14 Steps To A Trustworthy Website
By: Maria Marsala maria@coachmaria.com
Have you ever visited a web site and been attacked by screaming pop-up ads, gotten lost in a clutter of banner ads, had things flash and go boom? And have you ever visited a site that was informative, easy to navigate and generally pleasant to peruse?
Which site gained your trust? Which site would you revisit? The more user-friendly building tools you use on your site, the more trust will be developed with your viewers. With this in mind, here are expert tips for making your online store trustworthy...
Purchase an appropriate domain name Paying for your own domain name builds trust and is professional looking. Your own domain name will be - free of all advertisements (except products you sell or recommend). You want to sell your visitors on the content of your site - not the products of other advertisers.
Use domain name email addresses When searching for a host for your site, look for packages that include POP3 accounts (preferred) and alias accounts (second in line). This will enable you to send email from your site (you@yourbusiness.com) which looks much more professional than you@freeemailaccount.com It is easier to trust someone who has evidently made an investment in their business.
Include contact information Provide phone numbers, hours of operation (including time zone), a business mailing address and an email address. PO Boxes are not considered addresses. Many companies won't deliver to PO Boxes, and many visitors won't purchase from you if you use one. Work from home? Add a suite or building number to your home/apartment. Or use a mail forwarding service for a real address.
Add contact links Place at least one way for your visitors to contact you on each page and place your Webmaster's contact information on at least the bottom of the front page. This way your visitors can request information from you, and if there is a problem with your site, they can write to the Webmaster. Even if you and the Webmaster are the same person, place the Webmaster's email address on the site.
Keep your content updated To be current, the content of your site must be no more than 6 months old. The pages must include an up-to-date "Last Updated _________". Even if you don't change the site information (because it is completely correct and updated) do keep the date updated.
Include a personal touch Provide an "About Me/Us" page. Provide the names of the owner, president, executives, and staff on the contact page. Include individual and group pictures, small biographies if relevant, and email addresses where they can be quickly contacted. Don't make it look as though your site's owners want to be anonymous, which obviously generates suspicions.
Avoid enter pages and splash screens Do you have an "Enter page" or splash screen on the front of your site? If so, delete it now! You will lose visitors who want information quickly because they'll go to a rival site instead. Worse than an enter page is an enter page that forces someone to download a program such as Flash. If you want to use the option of Flash pages, fancy pointers etc., give visitors the option of viewing them. Don't force them to download any programs.
Cater to everyone Include tags with your images to assist those with sight disabilities and the hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who use library-based text-only computer software and Web browsers.
Make it quick Ensure that a majority of your pages load in less then 20 seconds with a 56K modem. Most visitors will not have the patience to stick around much longer than that and will simply move on. A site that loads quickly and is neatly designed, will show that you are a professional company. It will also boost confidence in your potential buyers.
Request recommendations Ask your clients for testimonials and permission to use their whole name on your Web site. If they don't feel comfortable doing so, find others who will.
Link it Make sure that links within your site work. Ask your Web designer to design an interesting "error" page that will allow your visitors to get back on track if a page they bookmarked no longer exists. Make sure that links to sites outside your website work. Download a links checker and use it monthly. Sometimes you'll find that you've linked within your site to a page you've moved or removed. Other times you'll find that pages outside your site have disappeared or are changed.
Spell it right If you want your site to be as professional as it could be, put each page though a spell checker or hire an excellent proofreader. Don't underestimate the value of a properly spelled site.
Provide guarantees If you have a money back guarantee on your service or product, say so. If you don't, say so. Do guarantees include or exclude returning the shipping or handling fees? How about a privacy policy for your newsletter emailing list or code of ethics? Clearly place any type of guarantee on your site.
Secure purchases When you purchase from the best sites, the site owner will provide you with the most secure purchase program available. This includes a secure server, secure gateway, and information that informs you that your purchase is as secure as is currently possible. When you are taken to another website to make your purchase, notice if the new site mentions that it's been secured. If it doesn't say so, go find the product on a site that does.
© Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved. Maria Marsala, Business & Life Coach-Consultant. Maria works with successful individuals as they take their success to an even higher level. Subscribe to "Helping You and Your Business Grow" our free weekly online newsletter or download our free business ebook at http://www.CoachMaria.com/ebook/download.html
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More How To Articles
More By Developer Shed
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
Hold your calendar on January 30, 2008 for this free webcast on the new i5/OS. Rational's Enterprise Modernization products will be discussed at this webcast as they help to drive the application development environment for this new System i OS. <br />And learn how i5/OS will take you to the next step of efficient, resilient business processing. You will hear about the new i5/OS capabilities as it will be the most significant i5/OS release in years. If you cannot join the webcast on 1/30/08 you can still use this link to listen to the replay.<br />
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
David Barnes, Lead Evangelist for IBM Emerging Internet Technologies will discuss aspects of Web 2.0 that bring value to corporations, academia, and government. He'll also discuss IBM's vision around Web 2.0, including the importance of remixability and consumability. The discussion will culminate with examples of various IBM Software Group solutions you can use to get ahead of the Web 2.0 adoption curve.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Achieving true agility is a never-ending effort. We will showcase how you can become agile incrementally, a few practices at the time.Which practices should any agile team strive to adopt? What additional practices should you consider based on your needs to scale? Adopting practices are however made much easier with the right tool support. What about if your tools adapt to your practices? We will take a look at how the Jazz technology can be leveraged to make your process change the behavior of your tools.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial version of WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6.1.1, IBM’s premier business process modeling and analysis tool for business users that offers process modeling, simulation, and analysis capabilities. IBM WebSphere Business Modeler helps you visualize, understand, and document business processes for continuous improvement.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this webcast to see how IBM Data Studio Developer and pureQuery can take the pain out of Java data access. uApplications developed using both Java and SQL have become a common requirement. Database connectivity using Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) to create an application is a multi-step tedious process, and tooling that covers both SQL and Java has been unavailable, until now. IBM Data Studio introduces the pureQuery platform: a high-performance, Java data access platform focused on simplifying the tasks of developing, managing, and optimizing database applications and services.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on December 6 at 1:00 pm ET to participate in an agile application development discussion and get your questions answered on using IBM Rational Method Composer in a distributed environment.Get your questions answered!
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Try the latest version of IBM Rational Manual Tester V7.0.1 by downloading a free trial from IBM developerWorks. This manual test authoring and execution tool promotes test step reuse to reduce the impact of software change on testers and business analysts and addresses the needs of teams performing at least a portion of their testing manually.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference, to hear how Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) eliminates the need for tedious and error-prone low level coding, so developers can focus on business requirements. EGL extends the Rational software development platform with a simplified programming language that enables developers who have little or no experience with Java, Web technologies or Service Oriented Architecture, to create enterprise-class applications and services quickly and easily. It also allows developers who may have little or no mainframe programming experience to quickly create traditional mainframe components.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
With IBM Rational Systems Development Solution, you can deliver products faster with higher quality. Within this kit, Read the “Model Driven Systems Development” white paper to see how to improve product quality and communication. Then check out the rest of the e-Kit to learn more about important topics that can affect the success of any software project through customer examples, tutorials, informative Webcasts, and best practices for designing, building and managing systems. From start to finish, at every stage in your projects, Rational Systems Development Solution can help your company reach its full potential.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
