distribution and reseller management, assisting software companies worldwide in successfully selling their products online and at the same time efficiently managing a distribution network. The company’s offer includes an eCommerce platform incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus software marketing services and additional marketing and sales tools such as an affiliate network, automated cross selling options, software promotion management, real time reporting, 24/7 shopper support, and the myAvangate reseller management program specifically designed for software sales. More information can be found on the corporate website, at www.avangate.com Avangate B.V. Van Heuven Goedhartlaan 937, 1181 LD Amstelveen, The Netherlands Tel: +31 208908080 Fax: +31 202031309 Web: www.avangate.com Email: [email protected]
.member of GECAD Group, delivering innovative IT solutions Worldwide since 1992
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 11
Published date: June 04, 2007
How to Improve Website Credibility
43 Steps to achieve site credibility
Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager, Avangate B.V. Website Usability, Published date: June 04, 2007
Web credibility has become a very important topic today. The fact that you have a site should not make you rest on your laurels. In these times, where facts are certainly more important than promises; if you have an online business, one of the most important matters that you should give due consideration is online credibility: you have to persuade web visitors that there is truly something worth wild behind a good-looking, usable website: you have to convince the visitors that the image you try to promote is trustful and that you intend to keep your promises advertised on the internet. Generally speaking, credibility results from evaluating multiple dimensions simultaneously; most of researchers identify "trustworthiness" and "expertise" as the two main components of credibility. At the same time, it's important to differentiate between trust, which is related more to "dependability" and credibility, which is connected to the idea of "believability". Gaining online credibility is indeed a difficult task, but necessary in order to have a successful online business. Researches conducted among common web users proved much reticence in buying or doing business on the internet (the Stanford-Makovsky University demonstrated in 2002 on a sample of 1481 people that only 52, 8% believe online information to be credible).
Why is credibility important?
Credibility is essential in order to make people: register, click on your ads, download software, resort to your services and so on. Therefore, website credibility can be identified to some extent with the idea of a successful business. Credibility is vital in order to make users return to your page.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 1
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
On the other hand, when talking about this matter, it's worth mentioning that credibility is quite a general term comprising many factors like: usability, accessibility, security, search engine ranking etc.
Very few people take credibility for a specialized issue to deal with; they concentrate their attention rather on the above mentioned factors, most of the time resulting in a failure to complete all the requirements for a credible website.
43 steps to a credible website
Here are some of the most common methods employed by web users in order to make their site more believable; most of them are based on the Stanford University research. What you should notice is the fact that these steps will not necessarily improve your sales, but will aid you in creating a respectful image in eyes of the website visitors.
1. Publish photos of real people (the team you are working with) on your website! This action has two beneficial implications on your business: on the one side, the team you are working with will have a growing self-respect, and on the other side, visitors will think higher of your site. Consequently, the prospect of new clients will also be higher. 2. Give your contact details online! Be sure to introduce in a different section of your website the physical address of your company and also the telephone number; the existence of a real organization (or at least the impression) behind a website is essential.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 2
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
3. Provide the clients with quick, flexible answers to their needs.
Every client needs to be shown respect and care. Make sure you provide them with individual, flexible treatments (auto responders are sometimes annoying). Think there wouldn't be any business, any financial gain on your part but for the clients. In order to have better results in your business, it is highly advisable to be very attentive and respond promptly to their needs.
4. Make your site useful to visitors!
If you have a business and if you have a new website, it can be quite difficult to get customers. A tip that you could consider is the fact that websites have to provide visitors with information they need. So, try not only to promote the product or services you offer, but also give helpful hints on various matters (for instance having a section of articles or of interviews might be a good point to start).
5. Publish information that can be easily verified
Indicating resources or references leading to trustful websites on your web page is certain to persuade clients of your "good intentions" and your position on the market; not only will you prove your "synthetic", and analytical sense, but you will also show interest for placing information in contexts.
6. Update your site on a regular basis
New information always attracts new visitors. Sometimes, adding some indicators (icons, special signs) with the inscription "new" can be a good idea for drawing attention.
7. Design your site in a professional (first and foremost) and aesthetical (second) way
A good website layout is always indicative of a good structural organization. The benefits that are worth considering are: site usability and web credibility. Notice that a beautiful graphic
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 3
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
design will not save a poorly functioning site.
8. Make sure to put your contact details at hand
Sometimes, placing a link with you contact details on top of your website might provide an extra of credibility; web users will spot this information easier. 9. Promote your and other products cautiously!
Most of the time, over usage of ads and promoting materials are not hints of a trustful, reliable website. Moreover, make sure web users are able to differentiate between ads and content!
10. Errors of all types must be avoided
Lack of errors is a sign of trustfulness; researches showed that spelling errors on web sites have a devastating effect on business in general.
11. Convince satisfied customer to give you a testimonial
Posting a favorable citation of one of your satisfied customers on your site implies a huge benefit as far as credibility is concerned. To increase the credibility add the full name, website and company of the client, their picture if possible or even better, a video material.
12. Paraphrase brilliant minds
It is not very important to quote historical personalities; sometimes paraphrasing someone in your field of activity might be even more useful in creating a credible image.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 4
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
13. Invite guests on your site
Having a personality invited to write for your website might be an intelligent step to follow; the process is similar to a transfer of authority - the trust and the notoriety that that certain person has, is given up to you.
14. Answer as many emails as you can
As mentioned before, this action is an indicative of your preoccupation for people. Conversely, failure not to do so might result in a loss of the entire image you have so much fought for, showing infatuation and ignorance.
15. Demonstrate your philanthropy
Charity is the most important aspect that people in general appreciate. If you take into account this problem, more people will get to know you; more will be eager to get in touch with you. Still, making too much fuss about your good deeds is not advisable due again to the prospect that people might regard you as conceited. 16. Ensure you add some terms and conditions on your website!
In this respect, almost always the help of a solicitor is required. Broadly speaking, terms and conditions should tackle aspects like: who is the rightful owner of the material promoted description of services the fact that the rightful owner is entitled to change the content published on the site to whom the site/ program/ service is destined privacy and protection of personal information acceptance of terms ownership of trade marks (different from a company to the other)
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 5
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
Terms and conditions should account for the services provided.
17. Make your contact email address visible
A contact email address such as "[email protected]" is most of the times highly recommended in building up trust because it makes the company "xyz" appear as a sole entity.
18. Submit your site to trustful websites! A good promotion policy is always constructive; people will certainly think higher of your website provided that it is linked or recommended by a website that they already know and they regard it as a trustful source.
19. Link external materials and sources.
Do not use information that you do not own; linking external sites will both prevent the risk of legal action and get you more traffic.
20. Promote your site in a newspaper or media support!
The effect is absolutely evident: notoriety also gets you credibility
21."Rephrase" your web site URL if needed!
Name your site after your company or even better: make a different site for every product or service you have.
22. Change your domain name if necessary
Websites with extensions such as ".com", ".org" or ".eu" are sure to be more effective in gaining more visitors.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 6
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
23. Respect your customers
A satisfied client is the key to more clients; the most important asset in this consists of your positive growing popularity.
24. Make your website's design appropriate for the products/services you are trying to promote!
The style of a web site should be in accordance with the product that you are trying to advertise; this discrepancy should be avoided at all costs because it is certain to lower sales.
25. Make your web pages printer-friendly
Make your site easy to print; finally, it is recommended that you put an icon at the top of the page indicating this aspect.
26. Provide your clients with live-chat!
An online discussion with someone who has a question, is again a factor which improves credibility. 27. Improve your search engine status!
This is maybe the hardest step that you have to deal with in building credibility; a high rank in search engines is quite hard to achieve due to a long and "tiring" process, which involves most of the aspects here mentioned.
28. Do not "oblige" web users to login unless necessary!
Make most of your site available to all visitors. The explanation is based on the researches which proved that sites that required logging in are not very popular (usually because of the long time taken to register for an account)
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 7
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
29. Make sure the content of your web site is easy to download!
Do not put information on your website that takes a lot of space; download speed is of utmost importance.
30. Links in your site must be credible.
Credibility goes like in circle: you are either linked by trustful sites or you are the one to link other sites; both ways are necessary but not sufficient.
31 Make your site usable and easy to navigate
Site usability is very important with a view to make users come back again. Ease of finding information and also good site structure make users believe more in you.
32. Post some information about the author of the site
Mentioning the biography of the site's creator might help you in gaining credibility because the visitors might realize the experience and the legitimacy with which he created the site.
33. Place a search engine on your site.
This will certainly improve the site's accessibility; the web users will find easier the information they need and will come back later again.
34. Rewrite your URLs if necessary
There are two reasons for you to rewrite your URLs. One of them is related to Search Engine Optimization; search engines are much more at ease with URLs that do not have long query strings. Secondly, the search engines can better distinguish folder names and can establish real links to keywords.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 8
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
35."Muliply" your languages!
Make your site available in different languages in order to have more traffic.
36. Replace broken links!
A broken link, as well as spelling errors is a sign of negligence on part of the company behind the webpage.
38. Place ratings and reviews on your website
This could be a good opportunity for your visitors to give you a mark. Be careful: if remarks are rather negative, the effect will reduce your traffic.
39. Display any awards you won! Awards are a kind of recognition of your merits which are certain to increase your notoriety.
40. Send clients emails with the transactions they made!
Users will trust this way your site more; that email will play to some extent the role of a receipt.
41. Be careful with paid subscriptions.
Researches proved that paid access to websites lead in most cases to a loss of credibility.
42. Describe your products thoroughly
Giving your clients all the information they need leads to bigger sales. Create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, in case any additional information is needed. Also make sure you provide an efficient answer to client problems.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 9
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
43. Don't forget about "sense of humor"!
Even if we talk about the most serious website, one cannot forget about this issue; nevertheless, the extent to which this can be used stands for another problem.
Conclusions
All in all, like many aspects of our society, credibility is becoming increasingly important for computer products. In the not-too distant past, computers were seen by the general public as virtually infallible. Today, the assumption that computers are credible seems to be fading away. At the same time, keep in mind that credibility is the result of a time-consuming process, which can be destroyed in the blink of an eye; once lost, credibility is quite hard to be achieved again. The bottom line is that some of the keys of a successful business are: quality of the products/services provided and the "capacity" to keep your word, which might make the difference between you and your competitors.
*** Sign up now for the Avangate Digest Newsletter to keep in touch with the latest trends in the software industry, to find out what the top software people say and recommend, and to get access to resources about shareware industry tools and techniques. E-mail this to a friend ***
Copyright © 2007 www.avangate.com all rights reserved. This article was written by a Web Marketing Manager at Avangate B.V. The author has in depth knowledge of internet marketing services and website analysis applied to the software industry and ecommerce development.
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com page 10
Website Usability
Published date: June 04, 2007
This article may be reproduced in a website, e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as the above information is included in full, including the link back to this website. Please e-mail at [email protected], before using the article.
***
About Avangate B.V. Avangate B.V. provides solutions for electronic software distribution and reseller management, assisting software companies worldwide in successfully selling their products online and at the same time efficiently managing a distribution network. The company’s offer includes an eCommerce platform incorporating an easy to use and secure online payment system plus software marketing services and additional marketing and sales tools such as an affiliate network, automated cross selling options, software promotion management, real time reporting, 24/7 shopper support, and the myAvangate reseller management program specifically designed for software sales. More information can be found on the corporate website, at www.avangate.com Avangate B.V. Van Heuven Goedhartlaan 937, 1181 LD Amstelveen, The Netherlands Tel: +31 208908080 Fax: +31 202031309 Web: www.avangate.com Email: [email protected]
.member of GECAD Group, delivering innovative IT solutions Worldwide since 1992
© 2007 Avangate B.V. www.avangate.com
page 11
