7 Ways to Make Your Website More Professional
By Justin PalmerWhy do we despise car salesmen? It's simple, we just don't trust them. It's not that we don't want the vehicle, we just don't find the salesman's claims to be believable. 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.
In this article, I'll discuss my top 5 tips for improving your site's professionalism and 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.
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 customers service staff with their direct contact info.
3. Trust Logo:
Secure logos from your SSL provider, Hacker Safe, or BBB Online can go a long way to show credibility.
4. Privacy & Security Pages:
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. Un-filtered Customer Product 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 to convince your customers that you are open and transparent about your products.
6. Prominent 800 Number:
Don't make your customers dig to find your contact number. In addition, most people find an 800 number more professional than a local number. It can give the impression that your company is larger than you actually are.
7. Press Section:
Be sure to highlight any references to your product in the mainstream media. Interviews, press releases, or other news content can be a great way of showing the legitimacy of your brand.
I hope this article has been helpful to you. For more eCommerce tips, please checkout the Palmer Website Marketing blog.
Justin Palmer is the owner of PalmerWebMarketing.com, which offers online marketing ebooks and SEO optimization tips.