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You put a lot of effort into attracting visitors to your site. But you probably have bigger goals than attracting attention. Most website owners want their site to be:

• Trusted
• Engaged with
• Purchased from
• Discussed
• Referred to

If you expect a customer to give you their credit card information, they are going to have to feel a strong level of trust in your business. Showing a high level of professionalism is vital to the credibility of your website.

A few years back Stanford University compiled a list of 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a website. These guidelines are based on three years of research and on several studies about that topic. Although the information is not new, it is still very important if you want to be successful with your online business.

Guidelines for Credibility from Stanford University
What Makes a Website Credible? (PDF)
 

Increase your site’s trustworthiness and credibility 

Consider the look and design of your site

It may not seem fair, but people really do judge a book by its cover, and by extension, a website by its design. Studies have proven that many people look for visual cues when assessing a site’s credibility. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and style because these all affect how users perceive your website and what kind of image you project.

Make your site easy to use

Sites that are easy to navigate are perceived as being more trustworthy. Keep your navigation consistent throughout the entire website. The functionality of a site also contributes to the overall trustworthiness. For example, if the site is down, links are broken, or search features are not helpful, it can hurt how people perceive your site. Check regularly for errors such as broken links, bad grammar, or pages that don't display correctly.

Make it easy to contact you

If the only contact information you supply is an email address or a contact form, it is unlikely that a customer will give you credit card information. Consider including a ‘Contact Us’ page on your website, not only for the convenience of your visitors, but because it’s a tool to convert visitors into customers. For visitors to identify your site as a legitimate business, your Contact Us page should include:

• Company name
• Your name
• Phone number
• A physical address
• A business email address 

Protect your customers' privacy

Let your customers know your information privacy guidelines upfront. Display a link to your privacy policy from every page on your site. If you don’t have one, take a look at these policy generators:

Federal Trade Commission's Guide for Business
OECD Privacy Statement Generator
Direct Marketing Association Privacy Policy Generator

Display a trust seal

Display seals and badges that help instill credibility and confidence. The Community Trust Network trust seals show visitors to your site that it is trusted by the WOT community. If you are a member of the Better Business Bureau, or your local Chamber of Commerce, put that badge on your website too.

Please share other reputation building tips below.

Today WOT is happy to introduce the Community Trust Network. The Community Trust Network (CTN) will help online businesses use their high reputations to improve credibility, build customer trust, increase conversions and boost sales.

The WOT community has rated millions of websites for trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy and child safety. That important work protects Internet users worldwide because WOT users recognize that sites lacking privacy protection, support and good security practices can put them at risk. Website owners can benefit from this community-based knowledge by showing customers and visitors that their site is trusted by the WOT community.

The Community Trust Network Seal

By displaying Community Trust Network seals on your site, visitors know instantly that your site is trusted. If the customer wants to verify the authenticity or leave feedback, they click on the seal to open the certificate and rating window.

When you join the Community Trust Network you get:

• Trust seals & Rate us buttons to place on your website
• An editable CTN certificate with your current WOT ratings and comments
• An easy-to-use feedback tool
• Reputation alerts to inform you of changes in your ratings

Sign up your online business for a 1-month free trial now. It takes a few minutes to get started.

Learn more about how the Community Trust Network can help you use your great reputation to the best advantage.

Read the press release

PandaLabs is reporting an increase in poisoned search terms related to Halloween costumes, related food recipes, haunted house directions, Halloween parties and the movie Halloween. The links lead to fake anti-virus software.

Other security experts are warning users to be wary of unsolicited email messages in the days leading up to Halloween. Typical scams include online greetings cards, or links to holiday sites such as the 'dancing skeleton' attack. The messages often contain a Trojan attachment or a link to a malicious page disguised as a greetings card or video file.

Please rate Halloween-related sites so all WOT users will know whether they are trustworthy or not. And have a safe and Happy Halloween!

The Community Trust contest

You already have a great reputation with WOT users. What if there was a way to show all your visitors, not only WOT users, that your site is trusted, so they would be confident to do business with you?

Whether you want visitors to make a purchase, download something, or sign up for your newsletter, the Community Trust Network can help.

What you will win

Ten website owners will receive 3 free months membership in the new WOT Community Trust Network. For 3 months, we give you the tools to

• show visitors that your site is trusted
• give your customers the ability to rate and review your site
• keep track of your online reputation

How to Enter

1. Write a paragraph answering this question: As a site owner, what is your biggest challenge to get people to register, to complete a purchase, or to participate on your site?
2. Post the paragraph on your blog or Facebook page with a link back to this blog posting, and/or post your paragraph in the comments section below.
3. Email us the paragraph by Wednesday, October 28, 2009 to make sure you are entered in the contest.

Who is eligible?

The Community Trust contest is open to website owners who want to use their excellent or good reputation ratings to:

• boost sales
• increase consumer confidence
• convert visitors into customers
• gather valuable feedback
• improve customer service and satisfaction

Contest Rules:

The WOT team will select the best 10 entries on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. You must have an excellent or good WOT rating, and you must comply with all three steps above to be eligible to win. The winners will be notified via email by Monday, November 2, and be willing to be included in WOT marketing materials (website, Inside MyWOT newsletter, Twitter, etc.)

Why are we doing this?

There are many small and medium-sized websites that could use help differentiating themselves from their competitors. We have created The Community Trust Network as a way for you to emphasize your excellent reputation and build a positive relationship with customers. The 3 months CTN membership we are giving away will be in exchange for the feedback we hope to get.

The source code for the WOT add-ons is now available for download on the WOT wiki. Get the WOT source code here.