This post is part 2, continuing from yesterday’s 10 Actions You Can Take to Increase Your Website Credibility.
Is your website building your credibility? Or scaring away clients? Here are 9 more easy actions you can take to boost your website’s credibility and help your website visitors feel comfortable purchasing from or working with you.
Give visitors a way to share your website/blog/articles. When a potential client arrives to your website based on a referral from a trusted source, they’re more likely to sign up for your newsletter or purchase your products/services. AddtoAny works with any website and is easy to install. If you’re using WordPress try the Sociable or SexyBookmarks plugins. (This site has the SexyBookmarks plugin active and you can see it at the bottom of this page.)
Answer the “Frequently Asked Questions.” Create or update your Frequently Asked Questions page to help answer more of the questions customers can (or should!) be asking you.
Share generously. Offer free articles, checklists, videos and other resources that showcase your expertise in creating your product or delivering your service.
Be a real person. Include photographs of yourself, your office space, your location, etc. for visitors to connect with and see that there’s a real person and real company behind your website.
Be responsive. If you have a blog or social networking page, respond to comments! It doesn’t build credibility (or win you any friends) when someone posts a question about your product/services in response to a blog post and you don’t bother to reply.
Build a credible media page. Create a media page and add a list of places you’ve been featured. If you haven’t been featured in traditional media yet (newspapers, magazines, television, etc), don’t worry! You can still build a great media page. Include things like press releases you’ve written about your company, places you’ve been featured online, and links to where your articles can be found (Ezine Articles offers a great widget and logo you can use). Setup a Google Alert for your name and your business name and you’ll be alerted when you’re mentioned somewhere online so you can continue adding to your media page. Also include typical “media kit” resources like your head shot, bio, and availability for interviews or questions.
Ensure website compatibility. Check your website for compatibility with the major search engines and make changes as needed. You can use Browser Shots to see an image of what your URL looks like in dozens of different browsers so you can easily spot any major issues. If your website loads strangely in some browsers you’ll lose potential clients who use those browsers.
Be smart with your images. Check your images to be sure they’re properly resized for the web and download quickly. If you upload images directly from your camera, they’re probably very large file sizes which means they’ll download slowly and may appear pixelated if your website tries to force them to a smaller size. You can use Resizr or other similar free online services to optimize your photos before you upload them so they’ll download quick and come out clear. If you’re selling products, present them well in your photographs using a lightbox or piece of whiteboard as a background.
Scan your site for broken links. Use a free tool like the W3C Link Checker to find any broken links on your website. While you’re at it, also setup a custom 404 page to help if visitors do find a broken link.
Leave a Reply