As I browse the internet for various reasons I encounter sites which want to send me running for the hills. Others though make me want to travel across the nation or to different countries to visit their business and become their newest friend. How is this best achieved?
There are some trusty guidelines to develop your online credibility and if you plan to sell online this is probably one of the more crucial articles you might encounter which can set your business apart from the mediocre allowing business to outshine others. Certainly the goal is for you to have a better website, sell more online and/or receive more customers and consignors.
The first 10 tips I’ve suggested come from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, Stanford University – I’ve added my own suggestions (bold and italicized) at the end of each tip.
1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site. You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material.
Linking to credible information helps to increase your credibility and thus your website, simply owing to the laws of association. If someone you know recommends a great resource then you’ll hold that resource in higher regard. Linking to support organizations, resource organizations or trade associations is an example – How To Consign and NARTS are wonderful examples.
2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site. Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site’s credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your business or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.
For many resale businesses who have a website online, you won’t be selling merchandise online, but what you’ll be selling instead is your image. Taking advantage of all these tips will further polish your image, it will provide the whole rather than simply just pieces of information. If you’re selling merchandise online, before someone buys from you they want to make sure you’re an established company and that you wont suddenly vanish overnight. By showing people you have a real store, real employees and a phone number you’re answering the “what if…” questions that all new visitors to your website will be asking themselves.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide. Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don’t link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.
The easiest way to do this is by writing or offering articles or starting a blog on topics that relate to your business. For resale businesses, this can easily be accomplished through some of the products provided on TGTBT. Provide an article on getting spots out of clothing, how to become a “greener” family and so on.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site. The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies.
If you’ve employees each of them brings talents and skills to the table. Maybe, one has a knack for display – let her or him write a small article on your blog. Or, on top of this you can give each employee a contributor status on your blog with their own category. Let them post about their likes, holidays, hobbies, etc. This helps to convey that you are in fact people and not simply a website or business. Each person on a blog will build their own following – much like in your actual B& M business.
5. Make it easy to contact you. A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
I’m still surprised at the number of websites I see that don’t contain clear and concise contact information where the only way to contact someone is through a website form. If you place an ad in the newspaper do you leave this information off? Your website is a 24/7 ad for your business. Make it easy for the potential customer to connect with you.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose). We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose.
Your businesses image is translated through your website. If you’re creating your own site using a hosting template or even a website designer and be sure it reflects your business. If you’re using outdated clip art as graphics, that will be the image you’re portraying. Speak to some professionals about updating your graphics or your logo and your layout in general. Your site should have an intuitive flow for your customers. Overall your goal is for your website to look more credible which will result in more trust and thus more customers.
7. Make your site easy to use — and useful. We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.
One of the best ways to make sure your site is useable is by copying the big guys in the way that they layout their website navigation, pages, links and images. Look at Microsoft.com, Yahoo.com, Google.com and CNN.com to name a few. However, not everything on all those websites will work. Keep in mind, none of those use the website toys – for example – music, not even the websites which sell music use music.
You’ll notice, information is highlighted to peak interest. If you are interested, you can click to fulfill that interest, if you’re not interested, you don’t have to wade through that information to get to the next topic which may peak your interest.
Think of each page as a filing cabinet drawer – folders of information is highlighted through graphics and a few lines of information to reflect the purpose or information.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently). People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.
Again, a blog is a great way to do this. No matter how unimportant you think something is, it’s always better to post something over nothing. Post news about your company, talk about new trends in the industry or your local area, talk about products, services, new employees and even events taking place in your local area.
9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers). If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.
This is one of the most important pieces of advice for anyone involved in the world of online marketing and sales. Keep the credibility of your website high at all times, avoiding annoying intrusive ads at all costs. This isn’t generally a problem, within the resale industry, Sometimes, though, we’re lured by the thought of our “website earning it’s keep”. No matter your investment in your website, it’s existence alone means that it’s earning it’s keep by getting the word out and being your 24/7 customer service rep. It’s the cheapest wages you’ll ever pay. And, there’s no workers’ comp you have to pay. 
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem. Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to keep your site up and running.
It’s easy to run your site through a spell checker – even if you copy and paste into Microsoft Word. It takes just a few minutes and can make all the difference during those important first impressions. It’s also important to make sure your links are not broken. Websites change and so do their links. Check the links regularly. If you’re doing an overhaul on your site, do it offline and then upload the new and fresh content. Don’t ever take your site down for an overhaul.
In conclusion, this article is an example of something “you” can do on your own website or blog. Utilize a credible source and expand upon it to your customers/clients/consignors. Site your source and add your own two cents. I hope this article inspires you to take a look at your own website and ask the critical question – is your website credible. Once a website has credibility there’s no end to what you can accomplish. Credibility is worth more than you can image.
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jumped out at me as really perfect for both the guests and the wedding party and ultimately the photographer was this: As I signed the guest book I spied a business card of the photographer with the website address to see candid photos of the wedding on his website the next evening. How cool was that… well, maybe it’s been going on for awhile – I haven’t been to too many weddings. 
With the click of a mouse and the great use of overlay (in tweetdeck) – tempting photos of products she’d described in her tweet were on my screen.