Checklist for Website Credibility & Your Trustworthy Website
Get ready for our ultimate website credibility checklist. With years of trial and error and thousands of reviewed websites - these are the factors to look out for when it comes to increasing credibility and trustworthiness on your website and tells any website visitor: This website and business is legit. Let’s start:
1) Use Professional Photos
In a highly competitive online environment, we have microseconds to make a good first impression that will stick with potential customers who visit our website. Our brains process images thousands of times faster than text. This means that those who visit your website will immediately judge it by the photos they see.
Therefore, invest in a professional photographer, make sure the lighting is good, and create beautiful, light-filled images that not only look professional, but also appeal to your ideal customers. Make sure the photos match the colours of your brand. Ideally, the photos should add value so that they evoke the emotions you want your customers to feel or support the learning on your website - depending on what your content is.
2) Ensure Your Website Copy Has Correct Spelling
Spelling errors are a red herring and give the impression that you are sloppy.
Clients may wonder, "If there are already errors on the website, what do I get out of working with this company?"
So run your copy through a spell checker like Grammarly and ask a friend to read it and make sure everything sounds natural and is understood.
3) Share Quotes and Photos From Happy Clients
Social proof and testimonials are important to show future clients that others have already worked with you and got great results. If possible, include their full name, photo, and business with a link to their website to give your website visitors a guarantee that these people and businesses actually exist and that you did not just make it up.
4) Show Your Press Mentions
It's a great way to give your business or person an extra boost of credibility if your business has been mentioned in the press or by well-known people. If you and your business are so good that others write about you, that's a big plus on the trust scale.
However, make sure that you have either written an article yourself that has been published in a well-known magazine, that you have been interviewed on a podcast, or that you have been called successful.
What you want to avoid is mentioning something on your website, having website visitors then search for the article you were supposedly named in, and you have only provided a quote. If the article is not really about you and you have not really provided any value in it, it will hurt you rather than help you.
5) Have Cohesive & Professional Branding
Have you ever visited a website and seen many different colours and fonts all at once? How did that make you feel? Overwhelmed, confused? And most importantly, did you stay on that website and buy from that company or person? I doubt it.
I bet you bailed quickly and looked for another alternative because your stomach turned right when you saw this hodgepodge. I can understand that all too well - because that's exactly how I feel.
However, we want to avoid being the company that this happens to you with your customers.
And that's why it's so important that before we develop a website, we design a coherent and consistent branding that we can then implement on the website. This includes colours, fonts, and textures that make a website look professional and help your website visitors navigate your website.
👉 Curious to learn more about branding? Check out this article
5) Outline Your Service or Production Process
If you are a service provider, it's good for your clients to know how they can work with you and how that collaboration/service process looks like.
What steps are involved?
How does it work and what tools are used?
What can they expect? What is the promised transformation?
Explaining specific process steps in a section of your website helps build trust with your potential clients, so that they can understand what will happen when they book you or buy from you. They simply know what to expect and this clarity leads to trust.
Are you a skilled photographer with excellent Photoshop skills? Show people how you get the most out of every shot in a short video!
Put small 20-30 second videos on your website to help visitors understand what goes on behind the scenes and to showcase your skills.
If you sell products, it's nice for potential customers to see how your products are made. Let us say you are a pottery company. Give a little insight into your production site. Do employees make pots by hand? Awesome! Show it on your website!
A lady who has absolutely nailed down how to show “behind the scenes” of how her products are made is Tahlia Stanton. This lady has totally understood how to make her audience part of her design experience and artist life and people (including me!) love her for it. Curious? Check out her instagram and you will know what I mean.
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6) Showcase Your Work Examples
Present examples of your work in the form of gallery images for photographers, product images of e-commerce stores, or remodels for interior designers (before and after images) on your website. These are just examples, but you get the idea.
When people see the end result of your work, they can more easily visualise what you can do for them and want to work with you instead of assuming you are good. It shows your skills and the results you can achieve. For example, I present my portfolio on my website to showcase my recent work.
7) Present A Case Study From Past Clients
Let’s say you are a life coach or consultant and it's difficult to visually show potential clients what the end results after working with you could look like. In cases like this, it's helpful to create case studies in which potential clients can read about how you helped your clients achieve their goals and guide them through the changes they wanted.
These case studies should include a description of the initial situation, explaining your client's problems and pains, how you addressed the situation, how you worked with your client on the problems, and what the outcome was. It basically showcases the entire transformation.
Make sure to be as specific as possible in your descriptions, as blanket statements are not very convincing. Back up your content with quotes, videos, or even, if possible, facts and figures from your clients. For example, if you are a social media consultant or virtual assistant, you could show the increase and improvements in your clients' followers, engagement, and conversion rates.
8) Establish Your Social Media Presence
Social selling is growing and becoming more important. Especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual communities have become more important. Social media can help you build trust with potential customers. By sharing daily content about you, your clients, your work, and your processes, you help potential clients get to know you better. They better understand who you are as a person and build trust with you. Personal videos where you show your face and share your expertise work especially well.
9) Create Insightful Content on Your Blog, Videos or Podcast
Blogging and podcasting are exceptionally good ways to showcase your expertise and let others know about it. While blogging is in written form, podcasting is ideal for listeners. Podcasts have actually increased greatly during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to convince and convert, the number of podcast listeners has increased by 29.5% in the last 3 years. In the US, more than half of Americans aged 12-34 listen to podcasts monthly.
Now if you are thinking that this is not conducive to your website's ranking, let me tell you: there's a great way you can take advantage of this. By simply transcribing your podcast episodes and turning them into blog posts and sprinkling in the necessary keywords, you can seal the deal and improve your Google ranking as your content increases. Yay!
10) Share Your Unique Story
We all love stories. They are what we remember and love to listen to because they speak to us humans on an emotional level rather than a factual one. If you tell your story wholeheartedly, people will sense if you are telling the truth or just pretending.
One company that has hit the nail on the head lately is the shoe company Veja. The company stands for sustainable production and product life cycles, and has portrayed the founders' story on its website in such a genuine and authentic way that the company has become a huge success in a short time.
How and why? Because they have solved a massive problem of lack of transparency in non-food retail and have told their story in a more authentic way than anyone has ever done before. They share their mistakes and not only stand for 100% transparency to this day, but show it time and time again.
A great way to incorporate your story about yourself or your business is on an about page.
🤩 Curious how to write a stellar about page? 👉 Check out these tips and tricks
11) Show Your Certifications and Awards
In addition, certifications and awards that you showcase on your website can help gain the trust of potential customers. Perhaps your business has won an award for its products? Did you win a contest as a photographer? Then feel free to show that on your website.
12) Drop Client and Partner Names
Especially as a small business, it's helpful to list known partners or clients on your own website. Have you worked for or with large and well-known companies before? Great! Then ask your customers and partners if it's okay to list their logo on your website.
Even if you are not a big and well-known company (yet), mentioning the names of other well-known brands you work with or for on your website will give your own reputation a boost, because it's safe to assume that big brands only work with the best.
13) Have A Professional Website Design (duh!)
Last but not least, a professional and customised website helps immensely to build trust and credibility.
Whereby the term professional website is very broad. What does a website really look like? There are many components to consider when creating a professional looking website. As mentioned earlier, high quality photos and cohesive branding are a must, as is error-free copy on the website.
Also, your website should load quickly, be readable on different devices, and have no glitches. By glitches, I mean that video content or particularly large photos in particular sometimes load slowly and then do not display at all or are distorted.
Professional websites have the user experience in mind and ensure that sections on a page are not cluttered with text. Instead, the user is gently guided to their destination with the help of clear navigation and easy digestible content.
If you are still looking for a Squarespace Website Designer to create a Professional Website for you, check out our portfolio!
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