Web Site Credibility: Top Ten Checklist

Have you evaluated your companys web site lately really looked at it from a customers point of view Because no business is static all marketing materials, including your web site, need to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. A research team at Stanford University conducted an extensive three-year study to learn how businesses can improve their web sites credibility. Here is what Stanford learned and how you can review how credible your web site is for your customers.

Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.

Give full credit to other sources and links to experts, like I have here for Stanford University

Show that theres a real organization behind your site.

About Us and Contact information can help validate that your company really exists

Highlight the expertise in your organization in the content and services you provide.

Years in business, certifications, and qualifications.

Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.

(Customer testimonials work; speak in real people language to establish rapport.)

Make it easy to contact you.

Offer phone numbers, email addresses, business address and a map if needed.

Design your site so it looks professional or is appropriate for your purpose.

Your site should reflect the nature of your business and your audience.

Make your site easy to use --- and useful.

Think about the end user; ask customers and clients for feedback.

Update your sites content often, at least show its been reviewed recently.

Give customers a reason to return, stay current with new technologies and trends and add new information regularly.

Use restraint with any promotional content, e.g. ads and offers.

If your site is for e-commerce, ignore that.

Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

Details, details, details.

Not revolutionary ideas, just basic good business principles. Whether youre developing a new site or updating an existing one, this is a simple tool you can use to evaluate your sites effectiveness. As with every marketing and business tool, web site quality and credibility are critical to building your company brand.

You can access the complete report at http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html/

Claudia Trusty develops strong marketing and branding messages that drive results for small and mid-size companies. For twenty years Trusty and Company has produced communication solutions for clients in retail and service industries. Visit them on the web at

Internet Marketing: Promote Your Business Within Your Site

Opt in clicking promotes your business. By increasing link exchanges within the promotional copy on each page of your website, your website moves for you. It moves your clients to buyer pages, selling your products, and keeping the client actively clicking within your website pages.

Creatively unified content with interwoven click points keep people reading your site, moving from page to page, and buying your products. These clicks are created by linking your products to articles promoting your product, linked to articles describing another product that works with your product.

While this may sound redundant in description, the point on your page is to keep your client reading fresh content, moving back to the product pages, and buying more items. In specific instances, you can even promote your product in articles published on another site, bringing the client back at the end of your article to your product purchasing page.

Marketing your site requires forethought, planning, and ingenuity to keep readers interested and actively participating in the pages. As each person visits your page, you have approximately 3 seconds to capture their interest and bring them something of value. After that you have no chance of recapturing their viewing interest.

Work hard, work fast, and get the job done by interacting with confidence.

Copy writing with a purpose creates an interactive website optimally presenting your product in ways that bring your client to the point of purchasing. When your copy speaks to the heart of your client, your client speaks back.

Functional interchange of communication results in sales.

Need income from your website It seems a necessary evil these days. Dont let clients pass your site by without spending something, even if its just time. Let me show you how to keep your client reading, buying, and shopping. Visit Jan Verhoeff at .