7 ways to build authenticity and credibility in your website

Build trust with your audience to get more enquiries.

Having trust in any relationship is hugely important and a business relationship is no different. Your website, being the extension or the shopfront to which you present to the world your business services and products is the platform where you start building credibility and trust.

Building an authentic and credible website will build trust in people, and in turn, will help convince people to engage with your business or make an enquiry. It is an important way to help people along the path towards engaging with your business.

7 ways to build authenticity and credibility into your website.

You can implement these within the next weeks to help build trust within your audience.

1. Use authentic photos and videos.

Photographs and videos are the most consumed content on the internet. They communicate clearly a message making it easy to understand. Therefore it is important to have clear, professional photos that communicate what it is you do.

Set aside a budget for photography and approach a professional photographer within your area.

If you need photos of people, make sure you get a photographer who loves people and can capture them with your project in mind.

Stock photography can come to the rescue and provide a way to add photos to your website without actually producing the pictures. Read up on the Do’s and Don’ts of Stock Photos in Web Design.

2. Communicate a clear message of what it is you do.

Communicating exactly what it is you do in a simple and clear manner helps people know that your business can help.

Having a clear message and a simple Value Proposition will invite people to contact you for your services and build connection and trust.

Often we get wrapped up in trying to communicate everything that we can offer and we end up with loads of information on our web page. Keeping a simple message or a simple value proposition means that you have put thought and effort into refining your message which helps communicate what it is you do.

Crafting your value proposition is possibly one of the most important elements to develop for your business and website. A simple statement, stating your mission, your goals and how you can help your clients with their problem. We spent many an hour refining ours which we our now happy with, although these things can always be tweaked.

We craft websites! Designed to increase sales, leads and accomplish online success.

Action Step

In this helpful resource by Peep Laja, he explains what a Value Proposition is and how to go about crafting one, well worth the read – https://conversionxl.com/blog/value-proposition-examples-how-to-create/

3. Testimonials and reviews

What better way to talk about your business than getting someone else to do the talking for you. Testimonials and reviews play a big role in advocating for your business and do the talking for you.

Having other people talk about your business in a positive light helps to build trust in your business and ability.

Another positive to why testimonials and reviews are beneficial is that having other people talk about your business will communicate your services and products in a different way. People will phrase experiences individually and in ways that you cannot. This is important because the more ways people hear about a business, the more it builds trust and installs authority.

Action Step

Build a series of testimonials that outline your service areas and showcase them throughout your website. Choose an appropriate testimonial for a specific landing page or offering page.

4. List of benefits

Everybody loves a list (I am writing this at Christmas time and a well thought out list is extremely handy, I must say). A list of value-based benefits solving an organisation’s or individual’s problems is no different.

A list of benefits that your clients will receive from working with you, ones that help them directly or solves a problem in their business will build trust in your product or service. Focus on the values that your business can bring to their organisation, to help reduce pain points or major problem areas. This will build authority and trust while putting you or your company at the front of their mind.

Putting the values and benefits into list makes them scannable and provides the information in a quick, easy format.

Action Step

Pull together 10 benefits about your service areas or product and feature them in a list. Use a graphic element such as a related icon to help back up the benefit.

5. Trust Badges

What are trust badges? I define these as any industry leader associated with your business or entity that you are affiliated with which adds credibility.

For example, if you have an eCommerce store, then displaying the logos of the credit cards your users can utilise, thus helping to build credibility and trust.

Association logos such as Master Builders or other industry accreditations help to endorse the business.

Action Step

Display these logos in your website’s footer where they get shown on every page.

6. FAQs or Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs are a great way to display any common questions you get asked from your customers or clients. FAQs can help reduce your front desk enquiries and help your users get the information they need.

If you find yourself getting asked the same question over and over then think about developing an FAQ section on your website.

You’ll then be able to link to this page via email and point people in the right direction.

Check out our FAQ Page. Let us know if there are other questions you would like to be answered.

Action Step

Build a list of questions that you get asked frequently and write out the answers. Add these to your website.

7. Ensure your site has an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate.

An SSL certificate is a must have for any website. Google has started weighting more importance on SSL Certificates. Websites with a SSL certificate installed will get a higher rank in Google than those without.

What is an SSL Certificate?

Basically, an SSL allows information to flow between your browser and the web servers in a secure encrypted environment. This becomes hugely important when you are buying something online with a credit card or logging into a website with your email and password. It is this sensitive information that needs protecting.

So what is the difference between a website that has an SSL Certificate installed or one that doesn’t? Or what is the difference between a http://example.com and a https://example.com. 

Action Step.

Ensure your website has SSL certificate and if not get in touch with your web host or website developer today.

Build trust in your website today.

These steps are relatively simple to implement, make a start today, choose one and build trust with your audience.

Further Considerations

Have we missed anything else that builds trust and authenticity? Let us know in the comments below.