You’ve built your website, published it and now wait for the floods of orders to come through. Only they don’t…
There could be a million reasons for this, but one of the reasons might be that people don’t see your website as trustworthy enough to actually part with their money.
A few months after I started my first proper business Cocoa & Heart, the bookings started to come in. I was obviously happy about it and mentioned it to my then work colleagues at a part-time job I had. My colleague, said something that until now I didn’t even think about. She said: ‘Well, people obviously trust you and trust your website to make a booking.’
‘You mean, a brilliant product is not enough, people actually need to trust me?’
‘Yes, they do!’
So, how do you make your website trustworthy? Here are my top 10 tips (retrospectively applied to my business!)
1 contact details
Include contact details somewhere obvious. Header or footer is a good place as well as home page (if appropriate). Make sure you have a contact page with contact form. I take most bookings via the website, but having an actual landline phone number means people can contact me and also it means my business is seen as a proper location.
2 T&C
Include T&C on your website. This could be a topic on it’s own, so you are better off getting hold off a template T&C and make them your own. You definitely should include delivery, returns, refunds, copyright, data protection etc.
3 About page
Have an about page and include your photo. It reassures people and it makes your business more approachable.
4 Payment options
Display payment options on your website and include symbols of payment cards and systems your website accepts.
5 SSL Certificate
If you are an e-commerce website it is good idea to have SSL certificate.
6 Website Design
Make sure your design, photos and colours fit your desired target audience. If in doubt, less is more. You don’t need flashing moving pictures, the latest plugins or tons of frilly web elements. Crisp photos, legible font and easy to read copy is a good start to a trustworthy website.
7 Be always up-to-date
Make sure, that your website is always up-to-date. Having the last blog showing as 3 years ago and wishing your customers Merry Christmas when its February, doesn’t send the best signals.
8 social media
Keep your social media up-to-date too. If you have social media, make sure these are updated regularly. If you can’t keep up with all your accounts, just focus on those that actually work for you and disconnect the rest.
9 testimonials
Include Testimonials page and have testimonials placed in other appropriate pages on your website
10 Reviews
Depending on your business, link your website to independent review platforms, like Tripadvisor, Checkatrade, TrustPilot or others.
I’m sure there are other ways to make your website more trustworthy, so I’m keen to hear what works for you. Leave me a comment below and I look forward to reading them all.
Magdalena
