Why do we hate car salesmen? Simple, we don’t trust them. It’s not that we don’t want the car, we just don’t find the salesman’s claims to be credible. Because of the lack of face to face interaction between you and your website visitors, customers will judge your company based on your website. Your products may be incredible, but if your site isn’t credible, you’ll never close the deal.

Below I’ve listed my top 5 tips for improving your website’s credibility.

1. Clean, Professional Site Design: Nothing says amateur more than an ugly or unprofessional website design. It’s painfully obvious when websites are designs by “techies” rather than graphic designers. While it’s certainly possible to go overboard with graphics, they are none the less important.
2. Personal Contact or About Page: More often than we realize, customers use contact or about pages to determine whether your company is reachable and or credible. Make sure you prominently display contact information on your contact page. In addition, you may want to add a personal touch by showing pictures of your customer service staff with their direct contact info.
3. Trust Logos: Secure logos from your SSL provider, Hacker Safe, or BBBOnline can go a long way to show credibility.
4. Privacy/Security Page: Display your privacy policy (you do have one, right?) for your customers to review. Assure them their information is kept safe and secure. Allow them to validate your SSL with click-through verification (most SSL providers offer this.)
5. Unfiltered Customer Reviews: If your site sells products, I would highly recommend allowing customers to review them. While it’s tempting to remove negative customer reviews from the site, they can be a great way to convince your customers that you are open and transparent about your products.