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Website Credibility
Evaluating Internet Sites for Credibility or Validity
 

I had an email conversation recently with a gentleman who requested my free SEO help files. He has a nice looking site - off to a good start. Needs some optimization help, which can be done.

I told him his website was missing one of the most important things for a new business, online or otherwise: CREDIBILITY.

No place on his web can you find a human name, a phone number, a direct email address, a street address or city. No way to make contact except through a contact form. I have no idea who the web belongs to or where they are. I don't know who I might be doing business with if I like his services.  There is no way of evaluating who he is.

Website credibility is a crucial part of conversions to inquiries and sales.  Great web usability and SEO are wasted if folks who visit your web can't tell that you are worthy of their trust.

Stanford University compiled a list of 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a web site. These guidelines are based on three years of research and on several studies about that topic. Although the information in the Stanford list is not new, it is still very important if you want to be successful with your web site (and your business).

Why is credibility important?

Your web site visitors must have trust in your company. It's pointless to spend a lot of work on getting visitors from search engines if these visitors don't convert to sales. People like to do business with people! Well, perhaps not if you are a used hybrid car salesman. :)

The Stanford guidelines for website credibility:

  • Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
     

  • Show that there's a real organization behind your site (and if it is just you and your dog at the moment, that's OK)
     

  • Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
     

  • Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
     

  • Make it easy to contact you.
     

  • Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
     

  • Make your site easy to use -- and useful.
     

  • Update your site's content often (at least show it's been reviewed recently).
     

  • Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
     

  • Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

Details of the study and research references are available at Stanford's website:

http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html

I think sustainable business marketing of the present and future should be and will be a different place than the cold corporate monolithic word of today? I sure as heck hope so. How we choose to make ourselves credible will make a big difference.

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