How credible is your website? Most websites do little to none to grow the businesses they represent because they lack credibility. When you design a website for your business, you should ask this question:

Table of Contents show

How will my website build credibility for my brand?

Before a company hires your business or a customer buys from your business, think about trust. Do they trust you? After they look at your website, will they trust your business more?

If your website fails to build credibility, the visitors will never turn into a paying customer.

No credibility = No customer

The good news is that you can have a website designed for your business that builds trust.

Professional Design

Any website won’t do. If you want credibility, hire a professional web designer to create a website for your business.

Yes, it costs money to hire a web designer. It is worth the investment. Let’s say you spend $5000 on your website. If your website is online for the next five years, that is $1000 per year, which is about $83 per month.

There is no less expensive marketing that you can do than to build a website for your company.

A poorly designed or homemade-looking website will drive people away from your website. Invest in building the right website for your business.

Does your website work?

Websites with errors will cost you money. Every error message drives a user from your site to your competition.

Test your website to make sure that it is free of errors. Ask friends, family, and team members to evaluate your website. Ask for feedback.

Show Proof

What makes you better than the competition? Show that you are better. Share testimonials. Tell stories about how you have helped customers in the past.

Create a testimonials page. Share customer testimonials.

If you are a B2B business, share the logos of your clients.

Site visitors want to know that they can trust you. There is no better way to increase trust than sharing what your customers say about your business.

About Us

Design an exciting “About” page. Your “About” page is one of the most important web pages.

Prospects want to know more about your business. Who are the founders of your business? What is their business philosophy? Who are the team members? What is the story of your business? What makes your business unique?

A great “About” page will include an interesting story about your business. It will share about your customers too. Show some great images of your team, office, and customers.

The best “About” pages will include:

  • Founder’s story
  • Team member bios
  • History of the business
  • Customer success story
  • Photos (avoid stock photos)
  • Links to case studies or white papers

Credentials

What qualifies you to help your customers?

Share all relevant credentials such as:

  • Education
  • Awards
  • Achievements
  • Records
  • Publications
  • Membership in organizations
  • Speaking engagements
  • Trade show exhibitions
  • Interviews

Buy a Great Domain

Which domain name would you trust more?

www.lawyerswebsites.com or www.lawyers-websites.net

Buy a .com domain name. If you are a for-profit business, don’t settle for any other than a .com domain name. The .com domain name has the highest credibility. Avoid .net, .biz, .co, and the dozens of other domain extensions available.

Also, avoid hyphenated domain names. They are confusing.

There are still many great .com domain names available for you to buy. With a little bit of creativity, you can register a killer domain name for your website.

Show Your Address

Make your address and contact information clearly visible. The best place to show your phone number is within the header area of your website. I recommend showing your physical address within the footer area of your website.

Your website should also have a “Contact” page, which includes the following:

  • Physical address
  • Driving directions
  • Google map
  • Phone number
  • Contact form
  • Social network accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.

Actively Blog

Your website should have a blog feature. The most important thing about having a blog is to publish regularly. Create an editorial calendar and stick to it.

I recommend publishing at least once a month. If you have time to write more content, publish more frequently.

Your blog is a great credibility builder. The platform gives you a chance to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Use Great Images

Too many websites use stock photos. Stock photos are OK, but nothing builds credibility better than a great image.

Take the time to include your own images within your website. Hire a photographer to include some great photos on your website.

SEO

SEO is also a credibility builder. Optimize your website for your target keywords. People trust a website with a higher ranking than a lower ranking website.

Conclusion

Your website can become a 24/7 credibility machine for your business. People buy from those whom they trust. If you follow the above points, you can have a website with great credibility.

Through its design, copy, testimonials, blog posts, and images, your website will be a 24/7 image builder for your business.

Website Credibility Checklist

  • Professional web design – Great web design is hard to define, but visitors immediately see a bad design. A professional website includes meaningful navigation. The colors you use for your website should reflect your brand.
  • Trust marks – For websites, trust is critical. If site visitors don’t have confidence in your website, they won’t do business with you. Trust marks can boost website credibility, which could result in higher website conversions and more sales.
  • Payment badges – If you take Paypal payments on your website, it could increase website credibility. Many people have experience with the Paypal brand, and displaying their badge on your website could build trust with your visitors.
  • HTTPS – Today, the sign of a credible website is HTTPS. When your site uses an SSL certificate to encrypt data, the result is an HTTPS website address.
  • Speed – Nothing screams “low quality” more than a slow loading web page. If your website takes five seconds to load, you will lose credibility with your visitors. You can use a CDN or a caching plugin on your WordPress website to speed up your site.
  • SEO – SEO is important for a credible website. Customers trust higher ranking websites more. If a website ranks on the first page of Google, there must be a reason for that.
  • No stock photos – Stock photos should only be used as a temporary measure. How many times have you seen the same guy in a gray suit with a fake smile on his face? Your site visitors know when they are looking at a stock photo. Take the time to take real photos for your website.
  • Testimonials – Customers trust other customers. Make an effort to get customer testimonials and show them on your website.
  • Spelling mistakes – Typos and grammatical errors degrade website credibility. Spelling mistakes communicate a lack of attention to detail.
  • Avoid hype – People can sense hype. Stick to the facts on your website. Show the proof on your website to sell your products or services, not the hype.
  • Community – If you have people commenting on your blog posts, it shows the community behind your website.
  • Case studies – Case studies offer an opportunity to showcase your products or services. With a case study, you can demonstrate real results. It is a way to show how customers benefited from your product or service.
  • White papers – With a white paper, you can provide proof that your solution works. It is a way to demonstrate ROI. Your white papers are relatable to your customer personas.
  • Blogs – Blog posts can be a credible source of information.
  • Reviews – Customers care about reviews. It is an authentic way to find out about the quality of a product or service.
  • Backup claims – Whatever benefits you claim, you need to back it up on your website. If your solution is faster, show real numbers to demonstrate the difference between your solution and the rest. If your solution is cheaper, show how much cheaper.
  • Associations – If your company belongs to associations, it could help you build credibility. Show the names and logos of associations you are part of.
  • Business address – Show your business address in the footer of your website. On every page, people should be able to see your physical address.
  • Photos of your building or office – It is great to have your office or building photos on your website. Avoid stock photos if you can and use real photos of your business.
  • Videos – You can share video testimonials or reviews on your website.
  • Phone number – A phone number on your website helps to build credibility. Even if most customers will not call you, showing your phone number will help.
  • Staff photos – No one trusts an anonymous site. People feel that a website without photos might be hiding something. If your site visitors see the photos of your team, it will communicate trust.
  • Email policy – If you collect emails, explain what you will do with emails. Do you share, sell, or rent the emails you collect?
  • Ease of contact – If you want to build trust with site visitors, make sure it is easy to contact you.
  • Simple language – Don’t get too technical on your website. Using simple language is a great way to build credibility.
  • Social proof – Social proof such as reviews and testimonials are essential for building trust. Show the love on your website.
  • Client list – If you have a B2B website, you can build credibility by showing a client list.
  • Show prices – There is no reason to hide your prices. Your competitors know your prices already, so why hide them?
  • Visible refund and return policies – You wouldn’t trust a website that is hiding refund and return policies. Customers appreciate websites that are upfront with all return and refund information.
  • Recommendations – If you can get influencers or industry authorities to recommend your business, you can increase credibility.