Website Credibility Guidelines
The credibility of a website is something that web designers and website owners often overlook; however almost everyone that browses the web judges the credibility of a website when they visit it. Most people probably don’t notice this sometimes prejudice behaviour in themselves, but it happens frequently.
As this is something that almost every web user does without even thinking about it, it is a good idea to know what you can do to make your website appear more credible.
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| Credibility is crucial in building trust. ©iStockphoto.com/AM29 |
Credibility is massively important in building a trusting relationship with your visitors. You’re already treating your existing customers well, show potential customers that they can trust you too.
Quality of design is important
The design of your website needs to check a few boxes in order to look credible:
- The design must fit the purpose of the site e.g. a website for a divorce attorney shouldn’t be covered in flowers, bright colours and happy faces.
- Elements of the website should be consistent. The same fonts should be used throughout the site, colours should be consistent and design elements should be of a similar style.
- The layout of your website is also very important. If items are strewn all over the screen haphazardly, it will not look as credible as a website with a balanced layout and a predictable, organized navigation.
Be transparent and show that you exist
The biggest credibility problem that a lot of sites have is that visitors don’t how to get in touch with the people behind the site. Websites need to provide contact information. At the very least there should be an email address, but a phone number and address is preferable.
When it comes to email addresses, wherever possible, they should use your websites domain name. You should have something like manager@yourcompany.com. This is much better than john_smith87@hotmail.com.
Show that real, honest people stand behind your site
The nature of the web means that it is fairly simple for anyone to start a website. You need to show that your website is owned and run by real people to help visitors feel more comfortable with your company.
If people came to your physical store they’d see your name tag and your face, why not try and replicate some of that personal service online? Many companies choose to do this by posting short biographies of their owners, staff and/or management. Images to go with the biographies make them even more personable. Not all companies go that far, but you should at least have names of owner(s) and/or manager(s).
Make it full of use and easy to use
Too many companies spend a lot of money trying to make their site look cool, but don’t spend any money making their website easy to use. Your website should be easy to use and should provide useful information to your visitors.
If your on a tight budget, don’t waste money on cool looking effects. Your visitors have probably seen them before and it won’t impress them. Instead, spend money on creating a website that is very easy and straightforward to use. If you can afford to, hire a good copywriter to write the text for your pages. This will give you some really professional text for your website, which will make you seem more credible. As an added bonus, good copywriters should assist you with optimizing your text for the web and for search engines.
Update often
This doesn’t mean writing new pages every week. But at least show somewhere on your site that the text has been reviewed recently and is up-to-date. Showing that the information on the pages has been reviewed in the last few months gives people confidence that what they’re reading is still relevant. One of the main things people look at to determine the age (and therefore validity) of the page is the copyright notice at the bottom of the page.
Credibility by association
Showing that you are affiliated with other credible organizations helps increase your credibility. Conversely, linking to websites that aren’t, or don’t appear to be as trustworthy, decreases your own reputation.
Avoid all errors
No matter how small an error may seem, it matters. You shouldn’t have any spelling or grammar mistakes. Make sure that all links are working and linking to the correct information. You can check these while you’re reviewing the information on your site. Just a few errors will move your website, and therefore your business, much further down in the visitor’s mind.
Don’t have advertising
If you’re running a business, you shouldn’t have advertising on your site. If you must have ads, make sure they’re not too intrusive and that they are clearly differentiated from the rest of your site. Popup ads are a massive no-no, even for ad-supported websites so avoid them at all costs.
Common sense!
If you think that something looks a little unprofessional, it probably is!
Now is the time to take a look at your own website and see how credible it looks and find out where you can improve.
The information contained in this article is mostly derived from the Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility!