14 Steps To A Trustworthy Website

Written by Maria Marsala


Have you ever visited a web site and been attacked by screaming pop-up ads, gotten lost in a clutter of banner ads, had things flash and go boom? And have you ever visited a site that was informative, easy to navigate and generally pleasant to peruse?

Which site gained your trust? Which site would you revisit? The more user-friendly building tools you use on your site,repparttar more trust will be developed with your viewers. With this in mind, here are expert tips for making your online store trustworthy...

Purchase an appropriate domain name Paying for your own domain name builds trust and is professional looking. Your own domain name will be - free of all advertisements (except products you sell or recommend). You want to sell your visitors onrepparttar 109016 content of your site - notrepparttar 109017 products of other advertisers.

Use domain name email addresses When searching for a host for your site, look for packages that include POP3 accounts (preferred) and alias accounts (second in line). This will enable you to send email from your site (you@yourbusiness.com) which looks much more professional than you@freeemailaccount.com It is easier to trust someone who has evidently made an investment in their business.

Include contact information Provide phone numbers, hours of operation (including time zone), a business mailing address and an email address. PO Boxes are not considered addresses. Many companies won't deliver to PO Boxes, and many visitors won't purchase from you if you use one. Work from home? Add a suite or building number to your home/apartment. Or use a mail forwarding service for a real address.

Add contact links Place at least one way for your visitors to contact you on each page and place your Webmaster's contact information on at leastrepparttar 109018 bottom ofrepparttar 109019 front page. This way your visitors can request information from you, and if there is a problem with your site, they can write torepparttar 109020 Webmaster. Even if you andrepparttar 109021 Webmaster arerepparttar 109022 same person, placerepparttar 109023 Webmaster's email address onrepparttar 109024 site.

Keep your content updated To be current,repparttar 109025 content of your site must be no more than 6 months old. The pages must include an up-to-date "Last Updated _________". Even if you don't changerepparttar 109026 site information (because it is completely correct and updated) do keeprepparttar 109027 date updated.

Include a personal touch Provide an "About Me/Us" page. Providerepparttar 109028 names ofrepparttar 109029 owner, president, executives, and staff onrepparttar 109030 contact page. Include individual and group pictures, small biographies if relevant, and email addresses where they can be quickly contacted. Don't make it look as though your site's owners want to be anonymous, which obviously generates suspicions.

Avoid enter pages and splash screens Do you have an "Enter page" or splash screen onrepparttar 109031 front of your site? If so, delete it now! You will lose visitors who want information quickly because they'll go to a rival site instead. Worse than an enter page is an enter page that forces someone to download a program such as Flash. If you want to userepparttar 109032 option of Flash pages, fancy pointers etc., give visitorsrepparttar 109033 option of viewing them. Don't force them to download any programs.

Let Your Visitors Choose Your Keywords

Written by Maria Marsala


Sometimes we can be too close to our own websites. For example, while one person might call their rates - "rates"... you might call them "fees" or "price" or "cost" or "rack rate". Here's an unusual way to learn what "keywords" (words you use to find a web site using a search engine such as google) to add to your webpages and to maybe gain a little objectivity about your site, as well.

Inrepparttar interest of making my growing web site easier for you - my viewers-to use, a few months ago I added an internal search engine feature torepparttar 109015 home page. One ofrepparttar 109016 bonuses ofrepparttar 109017 program I chose is that I receive a weekly (and monthly) report showing what words viewers are using to locate different things on my site. By watchingrepparttar 109018 words you're using, I know better which "keywords" to add to my site to make it easier for search engines to find.

The program I recommend and use is http://www.freefind.com/. This system is free if your website is less than 32Mb of space. You'll receive a free weekly (and monthly) search report, automatic page updates, a site map (a listing of your web page and what pages link to other pages on your website) and a what's new page, if you'd like one.

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