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Posted on: 28 November, 2001

Author: Jason Scott

When you're surfing around on the Web to your favorite ... is it about them that makes you come back? What MAKES themyour favorite ... reliable ... ... But you never wo When you're surfing around on the Web to your favorite sites,what is it about them that makes you come back? What MAKES themyour favorite sites?Good, reliable information? Absolutely. But you never wouldhave gotten to that great information if they didn't first gainthe most important characteristic a Web site must get from you,and what YOU must get from your visitors... Trust.Trust is essential. Trust is why you didn't hit the Back buttonon your browser to go look somewhere else. Gain your visitorstrust and they will stay at YOUR site too.The next time you are at one of your favorite sites, think aboutthis as you read down the page. More importantly, do this atyour own site. Put yourself in your visitors place. Does yoursite convey trust? Let's look at some ways of improving thetrust factor with your visitors.1. Have a clean, easily navigable, well-maintained site.Think this doesn't have anything to do with trust? Thinkagain. You've heard about maintaining your site before, butwe need to begin here. I'll just touch on it quickly.We've all been to those sites that seem to make it as difficultas possible to find anything. There's probably some greatinformation in there somewhere, but they frustrate you bymaking it difficult to find so you give up and leave.There are also those sites that have dead links everywhere and astatement along the lines of "Last updated: March, 1998." Youand I are not going to stick around to see what they have tooffer. Nobody trusts a site that is sloppy and not maintained.Bottom line: A well designed site is a whole other articleindeed, but it does have its place here concerning trust. Keepyour site simple with clean navigation, regularly test all yourlinks, and the content up to date.2. Don't over-commercialize or tell half-truths on your site.When creating the copy for your site, don't be crass andannoying. This probably seems obvious enough to you. It can bedifficult at times though, especially when you have a greatproduct you believe in and are working hard to tell your visitorsabout it.The KEY is to find the middle between boring and over zealous.Yes, you want to sell products, and you want energy in your copy,but don't write stuff like "YES!!! MAKE $$$20,000$$$ BY TOMORROWWITH THIS SIMPLE TECHNIQUE!!!!!" in some obscure 48-point font.Exclamation points, dollar signs, strange fonts, and shouting allrolled into one ridiculous statement like this is not going togain you any credibility with your visitors. They won't besaying to themselves "Wow! I need to see what this is!", butrather "Oh, brother!" and get out of there in the blink of aneye.Stay away from becoming like those sites that have 26 bannerswith flashing lights and animation plastered all over their homepage that takes forever to download. Sites that do this do notgain trust, but instead appear like one big get rich quickscheme. Don't misunderstand! Affiliating with other sites is anoutstanding opportunity, but you need to do it right. Workaffiliation into your content tactfully and you will gain trust.What about lying or half-truths to try and sell your product?Quite simply, DON'T DO IT! First of all, if you feel that it isnecessary to do this, then you have the WRONG product anyway.In this case, create or get a better product. When you have agreat product that you believe in, it will translate to yourvisitors.Don't be tempted to try and persuade by twisting the truth. Mostvisitors will sense it. If they don't at first, they WILL catchyou later. You lose credibility (and their return visits), buteven more damaging is the word of mouth that can spread as aresult of it. I can think of a number of times where I've seenan exaggeration on a site (although the site thinks they'vetricked me) that makes me go "Yeah, right". I'll bet you've hadthe same experience. I've even seen this on some of the wellknown guru sites. Be careful, visitors ARE able to sense it.Bottom line: Write hard hitting copy, but do it tastefully.Expound on the benefits of your product sure, just don't crossthe line by being crass or by not telling the truth.3. Make your web site and your email communication as personalas possible.The first 2 points above are very important, but I considerthis the MOST important and effective way to gain trust from yourvisitors.The most successful marketing gurus online have long know this.They let it all hang out by putting their name, address, phonenumber, etc. out there and write their copy like an open letteras if they are speaking directly to you. Think this gains trust?You bet! They are able to convey the sense that they absolutelystand by their product and are making themselves as easilyaccessible as possible.You may not feel ready yet to put yourself out there to thatdegree, and that's fine. The important part of this is that youmust strive to write copy as if you are talking to a good friend.Don't attract visitors to your site and then start off with "Weare XYZ Company. We are located at blah, blah, blah..." Don'tgreet visitors with a corporate like jingle. Talk to yourvisitors personally first, offer yourself as friendly andhelpful, and you will begin to gain that trust.Email is the lifeline of your business. Don't underestimate itspower for gaining trust. Some of you might despise gettingcustomer emails with questions you need to answer. More busywork right? You'd rather be spending time on something else.Don't look at it that way. View it as an opportunity to gainconfidence and to develop lasting relationships (which meansrepeat visits to your site, and positive word or mouth).As with your site, compose your email messages to customers as ifspeaking to a friend and strive to respond as promptly aspossible. Don't send a form letter like response, take the timeto write back to them individually (write your autorespondermessages with a personal flavor as well). Also make sure thatyour message is formatted and spelled correctly. Maintain thattrust by paying attention to the small details!Bottom line: Create your web site content and write your emailcorrespondence in a friendly, inviting manner rather than usingthe usual cold, corporate sounding jargon.Use the above 3 points as a guideline for gaining credibilitywith YOUR visitors. Keep your site well maintained, be truthfulwith your copy, and speak to your visitors personally and you'llbe fine. Don't forget that honesty really IS the best policy.Be honest and you will gain that trust that is essential to yoursuccess! Article Tags: Those Sites Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com