Your readers need to trust your web site. They want to be sure that what you say is honest and accurate. They will believe your web site if they trust it.

Generating trust is relatively straightforward, providing you do the right things. So, what are the “right things” and how can you use them to boost confidence in your web site.

1. Get the look right
Online trust is gained or lost within fractions of a second. If your web site looks good and appropriate right from the first millisecond it opens you are on the right road to building trust. But how many untidy, scrappy, poorly constructed web pages have you seen? And how many of them did you instantly trust? Appearances can be deceptive, I know. But the immediate visual impact your site has can make or break the trust connection.

There are two immediate aspects to the visual appearance that people focus on. Firstly, the colour strikes them. Your colours need to be appropriate and complementary. For instance, if your web site is about gardening people expect greens and browns. If it’s about cars, the current “fashion” for cars is silver. Use the “wrong” colours and you reduce the likelihood of trust.

The second visual element is navigation. Web page readers expect to see navigation either down the left hand side, or in a menu on the top. Put your navigation elsewhere and your visual impact is lessened, reducing the possibility of engaging trust.

2. Get the feel right
Many people will be affected by how they feel when they open up your web page. Does you page make them feel positive, supported, helped and generally engaged? If, for instance, your web site is about business consultancy, yet it provides a feeling of being “jazzy” you are less likely to gain trust as people will “feel” it isn’t right, no matter how much they like the visual impact it creates.

Your web site needs to have the appropriate style, layout, typography and imagery to create the right feel for your particular kind of industry and your specific audience. If your web site doesn’t “connect” in this way, you will lose trust. Audience research is essential to get the right “feel” for your web site. Don’t simply fall in love with particular web site designs or be led by your web developers – be guided by your audience. If they feel right about it, you will gain more trust than going for the latest design trend.

3. Get the sound right
Your web site has a sound. It is the sound that people hear in their head when they read your web pages. The way we read involves turning the images of the text on a page or screen into sounds (in technical terms the “phonological loop”). If your pages are written in a stilted, business-language way, that’s the sound of your web page. Is that what you want people to hear? Or do you want them to hear something that is approachable and chatty. Neither is right or wrong per se. What you need is the right sound for your particular audience.

If your web pages do not sound right, you will lose trust because you will lose the connection between your site and your readers. The sound, just like the feel and the look, are important components in helping your readers connect with your web site. The more you can connect them, the more they will trust you.

4. Get the words right
What you say on your web page needs to be “professional”. People will trust you more if your text is well edited, has been spell-checked and proof read prior to publishing and has been through an obvious editorial process. If you use writers and editors, name them. Make it obvious if you use people to help you put your web site together. That way your readers can see the effort that  goes into the writing process - and that helps build trust. If you write the web site yourself, it’s always useful to get someone to read your material; they may see errors you would otherwise miss. The more mistakes you can rectify before they reach the web site, the more trust and confidence you will gain from your readers.

5. Get the backing right
Everything of substance in your web site should have some backing. By that I mean it needs some justification. This could be in the form of examples, quotations or references. Equally you should link important statements you make to other reference sources so people can verify what you say. If you give your readers the ability to check up what you say and get third-party confirmation of your information, they will trust you even more.

6. Get the footnotes right
The footnotes to your pages should include contact information including phone numbers and addresses. If your readers can see that you exist in the physical world as well, they trust you even more. Ensure also that your page footnotes include links to privacy information as well as the logos of any security systems you use. Doing so helps reassure people that you will look after them and their personal information they submit to you. This further boosts the confidence they have in your web site,

7. Get the interaction right
People trust organisations they can interact with more than faceless, distant, monoliths. If your web site does not allow any kind of interaction it means that your pages will engender less trust. Having blog comments, or social networking features enabled in your web site will allow people to take part. Web forms on contact pages also help, because it means people have an easy way of getting in touch. Making your web site searchable is another interactive feature that helps boost confidence in your web site. If your site is static, does not allow any kind of interaction and is all “one-way”, you will not gain as much trust as a competing site that includes interactive features.

These seven steps will go a considerable way to helping people trust your web site and have confidence in what you publish. The more they trust you and have confidence in you, the easier it will be for you to sell your services and products. Trust is an essential component in sales transactions; building trust into your entire web site plans will help your business sell more. 

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At September 14, 2007  David Festenstein said…

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