Web credibility is all about trust and knowledge. Trenton Moss believes that if you can show them both on your website you'll reap the rewards. Do you agree?
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<h2>Web usability: It's old news</h2>
<p>If you've been developing websites on Mars for the past
few years then you'll be forgiven for not knowing about web
usability. You'll still be creating splash intro pages,
having pages with massive download times and using more images
than you can shake a stick at. Well, back in Earth these days
have long gone and today <strong>web usability rules the web
development world</strong>. For those of you who have been on
Mars please read some of the things that <a
title="Jakob Nielson's Alertbox"
href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/">Jakob Nielson</a> has to
say and try to catch up.</p>
<p>As for the rest of us Earth-based developers, well we've
learnt a whole bunch about usability and we're all using it
as best we can in our websites. Right, guys? After all, web
usability does have <a
href="http://www.webcredible.co.uk/benefits/web-usability.shtml">
huge benefits</a>.</p>
<p>Now that usable websites have become so commonplace,
especially among the major web players, it's time to start
looking to the future. Suddenly, a usable website isn't
going to be enough to separate us from our competitors (apart
from those using the developers who've been based on Mars).
<strong>There is a solution</strong>. It's two words long.
Enter our new best friend...</p>
<p><strong>Web credibility</strong>.</p>
<h2>What is web credibility & why is it important?</h2>
<p>According to BJ Fogg, the world's leading researcher on
web credibility, web credibility is about making your website in
such a way that it comes across as <strong>trustworthy</strong>
and <strong>knowledgeable</strong>. Don't just take my word
for it - <a title="Persuasive Technology homepage"
href="http://www.persuasivetech.info/">read his book</a> if you
like. This book is so good that even Jakob Nielson himself
(he's the self-appointed web usability guru for all you
Mars-based developers), dedicated a whole <a
title="Read the alertbox about this book"
href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030303.html">alertbox</a>
to it.</p>
<p>Fogg will tell you, as can I, and numerous other
organisations, that a <strong>credible website can reap huge
benefits on to your website</strong> and your business. So,
here's a few statistics to prove this point:</p>
<ul>
<li>Just <strong>52.8% of web users</strong> believe online
information to be credible (source: <a
href="http://ccp.ucla.edu/pdf/UCLA-Internet-Report-Year-Three.pdf">
<acronym
title="Read the University of California, Los Angeles PDF report (210kb)">
UCLA</acronym></a>)</li>
<li>Four in five users say that being able to <strong>trust
the information on a site</strong> is very important to them
in deciding to visit a website (source: <a
title="Read the full report"
href="http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/1_TOC.htm">Princeton
Survey Research Associates</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p>So, web credibility's pretty important then. But how do
you implement it on to your website? Fear not, all the answers
lie within the realms of this article. Now, before I go further,
I must stress that most of this stuff falls under the category
of <strong>‘it's obvious once you know it’</strong>. You
know, like if someone sets you a puzzle and you can't do it
but when they tell you the answer it's really obvious. Web
credibility is all common sense - you just don't tend to
think about this stuff. So without further ado, here are five
guidelines for making a credible website.</p>
<h2>1. You must prove there's a real organisation behind
your website</h2>
<p><strong>Anyone can put up a website</strong> promising to
deliver the ‘best service at the lowest prices’. Web users must
be able to believe there's a real organisation behind your
website. A few things you can do are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Make it very easy to contact you</li>
<li>Link to external websites that reference your
organisation</li>
<li>Provide staff bios</li>
<li>Show photos of the office, staff, products etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>This basically says that you should have a really good
contact us and about us section. Don't bury your
<strong>contact us</strong> link in some obscure place in the
website or on the page. Make out like you really want your site
visitors to get in contact with you. In fact, I won't talk
anymore about your contact us page because Miles Burke's has
already written an excellent article about it, <a
href="http://www.sitepoint.com/article/encouraging-contact-online/%20title=">
The Lost Art of Conversation - Encouraging Contact
Online</a>.</p>
<p>As for the <strong>about us</strong> section, don't
underestimate its importance. Don't be afraid to show who
you are (stand tall and be proud!), what you stand for, what
your goals are, and a bit about your history (of the
organisation, not you). People will read this stuff - it
certainly won't be the first thing they'll read on your
website but it could be the last thing they read before deciding
whether or not to do business with you.</p>
<p>Can you think of other ways you can prove your
organisation's real? Have a look at a website you visit
quite often - what is it about this website that you trust?</p>
<h2>2. Your website needs to provide 'sensitive'
information</h2>
<p>A website is akin to a one-way conversation between you and
your site visitors where <strong>you have 100% control over the
dialogue</strong>. If site users perceive you to be lacking in
credibility then you'll be unable to defend yourself. As
such, you must ensure that you answer any questions your site
visitors may have, for example:</p>
<ul>
<li>What is the purpose of your organisation?</li>
<li>How much does your product cost?</li>
<li>What happens if I'm not happy with your service</li>
<li>What will you do with my email address once I give it to
you?</li>
</ul>
<p>There are about <a title="Go to the Zooknic website"
href="http://www.zooknic.com/Domains/counts.html">35 million
websites</a> on the Internet - by 2014 there'll be an
estimated <a title="Read the Jakob Nielson interview"
href="http://www.internet-magazine.com/features/jakob1.asp">150
million</a>, not including personal websites. With so many
people online and so many websites competing with yours,
<strong>if you can't persuade Internet users to be loyal to
your website then someone else will</strong>.</p>
<h2>3. All statements should be backed up by third-party
evidence</h2>
<p>"We helped our clients achieve an average of 70% growth
last year." Really? Well <strong>prove it</strong>! Every
single point you make on your website must, without fail, be
backed up with hard evidence - preferably from a third-party
website. How else can a reader know for sure that you're
telling the truth?</p>
<p><strong>Client testimonials</strong>, for example, are great
- they're even better if the testimonial links to the
client's website. You can improve them even more if the name
of the person making the testimonial is linked to their bio on
their website. You could notch up even more credibility points
if the testimonial itself is on the client's website and you
link to it!</p>
<p>If you've won any <strong>awards</strong> or belong to
any <strong>industry bodies</strong>, then proudly display these
emblems too. Even better, have them link to the external
website. Better still, would be a direct link to the section of
the website showing your membership details or a list of the
award winners.</p>
<h2>4. There has to be proof that the organisation is growing
and has clients</h2>
<p>An organisation that can prove it has clients and is
experiencing growth instantly achieves credibility. By showing
you've offered your services plenty of times before, and
expect to do so in the future, your organisation comes across as
being <strong>firmly established within your industry</strong>.
You can prove this by providing:</p>
<ul>
<li>A client list</li>
<li>Testimonials</li>
<li>Case studies of your work</li>
<li>A latest news section</li>
<li>A jobs page</li>
<li>Free newsletter</li>
</ul>
<h2>5. Your website needs to have an air of professionalism and
confidence</h2>
<p>Your website is your organisation's online representation
- it's essential that it matches up in quality to the rest
of your marketing materials. Even if you don't think your
website's important to the success of your organization,
(potential) <strong>clients <em>will</em> make judgments about
your organisation based on your website</strong>.</p>
<p>So, what is the number one most important aspect of Web
credibility? The about us section? No. Quality of outbound
links? No-siree. Studies have consistently proven that the most
important criteria of Web credibility is... <strong>the way the
website looks</strong>. That's it.</p>
<p>It's been suggested that this is due to the short amount
of time we spend on websites so we tend to rely on initial
judgements. Make sure that you create a great first impression
by having a <strong>crisp, professional layout</strong> with
sharp graphics. Other good things to do are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Provide some free information to prove your expertise</li>
<li>Ensure there are no dead links</li>
<li>Send out an automated confirmation e-mail when someone
contacts you</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many more! Just visit any website you perceive to
be professional and confident and see what they do.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Have a look at your website and check to see if it does all
this stuff. A handy program to check that there are no broken
links is <a title="Download this program"
href="http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html">Xenu's link
sleuth</a>. You can also check out Stanford University's <a
title="See the guidelines"
href="http://www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/index.html">10
guidelines for credibility</a> and the best online resource to
keep up to date with web credibility, the <a
title="Go to the website"
href="http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/">Consumer
WebWatch</a>.</p>
<p><strong><em>About the author:</em></strong> This article was
written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web accessibility
and usability - so crazy that he went and started his own <a
href="http://www.webcredible.co.uk/">web accessibility and
usability consultancy</a>, Webcredible, to help make the
Internet a better place for everyone.</p>
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