When it comes to giving you private information, the potential clients either trust you or they don't.
When you are trying to get an Internet business off the ground, portraying a high level of professionalism, is absolutely vital to the credibility of your website.
Stanford University has compiled a list of 10 guidelines for building website credibility. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included more than 4,500 people. If you are serious about building a solid online business, I highly recommend taking the time to implement the methods outlined in these guidelines.
- Techniques to Instill Website Credibility
- Contact Information
- Display Privacy Policy
- Display Familiar Logos
- Professional Web Design
- Display Professional Photos
Contact Information
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How easy is it for me to find your contact information? Do you provide more than an email address? If the only contact information I have for you is an email address, it is very unlikely that I will give you credit card information.
This is not the time to use your free yahoo email address or a post office address. For clients to feel that you are a LEGITIMATE business, they want to know:
- Name
- Phone number
- A physical address
- A business email address
- Many small business owners that are new to the Internet will tell me that they are not entirely sure they want to make the above information available on the Internet. Please understand that ANYONE can find this information out about you, in a matter of seconds, without you publishing it on your website.
It all comes back to making a decision on how you want potential clients to view your business. I highly recommend placing your Company name, physical address, and phone number on every page of your site. Your personal name should be available on both the contact page and the "about us" page.
Privacy and Credibility
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Domain registrars now offer domain privacy options. This service blocks access to your name and contact information. I do NOT recommend the use of this option.
Many articles have been written educating the internet public on safe shopping techniques. These articles frequently suggest the use of companies such as Arin's Whois to verify company contact information.
If you have blocked access to this information, the public will be unable to confirm the legitimacy of your business. The use of domain privacy options is a technique often associated with less than reputable companies.
- Shopping Online Fraud Red Flags
- ARIN: WHOIS Database Search
- Better Whois
- Can you imagine someone opening a business in your town, and then requesting an unpublished phone number? What if they removed all evidence of the physical address from their building and advertisements? Would you doubt their business credibility?
I do however, fully appreciate that many considerations must be addressed when you are operating a business from your home. You can put precautions in place to prevent many of these concerns.
Limiting Spam
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The vast majority of spam occurs not from your own website, but rather the many places you post your email address without precautions.
Create a specific contact page on your site. This page should provide all of your contact information. For contact by email, the use of forms adds to the professional image of your site. You can also configure these forms NOT to display your email address.
Consider using external JavaScript to display your linked email address on this page. The browser will display the address for your site visitors, but email harvesters will not be able to see it in the coding of the site.
Offer both methods of contacting you by email to accommodate users with JavaScript functions disabled on their computer. Contact links throughout your site should point directly to your contact page.
Here are pages offering more information on how to configure contact scripts:
- Huggins' Email Form Script
- FormMail.com
- The NMS Project
- Email Address Tutorial
- If your domain host does not provide the ability for you to use the necessary scripting to easily use forms on your site, I recommend finding a hosting company that will meet all of your business needs.
Following is a review I wrote for the hosting company I personally use and recommend.
Do not allow another website to post your email address. You have no control of what methods they use to display your email address, so simply request that they only publish your website address. Use your business email address strictly for business.
When signing up for freebies and newsletters that require your email address, use a totally separate address, such as your Yahoo mail account, or another email address that you have set up specifically for this purpose.
Controlling Phone Contacts
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Obviously, you do not want your home phone ringing at 3:00 in the morning with questions about the product or service you provide. You will need to consider some options that will help control contacts by phone. The best option is to install a separate phone line strictly for business purposes. Often, your telephone company offers a special discount for a second line.
Set up a professional voice mail response for calls that occur outside of common business hours, or for when you are unavailable. You should also seriously consider turning off the ringer during these times.
Many new home-based businesses cannot afford a second line in the beginning. Consider adding selective ring to your phone options. As a last result, you could carefully screen calls using the caller id service available through your phone company.
Display Privacy Policy
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There is no getting around this. You need to display a link to your privacy policy from every page on your site. A search on Google will show a variety of generators to help you create one specific to your website.
- Federal Trade Commission For The Consumer
- OECD Privacy Statement Generator
- DMA's Privacy Policy Generator
Display Familiar Logos for Website Credibility
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Display "familiar" logos that help instill credibility and confidence. Are you a member of a better business bureau, or your local chamber of commerce? Display major credit card images, along with familiar logos of your available shipping options. Always check copyright restrictions before using any images on your website.
Professional Custom Website Design
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Take a long hard look at your website. Does it portray a legitimate business? Or, does it give the impression of a personal homepage? If the appearance is not at the level of professionalism that you want it to be, consider redesigning it. If your design skills have not yet caught up to your business needs, you will need to look at available alternatives.
- PROFESSIONAL DESIGNER
If you can afford it, consider hiring a professional custom website designer to create a website or template that will fit your personal business needs. For many small business owners just starting, this is not an affordable solution.
- PROFESSIONAL TEMPLATE
Consider purchasing a professional website templates. Quality templates will probably begin at the $50 range. For the benefit of FrontPage and Dreamweaver users, please note that it is not necessary to select a template specifically designed for your particular editor. Simply choose an HTML or CSS based template. For search engine friendly templates, always avoid dynamic and flash templates. I recommend HTML or CSS based templates that will give you complete control of the coding as necessary.
- GRAPHIC DESIGN PROGRAM
Consider purchasing a program that will give you a base template , but allows for substantial customization. Templates can be edited with any html editor, and integrate fully with FrontPage and Dreamweaver. I have used Xara Webstyle 4 for base web page layouts, drop down menus, banners, logos etc. I highly recommend this program as an affordable alternative.
Display Professional Photos
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Consider adding a profession picture of yourself on the about us page, and in the bio of every article you write. Research shows an increased level of confidence by potential clients when they have seen that there is a real person behind the business.
Final Notes
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When it comes to your internet business, it does not matter which tools or methods you choose. What matters is if the result produces a website that portrays a LEGITIMATE professional business. Take the time to learn and implement methods that will help instill credibility in your website and in your business.
I use a very wide variety of tools depending on which is best for ME for the particular project I am working on at the time.
For image and photo editing, I use Xara Webstyle 4, and a various graphics programs. For coding, I predominately use FP2003, but I do work almost entirely in html mode.
I WILL DEFINITELY SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
- A. Anam
[India Web Designer and SEO Specialist]
If you feel that this article, has been helpful to you and that it may also be beneficial to others, please consider adding it as a resource link on your website or blog! Link to Custom Website Design India - http://www.dassnagar.net/