Vital Components to the Success of a Website
| Category: Website Design and Development | Date: 2003-10-08 |
When was the last time you ever did business with someone you didnt trust? When did you last do business with someone that you suspected of being dishonest? Never ...
This is because trust and credibility are crucial in any business transaction. In fact, engendering these qualities in your visitor is perhaps the most important aspect of running a commercial website. Without building trust or credibility, youll never be able to sell your product(s) or service(s). This is because your potential customer has no idea who theyre dealing with, what your reputation is and if theyre going to get what they expect. If they cant trust you, why would they pick you instead of someone who they can trust?
So, to help you create a trusting environment on your website, Ive compiled a list of ten things you can do:
1 - Dont make outrageous claims.
This one is common sense, but you would be surprised at how many people break this rule. For example, have you ever
visited a site thats *obviously* been built for a little "mom and pop" shop that claims theyre "The #1 Blah Blah Blah in
America," the "The Best on the Planet" or something similar? And what impression does that leave with you? Probably that these people dont know what theyre doing or are not to be trusted. Therefore, be reasonable with what you say, because people wont believe you otherwise.
2 - Check for and correct any grammar or spelling errors.
Ive said this many times before, but its SO important that the content of your site is essentially flawless. Nothing says, "Were not to be trusted!" better than some spelling and grammar errors. To correct this problem, its best to get several people to read through your site and point out any errors they see. Also, ALWAYS run any content youve made through a spell checker immediately before posting it.
3 - Give a risk-free guarantee on your product or services (and make it "no questions asked").
Think about the beauty of this tactic. It does two things for you right away. First of all, it removes any risk for the customer, so they are usually far more likely to buy. Secondly, it builds trust because the customer assumes that if youre offering a "no questions asked" guarantee, youre willing to trust them. And if youre willing to trust them, theyre usually willing to trust you!
4 - Publish a free newsletter.
Its been proven that it usually takes multiple exposures to a product or service before someone will buy it. By running a
free newsletter, you can gain those needed exposures. In the process of exposing those potential clients to your product or service repeatedly, you can also build trust with your newsletter if your content is valuable. If youve got something valuable and helpful to say, people will see you as an expert in your field and therefore trust you.
5 - Use testimonials!
I cant stress how important putting testimonials on your website is. If people can see proof that youve made previous customers happy, they almost always trust you. However, in order for this to be effective, youve got to do several things: First, NEVER make up testimonials. Second, make sure the testimonials are specific about how you helped the customer or client instead of something general like, "You guys are great!" Something like that is not specific enough. A testimonial like this could be far more effective: "You guys helped me generate over 300% my previous sales through your [insert product here]! Thanks!" Third, make sure the people providing the testimonials are easy to contact either via an email address or with a website address.
6 - Provide visitors with plenty of contact information.
Many online businesses are fly-by-night companies who are here today and gone tomorrow. People are especially scared of getting cheated by one of these companies or people. In order to assuage their fears, make your contact information readily available for viewing at all times. You should ALWAYS include your phone number, address and email addresses in an easily accessible section of your website.
7 - Let people get to know who you are.
A perfect way to go about doing this is to have an "About Us" page that gives a bit of background on all the members of your company or business. This is effective because the Internet is a very impersonal medium. Adding information about who you are often warms people up to your offer; they feel like theyre dealing with a real person instead of a computer screen. And people are far more easy to trust than a sales pitch.
8 - Take the "honest" approach from time to time.
Its somewhat difficult to convey to you exactly what you should do to accomplish this. But the concept is pretty simple... You dont always have to try to "sell" your visitor on your product or service. Try being honest and up-front with your visitors and potential customers. For a good example what Im talking about, just visit my site at http://sybren.net/.
Youll see that in places, Im very blunt about what were trying to accomplish and how we can help you. By trying to avoid "hyping" the visitor, I often gain their trust.
9 - Write articles for other websites and newsletters related to your field of expertise.
When someone reads your informative and enlightening article on a topic they need help with, they immediately regard you as an expert and feel as though they can trust you. When youve engendered their trust, and they are already interested in the type of product or service you offer, its VERY easy to make a sale. Often, all you have to do is get them to your website!
10 - Make your site look like it was made by a pro!
If you visited a run-down, nasty store with dusty shelves and cluttered items, youd never buy one thing from them, even if their prices were incredible and their product quite good. If your website is "virtually" run-down, the same things going to happen -- no one will buy from you. Youve got to look good to sell well, because image is almost everything on the Internet. So get your site designed by a pro or invest some time learning how to make it look good by yourself. (For more help on this, check out http://www.sitepoint.com/.) If you dont do this, youll never reap the full potential of the Internet.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help you on your way to becoming an online success (or more of one if you already are).
About the Contributor
Micah Cranman owns and operates Sybren Design, a web design firm specializing in design for smaller businesses and
companies. Visit sybren.net/ today for more information on how Micah can help you build an attractive. Professionally designed and thoroughly effective website.
:To contact see details below.
http://sybren.net/
This is because trust and credibility are crucial in any business transaction. In fact, engendering these qualities in your visitor is perhaps the most important aspect of running a commercial website. Without building trust or credibility, youll never be able to sell your product(s) or service(s). This is because your potential customer has no idea who theyre dealing with, what your reputation is and if theyre going to get what they expect. If they cant trust you, why would they pick you instead of someone who they can trust?
So, to help you create a trusting environment on your website, Ive compiled a list of ten things you can do:
1 - Dont make outrageous claims.
This one is common sense, but you would be surprised at how many people break this rule. For example, have you ever
visited a site thats *obviously* been built for a little "mom and pop" shop that claims theyre "The #1 Blah Blah Blah in
America," the "The Best on the Planet" or something similar? And what impression does that leave with you? Probably that these people dont know what theyre doing or are not to be trusted. Therefore, be reasonable with what you say, because people wont believe you otherwise.
2 - Check for and correct any grammar or spelling errors.
Ive said this many times before, but its SO important that the content of your site is essentially flawless. Nothing says, "Were not to be trusted!" better than some spelling and grammar errors. To correct this problem, its best to get several people to read through your site and point out any errors they see. Also, ALWAYS run any content youve made through a spell checker immediately before posting it.
3 - Give a risk-free guarantee on your product or services (and make it "no questions asked").
Think about the beauty of this tactic. It does two things for you right away. First of all, it removes any risk for the customer, so they are usually far more likely to buy. Secondly, it builds trust because the customer assumes that if youre offering a "no questions asked" guarantee, youre willing to trust them. And if youre willing to trust them, theyre usually willing to trust you!
4 - Publish a free newsletter.
Its been proven that it usually takes multiple exposures to a product or service before someone will buy it. By running a
free newsletter, you can gain those needed exposures. In the process of exposing those potential clients to your product or service repeatedly, you can also build trust with your newsletter if your content is valuable. If youve got something valuable and helpful to say, people will see you as an expert in your field and therefore trust you.
5 - Use testimonials!
I cant stress how important putting testimonials on your website is. If people can see proof that youve made previous customers happy, they almost always trust you. However, in order for this to be effective, youve got to do several things: First, NEVER make up testimonials. Second, make sure the testimonials are specific about how you helped the customer or client instead of something general like, "You guys are great!" Something like that is not specific enough. A testimonial like this could be far more effective: "You guys helped me generate over 300% my previous sales through your [insert product here]! Thanks!" Third, make sure the people providing the testimonials are easy to contact either via an email address or with a website address.
6 - Provide visitors with plenty of contact information.
Many online businesses are fly-by-night companies who are here today and gone tomorrow. People are especially scared of getting cheated by one of these companies or people. In order to assuage their fears, make your contact information readily available for viewing at all times. You should ALWAYS include your phone number, address and email addresses in an easily accessible section of your website.
7 - Let people get to know who you are.
A perfect way to go about doing this is to have an "About Us" page that gives a bit of background on all the members of your company or business. This is effective because the Internet is a very impersonal medium. Adding information about who you are often warms people up to your offer; they feel like theyre dealing with a real person instead of a computer screen. And people are far more easy to trust than a sales pitch.
8 - Take the "honest" approach from time to time.
Its somewhat difficult to convey to you exactly what you should do to accomplish this. But the concept is pretty simple... You dont always have to try to "sell" your visitor on your product or service. Try being honest and up-front with your visitors and potential customers. For a good example what Im talking about, just visit my site at http://sybren.net/.
Youll see that in places, Im very blunt about what were trying to accomplish and how we can help you. By trying to avoid "hyping" the visitor, I often gain their trust.
9 - Write articles for other websites and newsletters related to your field of expertise.
When someone reads your informative and enlightening article on a topic they need help with, they immediately regard you as an expert and feel as though they can trust you. When youve engendered their trust, and they are already interested in the type of product or service you offer, its VERY easy to make a sale. Often, all you have to do is get them to your website!
10 - Make your site look like it was made by a pro!
If you visited a run-down, nasty store with dusty shelves and cluttered items, youd never buy one thing from them, even if their prices were incredible and their product quite good. If your website is "virtually" run-down, the same things going to happen -- no one will buy from you. Youve got to look good to sell well, because image is almost everything on the Internet. So get your site designed by a pro or invest some time learning how to make it look good by yourself. (For more help on this, check out http://www.sitepoint.com/.) If you dont do this, youll never reap the full potential of the Internet.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help you on your way to becoming an online success (or more of one if you already are).
About the Contributor
Micah Cranman owns and operates Sybren Design, a web design firm specializing in design for smaller businesses and
companies. Visit sybren.net/ today for more information on how Micah can help you build an attractive. Professionally designed and thoroughly effective website.
:To contact see details below.
http://sybren.net/
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