Top tips for how to improve your business website credibility

A website is the first entry point for a web visitor, and although first impressions count a great deal, the only way to make a lasting impression is to make it more credible in the eyes of your potential customers. Here are some pointers that up the ante on website credibility!

1. Professional website

Studies show that a large majority of people place a great deal on the image of the owner while an almost equal number regard contact information, location, addresses, and phone numbers as huge factors that increase a business's trust level.

Trust is a huge factor and people buy from you only when they are sure of you, your brand and the quality of your products.

Your website design should look professional, and be a user-friendly, easy navigation system for online shoppers to stick around, explore and buy. Contact information, telephone numbers- all of these validate your trust level further.

2. Flaunt your expertise

This is a powerful resource to build your reputation as a leader in a chosen field.

People won’t know your worth if you don’t showcase your knowledge and experience. Use video interviews, PowerPoint presentations, video tutorials, podcasts, case studies to show your value and build a strong individual identity.

The value of your firm hinges on your brand reputation and your ability to service customers efficiently. This comes only with exposing your expertise to the public and making them aware that you know how to do things well in your chosen field.

Your personal brand gets a boost and so does your online business. Keep your website updated, live up to your customer’s anticipation and expectation, and your job is almost done.

Use social media to interact with prospects and visitors, post information, articles, blogs, and anything that adds oomph to your personal brand.

This requires a personal investment- not financial, but investing your time and committing yourself to work for your customers.

3. Enhance customer experience

The customer is king and will always be because they are the ones who can make or break your business. Working towards enhancing customer experience is a way to show people that you care, and that will make them trust you.

A positive experience is a goal scored as the customer refers to others and they themselves will come back again.

Go that extra mile to ensure that all customers have a positive experience along the buying journey.

Today’s buyers read online reviews before making a purchase. Your products and services need to meet buyer expectations- so work toward that

Good online reviews will encourage users to buy repeatedly from your website and that is good business for you. Work hard to solve customer issues, be patient with them, listen to them and most importantly deal with refunds and replacements in a timely manner. By doing all this, customers are sure to feel comfortable with your website and won’t hesitate to make a purchase.

A certified seal from a business watchdog and a trust badge on a checkout page has the power to convince users and potential prospects that the process is safe and secure.

With the rise of online fraud, the presence of trust badges that are associated with SSL or secure socket layers tends to make customers feel secure, especially when they are making a purchase with their credit cards. A couple of small trust images can have a great impact on lead generation and conversion rates.

4. User experience

If you want customers to visit your website, prolong their stay and look around for a long time, you need to enhance the user experience.

The website design layout should be uncluttered, giving customers the feeling that they can breathe when they enter. They should be able to get around easily, and go back and forth without having to open and close the website often. That means ensuring that all your links work. Nothing can be more irritating than an ‘error page.’

Ads are all very well, but any pop-up should be non-intrusive as visitors and customers hate the idea of having to close an ad each time it pops up.

Ads take away the fun from exploring the website- so cut those out or at least limit their appearance. If ads were not bad enough, some sites force you to listen to videos that are auto-played when a website is opened. Information is all very well, but why force users to listen to something that they don’t want? There’s always a time and place for these videos if they are so important.

A slow-loading website is going to put users off. In an age where immediacy and instancy’ are the bywords in users’ lexicons, websites need to load fast. Else, users lose interest and choose to bypass you. Don’t let that happen. Ensure that your website is mobile responsive so that users are not denied viewing it on their smartphones.

5. Be Transparent

People always like it when websites don’t hide anything from them and this goes for customer reviews too. You need to include the positive and the negative reviews as well- so don’t hide anything from users.

Be upfront about costs, shipping charges, return policies and guarantees and display these prominently. Estimated delivery windows tell users that you are making an effort to get their goods dispatched as soon as possible.

When you anticipate their questions and provide answers, customers feel that you understand them. Never ask for information before providing value or customers will just leave your website.

6. Content matters and always will

High-quality content will always attract readers. It’s important to ensure that the blogs, the articles, and the whitepapers- in short, anything that you write is compelling and interesting enough to hold the reader's attention.

Needless to say, poor grammar and spelling will put people off and they won’t re-visit your website. Of course, it’s tough on marketers to have to consistently output content that users find engaging. However challenging that is, it needs to be done. Invite experts in the field to contribute to your website and ensure that it always remains new and updated.

If you want to improve website credibility, pull up your socks, take heed and work towards it. When the hard work pays off, you’ll feel that all of it has not been in vain.

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Article created by: Pankaj Shah | London Web design Agency