SEO and Visitor Trust

As a webmaster it's important to gain the trust of your visitors as soon as they arrive at your web site. In this issue We are going to share our top tips to help you gain your visitors trust.

1. This first tip is rather very important and more often than not it is forgotten. When designing your website make sure that you have a contact us page, that has a clear map to your store or business location and make sure you display your phone number. This makes a customer feel secure in knowing that if they ever do have a problem, you are just a phone call away.

2. Register your site with BBB and TrustE.org. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and TrustE.org are independent nonprofits that review and provide seals of trust for web sites of all types. They employ strict controls to make sure your web site is trustworthy and you publish and abide by a true and ethical privacy policy. Having the BBB and TrustE seals on your web site can increase sales by more than 50%.

3. Choose the right domain name. Many people have asked us what's all this about choosing the right domain. We strongly believe that a domain name has to be one that a user can remember or that they think they have heard about you. Choose one that has commonly used words one that truely represents what your site does.

4. Have a detailed "About Us" page. Tell your visitors about the history of your website as well as the team behind the scenes. Include brief biographies and pictures of staff members, as well as any relevant facts including how long your company has been in business or if you have more than one office or location.

5. Become an authority site. This is probably one of the most important and to be honest the most difficult thing to do. You need to rstablish yourself as an expert in the field. Use your site to imform users about what you sell. Details are everything.

6. Never break a promise. If you tell your newsletter subscribers that they will receive your newsletter and only your newsletter, don't go sending them advertisements or "partner emails" the day after they signup. They will unsubscribe quicker than you can say "empty subscriber list".

7. Remember the three rules about internet shoppers. Information, price, and how to order. Get to the point as fast as possible. Your clients all want the same thing. They know what they are looking for so give them the information that they seek make sure you display your price and tell them how to get it. Don't bury them in a maze of pages that will make them search through hoards of information. Scrap the forms. There is nothing worse than getting to a site, getting info, and then having to fill out forms. Internet users hate it. So if you need to have a form online keep it simple. Name and e-mail contact are enough. Get to the point and do it quickly. Once they have decided to buy they will take the time to discover who you are.

8. Offer a refund guarantee. Even at the best of times most people are cautious about buying anything online. Create and post a solid refund guarantee on your web site. Include your refund policy, and also explain how you legitimately refund all requests (within reason, of course) and include contact details so customers can contact you if they actually do need a refund. You could even take it one step further and include testimonials from customers who you have refunded with them explaining how happy they were with the process of obtaining their refund.

9. Customer testimonials. Never ever post a testimonial without any details of the person who sent you the testimonial. Always include the person's website link, email address and/or photo (with their permission, of course). Also, don't post "typical" testimonials on your web site. By typical I mean testimonials that won't make your visitors say "WOW". Only post truly remarkable testimonials that praise your products, customer support or both.

Finally, make sure you are ready to handle that newly found traffic. Organize yourself and have a way that any call coming in will be answered. So don't forget to publish your office hours. Don't offer 24 hour support if you don't have anyone on duty to answer the phones. In other words live up to your claims. Your reputation depends on it.