Determining Your Websites “Validation” Point: How
by Pete Prestipino
Most unsuccessful webmasters/site owners spend thousands of dollars on design, development, marketing/promotions, optimization and advertising with out giving any thought to whether they would trust their own site when it comes to buying products or services online or even sharing information with that site.
If you aren’t getting the return on investment that you set out to attain, consider determining your web businesses Validation Point - the degree that a user believes your message and the point at which they are ready to trust you enough to take you up on your unique proposition. By understanding some very basic principles about human behavior we can learn what it takes to become “valid” in the eyes of prospects.
----------------------------------------------------------------
How do Users Find You?
Surfers tend to trust websites that they find nearer the top of search return lists or through respected site that they are familiar with.
Traditional Search Engines:
Since premium placement in search engines is difficult (if not in some cases impossible) to attain, sites that appear in the 20th, 30th, or even 1000th spot really have to make an extended effort to show not only that their products are of equal or greater value but that their business meets or exceeds the visitors expectations.
Standard Link Referrals:
Traffic sent from other websites is also a valuable commodity. When webmasters or site owners believe enough in what you offer to feature your site in their newsletter or within their Web pages, you build credibility and trust in the eyes of prospects. By building your overall Internet popularity, your reputation will precede you as a business that offers premium products, services or information.
Are You Real, Virtual or Both?
While e-commerce technology has come a long way since its first implementation, most people still would prefer to make purchases in person or at least speak with someone on the phone. This gives the prospect the sense they are receiving personal attention. Since sites that offer addresses and phone numbers typically perform on a higher level, it is important to express to visitors critical information such as details about the company, contact information and easy to understand privacy policies. These are important parts of a website because open system almost always outperform closed ones. Who would you trust more: the person selling watches from a storefront or the one selling them front the trunk of their car?
Do others find you Trustworthy?
One of the most profound mistakes web site owners and managers make is not proving their trustworthiness to their visitors. Sites that sell successfully online realize the importance of earning visitors' trust through a policy of open communication. By providing secure billing pages and explaining and abiding by the content within your sites' privacy policies, earning trust with prospects becomes exponentially simpler.
Finding the secret to being trustworthy is more simple that most people think. By being what users expect you to be (honest, truthful, reliable, dependable) you increase the chances that you will earn visitors trust. The next time you look at your site, ask yourself, "Do I trust this business?"
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you think your website could use third party validation to build trust with your prospects, sign up at ValidatedSite.com.
| 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!
|
Join this webcast, to learn how the Rational Process Library can help with compliance issues, drive process improvement, and assist in service-oriented architecture (SOA) or Agile development. We will take a peek into the Rational Process Library with content around software and systems engineering (including RUP), operations and systems management, program and portfolio management, and asset and SOA governance.
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!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial of the Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) Toolkit. The HATS toolkit provides a set of plug-ins for the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform to help you easily extend your legacy applications. HATS makes your 3270 and 5250 applications available as HTML through the most popular Web browsers, while converting your host screens to a Web look and feel and it also enables you to develop new Web, portal, and rich-client applications.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Analysts, architects, and developers who have existing COBOL or PL/I skills and want to extend those skills to deploy new workloads on the mainframe can use the IBM Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for System z to find hands-on walkthroughs of common real world scenarios. The scenarios provide examples of how to rapidly design, create, assemble, test, and deploy high-quality Web, Web services, portal, and SOA applications for IBM CICS, IBM IMS, and IBM WebSphere Application Server.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
XML has become a common way of storing business data as flat files and many data server vendors including IBM have provided ways to store this data within relational database systems. Increasingly collections of XML files are accessed like databases using an xQuery and other XML standard mechanisms. Businesses find the need to combine the traditional tabular structured data with XML formatted data. In this webcast, you’ll learn about IBM’s WebSphere Federation Server technology, which provides users with the ability to integrate these two data formats.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on November 29 at 1:00 pm ET to participate in an interactive discusssion with Grady Booch around architecture and reuse. Get your questions answered!
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Because access to government information continues to be an area of concern for many U.S. citizens with disabilities, the U.S. government enacted Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in 2001 to ensure that government agencies create accessible Web content, enabling all citizens to access the information they need. A fully accessible Web site makes Web content accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities, who may be accessing Web content via a variety of user agents. Common user agents include standard Web browsers, text-only browsers, assistive devices and mobile devices such as cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs).
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Whether you are creating new applications or modifying existing ones, managing integration of new components with traditional z/OS elements is a critical part of building and deploying modern applications. Listen to this webcast to see how IBM can help you optimize your development process using an IDE like Rational Developer for System z that integrates with management tools, such as ClearCase to manage your application development on mainframes.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Viper 2 brings a great value to developer communities including SQL, XML, PHP, Ruby, .NET and Java. You probably already know that DB2 Express-C is free for developers to develop, deploy and distribute. Viper 2 provides a variety of means that help move your application from the development stage to deployment more rapidly. This webcast shows how to best utilize the latest tools available for developing DB2 applications.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
