We believe the best way to approach your brand and web design is to first put yourself in the shoes of your prospective clients. So, imagine you’re searching for a family photographer, an event planner, or even shopping small for a ceramic mug. You come upon a business’s website, and something feels a bit off. Compared to other websites you’ve seen, this website lacks cohesion, doesn’t have a clear brand identity, and isn’t very user-friendly. The information you’re seeking is challenging to find, and you’re inclined to exit the page and continue your search. It feels like this website, and therefore, this business can’t be trusted.

As professional brand and web designers, we deeply know and understand how professional, elevated, purpose-driven design can help to establish credibility and build trust with your prospective clients. While some prospective clients will arrive on your website with some background knowledge of your business, others will arrive with no background knowledge, and your website will need to do all the selling on behalf of your business. Your brand and web design can lay the foundation for your business success — the way your prospective clients understand your business, the connection they feel with your offerings, and their confidence in choosing to pursue your offerings, too.

Today, we’re excited to share how to tell if your website is negatively impacting your credibility — and how to ensure your web design communicates credibility.

Does Your Business Appear Credible?

Welcome to Episode 199 of The Brand It, Build It Podcast: Does your business appear credible? I’m your host, Kelly Zugay, and today I’m excited to share how to tell if your website is negatively impacting your credibility — and 6 ways to ensure your web design communicates credibility and establishes trust with your prospective clients.

Why does credibility and trust-building matter?

According to WebFX, it takes .05 seconds for a visitor to form an impression of your website — and 94% of first impressions relate to your web design. Further, 75% of users say the credibility of a business is rooted in their web design. 89% of consumers will choose your competitor, following a bad experience on your website. A well-designed website can convert 200% more than a poorly-designed website.

Summed up, ensuring your website communicates credibility and establishes trust with your visitors can make all the difference in how your business is perceived and how likely your visitors are to choose your business over a competitor.

How can you tell your website is negatively impacting your credibility?

There are a variety of ways you can tell your website is negatively impacting your credibility and hindering your business growth. Of course, every business and every website is unique — and there could be several underlying factors at play. However, here are a few details we recommend assessing:

1. Your bounce rate. Your bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your website after viewing only one page. If your bounce rate is high — if a high number of visitors are navigating away from your website after viewing only one page — your website may be giving off the wrong impression, or visitors feel they are in the wrong place. As a tip, by signing up for Google Analytics, you can examine your website’s bounce rate.
2. Your conversions. How many visits lead to purchased products or booked services? A successful website seamlessly converts your visitors to confidently paying customers or clients — so examining how many visits you’re receiving, compared to how many visitors are choosing to purchase your products or book your services can be insightful.
3. The quality of your leads. When prospective clients contact you, do they seem informed about your business — who you are, what you do, who you serve, where you serve, and the price range they can expect? Or, do your prospective clients ask a large number of questions, seem confused about your offerings, unsure of where to find content you know is present on your website, or in need of convincing your business is credible? A successful website generates high-quality leads — prospective customers or clients who are excited about your business and close-to-ready to invest in your offerings.

How can you ensure your web design communicates credibility and establishes trust?

Here are 6 recommendations:

1. Present a cohesive, consistent brand. Your brand elements, color palette, font styles, and design features should be consistent from one section and one page to another. One common error we see small businesses make when putting together a web design is piecing together design features from websites they’ve seen an admire — or adding on pages with designs unique from the foundation of their web design. Sometimes, as a website grows and evolves, it can begin to feel disjointed and disconnected — which can lead to a less credible feel.
2. Be mindful of critical design elements like a clean, user-friendly design, high-quality photography, a fast loading speed, easy navigation, and mobile responsiveness. Each of these elements helps to lay the foundation for a seamless user experience.
3. Leverage client testimonials and customer reviews. Strategically infuse testimonials throughout your website to enhance credibility and provide reassurance to prospective clients.
4. Showcase security features, such as an SSL Certificate and a Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy page. These security features communicate that your website is a safe and secure place — which then helps to foster a sense of trust.
5. Be transparent. Make the process of learning about your business and services and contacting you easy to do. The more open, honest, and transparent you can be, the better. Spending money online is sometimes a nerve-racking experience, so the more detail you can provide, in a user-friendly way, the better.
6. Provide a human element. If possible, use your own brand photography rather than stock photography. Provide engaging storytelling (In Episode 181 we share how to craft a compelling brand story) and make it easy for your visitors to connect with you on social media. Further, be sure your blog and social media profiles are up-to-date, communicating that your business is up and running.

Today, we discussed how to ensure your website communicates credibility on behalf of your business and helps to build trust with your prospective clients. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please be sure to share it on your social channels, so our podcast can serve more small business owners. Thanks for tuning in!

Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is the best small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, and founders. Weekly, brief, actionable episodes will equip you to build a successful, sustainable small business. Since 2014, With Grace and Gold has provided award-winning custom brand and Showit web design and completely customizable Showit website templates for small businesses worldwide.