What Makes Your Site Look Untrustworthy? 8 Signs to Watch For
Your website can be the first exposure that customers and clients have to your business. When it’s well designed and provides customers with useful information, they’ll be more likely to contact you about your services or make purchases from your business. But when your site looks untrustworthy, they may not want to work with you. Worse, they could end up supporting your competitors. So, what makes your site look untrustworthy? It goes far beyond slow load times.
1. Outdated Design Elements
If your site looks like it was built in the early 2000s, it may appear untrustworthy to your customers. Remember, your customers expect your site to be as modern as your company is. If they think the site hasn’t been updated in decades, they may assume that your business is no longer up and running. The best thing you can do is work with a professional website design team and let them get your site up to the current standard.
2. Spelling Errors
The content on your site should look and read as though it was written by a native speaker. If you have spelling errors or tons of grammatical mistakes, customers may think your site is spoofing a legitimate business. When people from foreign countries impersonate a company, they often miss spelling and grammatical mistakes that a native speaker would catch with ease. This can lead to customers abandoning your site in favor of your competitors simply because they don’t think it’s real.
3. Outdated Information
Great websites that inspire confidence in your customers and clients are updated regularly. Remember, customers can see the publication dates on your blogs and the copyright date on your site at the bottom of the page. If you haven’t updated anything recently (think within the last year), they may assume that your site is outdated and the services you provide or the products you’re selling might not be current. And if you have old sales promos floating around your site, they may assume that your business is no longer running.
Make sure your site is up to date and displays the most recent update dates for your relevant pages. This will show customers that you’re still active and up and running.
4. Pop Ups Galore
In limited quantities, popups can be effective ways to advertise sales, promotions, and events. But it’s rare that customers enjoy tons of in-your-face advertisements all over your pages. If your site has pop ups that are difficult to close, keep reappearing as your customers scroll down the page, or cover most of the page, customers may not feel that your site is trustworthy.
Keep your pop ups to a minimum and let your design team help you create effective ads that your customers will love. You may find that ditching popups altogether in favor of beautiful hero images may be a better choice.
5. Missing SSL Certificates
Security certificates or SSL certificates help protect your customers’ information from hackers and scammers. While your site may be well designed and load quickly, many customers will feel it’s untrustworthy if you don’t have that certificate in place.
Check with your site administrator to check on your certificate. If you don’t have one, your current certificate expired, or it’s about to expire, invest in a new certificate as soon as possible.
6. No Contact Information
Customers like to feel that online businesses function just like brick-and-mortar businesses. This means they want to have a way to contact the company if anything goes wrong or if they have a question about the services and products being offered. If you don’t have clear contact information on your site, it may send signals that your site and your business just aren’t trustworthy.
You don’t have to go overboard with your info. Just including an email address or business phone number can go a long way toward inspiring confidence in your brand and your website. You may even want to set up a contact form that customers can fill out to request more information about products or your business’s policies. Just make sure to set up an autoresponder email that tells your customers that you received their email.
7. Missing or Hidden Reviews
The most successful and trustworthy sites include easy-to-read and navigate reviews for products sold on the site. If your site doesn’t have reviews, hides the review pages, or makes it difficult for customers to access the reviews posted for your products, it may leave your customers feeling like you’re hiding something. Not only will this lead them to lose confidence in your site—it could also cause them to lose confidence in your business.
Let your website design team help you make your product reviews accessible and easy to navigate. They’ll make sure all images display correctly and that your site gives customers the chance to sort reviews in a way that works for their needs.
8. Blank Web Pages
The pages linked in your navigation menu should provide valuable information to your customers and clients. If your pages are blank, showing an “error 404” message, or still have placeholder copy like “lorem ipsum dolor,” it could leave visitors feeling like your site isn’t up and running anymore or that you’re effectively operating a scam rather than selling products or services.
If you have blank pages, let your content specialist either build those pages out or remove them from your site. Blank pages just add to your customers’ frustration when trying to navigate your site and may make it harder for them to find the information they need.
Let Denver Website Designs Help
If you’re seeing a decrease in traffic or notice that your site has one or more of these warning signs in place, it’s time to give your site a little TLC. Denver Website Designs is here to help you get your site up and running in a way that makes your customers feel confident in your brand and your products.
Our dedicated designers will work with you to bring your vision to life. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and see the difference that a modern, well-designed site can make in your business.
Go Back 1. Outdated Design Elements
If your site looks like it was built in the early 2000s, it may appear untrustworthy to your customers. Remember, your customers expect your site to be as modern as your company is. If they think the site hasn’t been updated in decades, they may assume that your business is no longer up and running. The best thing you can do is work with a professional website design team and let them get your site up to the current standard.
2. Spelling Errors
The content on your site should look and read as though it was written by a native speaker. If you have spelling errors or tons of grammatical mistakes, customers may think your site is spoofing a legitimate business. When people from foreign countries impersonate a company, they often miss spelling and grammatical mistakes that a native speaker would catch with ease. This can lead to customers abandoning your site in favor of your competitors simply because they don’t think it’s real.
3. Outdated Information
Great websites that inspire confidence in your customers and clients are updated regularly. Remember, customers can see the publication dates on your blogs and the copyright date on your site at the bottom of the page. If you haven’t updated anything recently (think within the last year), they may assume that your site is outdated and the services you provide or the products you’re selling might not be current. And if you have old sales promos floating around your site, they may assume that your business is no longer running.
Make sure your site is up to date and displays the most recent update dates for your relevant pages. This will show customers that you’re still active and up and running.
4. Pop Ups Galore
In limited quantities, popups can be effective ways to advertise sales, promotions, and events. But it’s rare that customers enjoy tons of in-your-face advertisements all over your pages. If your site has pop ups that are difficult to close, keep reappearing as your customers scroll down the page, or cover most of the page, customers may not feel that your site is trustworthy.
Keep your pop ups to a minimum and let your design team help you create effective ads that your customers will love. You may find that ditching popups altogether in favor of beautiful hero images may be a better choice.
5. Missing SSL Certificates
Security certificates or SSL certificates help protect your customers’ information from hackers and scammers. While your site may be well designed and load quickly, many customers will feel it’s untrustworthy if you don’t have that certificate in place.
Check with your site administrator to check on your certificate. If you don’t have one, your current certificate expired, or it’s about to expire, invest in a new certificate as soon as possible.
6. No Contact Information
Customers like to feel that online businesses function just like brick-and-mortar businesses. This means they want to have a way to contact the company if anything goes wrong or if they have a question about the services and products being offered. If you don’t have clear contact information on your site, it may send signals that your site and your business just aren’t trustworthy.
You don’t have to go overboard with your info. Just including an email address or business phone number can go a long way toward inspiring confidence in your brand and your website. You may even want to set up a contact form that customers can fill out to request more information about products or your business’s policies. Just make sure to set up an autoresponder email that tells your customers that you received their email.
7. Missing or Hidden Reviews
The most successful and trustworthy sites include easy-to-read and navigate reviews for products sold on the site. If your site doesn’t have reviews, hides the review pages, or makes it difficult for customers to access the reviews posted for your products, it may leave your customers feeling like you’re hiding something. Not only will this lead them to lose confidence in your site—it could also cause them to lose confidence in your business.
Let your website design team help you make your product reviews accessible and easy to navigate. They’ll make sure all images display correctly and that your site gives customers the chance to sort reviews in a way that works for their needs.
8. Blank Web Pages
The pages linked in your navigation menu should provide valuable information to your customers and clients. If your pages are blank, showing an “error 404” message, or still have placeholder copy like “lorem ipsum dolor,” it could leave visitors feeling like your site isn’t up and running anymore or that you’re effectively operating a scam rather than selling products or services.
If you have blank pages, let your content specialist either build those pages out or remove them from your site. Blank pages just add to your customers’ frustration when trying to navigate your site and may make it harder for them to find the information they need.
Let Denver Website Designs Help
If you’re seeing a decrease in traffic or notice that your site has one or more of these warning signs in place, it’s time to give your site a little TLC. Denver Website Designs is here to help you get your site up and running in a way that makes your customers feel confident in your brand and your products.
Our dedicated designers will work with you to bring your vision to life. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and see the difference that a modern, well-designed site can make in your business.