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Newcomers to the world of internet marketing find it very difficult to get their first few sales. This is largely due to an apparent lack of credibility in the eyes of the customer. Let’s face it you are completely unknown, why should they trust you?

Your first major hurdle to cross is that of improving your reputation and credibility. One way of improving your credibility is to become well known amongst those members of the internet community that frequent your market niche. There are other relatively simple things related to your website which also have a huge impact on your credibility.

The following points all contribute in some way to the first impression your website creates in the minds of your customers and they all go a long way to establishing or destroying your credibility…

1) Nothing destroys your credibility quicker than if you use unprofessional graphics on your website. That first impression created by your website is incredibly important and it does not take much to turn a seemingly terrible graphic into something that looks neat, clean and professional, but if you don’t have the ability to modify the graphics yourself, either find suitable free graphics on the internet or hire a graphic artist to do the work for you.

2) Use full contact details on your website. People feel a lot more comfortable when they are dealing with a real person, and not a “front” for a money making scam. Use your full business address on your website, not a P.O. Box. People like to know that you will respond to their requests for help, so put their minds at rest by also including your business, and mobile phone numbers. Make sure you use an answering service for those periods when you are unable to answer your phone.

3) Don’t leave your email address on your website; it will be harvested by spam bots. Use a “Help Desk” system… Your customers have to register first and then create a support ticket. They immediately get an automated response explaining that their customer service issue is logged, gives them a tracking ticket number and explains that a customer service representative will respond shortly. This appears very professional to a customer and greatly increases your credibility.

4) Nobody likes to wait for an answer regardless of the circumstances, so include a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on your web site. Many customer service issues happen more than once and by supplying the solution to a problem on a FAQ mean your customer gets the answer to their problems immediately. Every time you get a new customer service issue, add it to your FAQ, that’s one less issue you’ll have to deal with in the future. One spin off from having a comprehensive FAQ is your credibility increases because you’ve dealt with all those issues (or at least thought about them) in the past.

There are also a number of “off site” issues which greatly affect your credibility…

1) Not responding to customer service issues is a pretty quick way to destroy your credibility. Many people won’t buy directly from the sales page and will have questions about your product or service that they want answers to before they consent to the purchase. Delay your reply to them and you loose the sale. Many customers may have a problem with the sale itself and if you don’t reply quickly, they will ask for a refund, and what’s worse is they will never buy from you again.

2) A very good credibility building task is writing articles related to your website’s theme or topic. Submit these articles to as many article directories and ezine editors as you can, the more the better. Your articles will be included in many different ezines and newsletters and will also be included as website content. Hundreds, if not thousands of people will read your articles and over time your reputation and credibility will grow.

3) Participate in web forums or discussion boards as they are also known. Post your own comments, answer other people’s questions, and even ask your own questions, always being honest and truthful. Never advertise blatantly, rather include a text link under each message you post. People will get to know you the more you post especially if they like what you write. Quite apart from the additional traffic you will get from people clicking on your text link to see what else you have to offer them, your credibility will increase dramatically.

To Your Success
Cody Moya

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