If your website does not create a sense of trust in your visitors, all your efforts will be in vain. Your online business will never be successful. That’s the bad new. The good news is that it is very easy to create and build trust with your online visitors. Below I have listed all the techniques used by the hundreds of websites I have helped launch. If you have additional techniques, add them to the list.
As the old saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Trust cannot be built with a single action. Trust is achieved by hundreds of little things you do on your website that, when taken together, give readers a sense of honesty, legitimacy, and stability.
The other good news is that few website owners focus on building trust in the minds of their visitors. If you do it right, it can become a real and sustainable competitive advantage.
Here are 47 simple actions you can take to get started.
1. Trust is built with many small actions on every page of your website.
2. The design of your website is the first impression. Make sure it is professional and relevant to the topic.
3. Navigation must be intuitive. If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they’ll challenge your competition to provide what they’re looking for.
4. Personalize the website by giving it your own tone and voice. People buy people.
5. Follow the HEART rule of creating content online. (Reminder: HEART stands for Honest, Exclusive, Accurate, Relevant and Timely).
6. Use language appropriate to the audience. It will build empathy.
7. Regularly add new content to your site. It shows that the business is alive and kicking.
8. Check all links. Doubts will quickly form in your visitors’ minds if the links don’t work or, worse yet, lead them to error pages.
9. Good grammar and spelling. Mistakes give the impression of carelessness and carelessness.
10. Never make outrageous and unbelievable claims like “Read this blog and you’ll be a millionaire by the end of the week.” People are used to scams, get-rich-quick schemes, and scams.
11. Post REAL testimonials and third party endorsements. Try to always use real names and website links when possible. Some sites show images of letters sent by satisfied customers.
12. Post case studies about clients you’ve helped, who use your product, etc.
13. Do not belittle, curse or insult competitors. It is not professional. It is better to offer an objective comparison of competitive services or products.
14. Focus on building your long-term reputation, not making quick sales.
15. Write articles for humans, not search engines.
16. Make your ‘About Us’ page personal and complete. It plays an important role in making visitors feel comfortable that there are real people behind the site.
17. Post your photo or photos of key people involved with the site. Again, this reinforces the fact that there are real people behind the screenshots.
18. Clearly identify who is behind the site. Nothing creates more suspicion than a site that tries to hide the identity of its publishers.
19. On the ‘Contact Us’ page, provide an email form, phone number, fax number and company address. In Europe, it’s a legal requirement for sites that accept money, but even ad-driven sites will benefit from the openness.
20. Provide a phone number that people can call and speak to a person.
21. Provide web addresses linked to the domain of the website, not addresses of free webmail services such as Hotmail and Gmail.
22. Never lie to make money. The most common way is to write a glowing report on a product or service to earn affiliate income. It is very short-sighted to lie to visitors to sell them junk. They will never come back or worse, they will actively condemn your site in forums and blogs.
23. Think carefully about reciprocal links. If your site is about organic food and links to Party Poker, people will question your integrity.
24. Think carefully about the ads you display on your site. Make sure they are relevant to your topic and audience.
25. Be explicit when you are paid to endorse a product or service. An advertorial is fine as long as it is transparent. Pay-per-post is corrupting the Web and will experience a backlash from users. I never read websites that accept payment for posting.
26. Write and publish your privacy policy. Be clear about what you will and will not do with the personal data you collect. Indicate that you comply with all data protection laws. Make it easy to read and don’t use legal gibberish.
27. Write and publish a security policy. Please indicate what steps you take to ensure that all transactions are secure.
28. Make sure you have a security and privacy policy that is linked from the footer on every page. Make the link more prominent on all order pages.
29. Clearly post your guarantee. I would recommend making it a 100% money back guarantee if possible.
30. Clearly state your refund and return policy.
31. Take advantage of name brands. If you use PayPal, put the PayPal logo on your site. If you have a merchant services account with a major bank like Citibank or HSBC, put their logo on your site.
32. Use Google search on your site for two reasons. First of all, it is a great search solution that will help your visitors find what they are looking for. Second, having the Google name on your site instills trust.
33. If there are any known industry associations for your topic, join them and put their logos on your site.
34. Have a forum on your site and respond quickly to questions. Have the attitude that you are happy to help others without immediate reward. As the old saying goes, ‘Those who give always win’.
35. Let people comment on articles. Interactivity and the exchange of points of view build a community and a sense of participation.
36. If people provide constructive criticism or comments on the forum, don’t delete them, but respond with your point of view.
37. Put photos on the website of the owners, editors and/or team. Let visitors know that there are real people behind the business.
38. Put pictures of the credit cards you accept on every page of the order process.
39. Use the words “secure website” every time you try to obtain information from visitors, including newsletter signups, forum posts, and payments.
40. On each page, say: “We take your privacy and security very seriously.” Link the statement to the security and privacy policy.
41. Remember, reputations take years to build and seconds to destroy.
42. If you’re selling a subscription, offer a low-cost entry-level option. This could be a one day trial, ‘one week before billing starts’ or a monthly trial.
43. Use a high level of security when processing credit cards. Be sure to let your clients know about all the steps you’re taking.
44. Never send credit card information or personal data over the Internet unencrypted. Tell your customers that their data will be encrypted.
45. Only ask customers for the information you really need. For example, to sign up for an email newsletter, the only information you REALLY need is an email address, so that’s all you need to ask for.
46. ​​​​If you have prices on your website, make it transparent. I recently went to buy a book that was advertised for $10. When I checked out, they added tax, postage and packing, and the final bill was $19.50. I did not buy it because I felt that they had deliberately tried to mislead me.
47. Keep your SSL certificate up to date. Let people know that you are using SSL encryption and who the provider is.
You can never do too much to build trust. Most of it comes down to common sense and good business practices. To ensure that you are continually improving your trustworthiness, every time you visit a website, ask yourself whether or not you trust it. Then ask yourself why you have formed the opinion you have. Continually try to learn what makes a site trustworthy or untrustworthy and implement the relevant changes to your site.
If people trust you, the money will follow!