The Business of Websites
Written by John Pitchers   
Friday, 21 April 2006
Article Index
The Business of Websites
Planning V Failure
Clean Navigation
Building Communities
Trust
Privacy Policies
Page 5 of 6

Trust.

If you have the trust of your visitors, you usually have their attention as well. The first thing that stops the growth of your network (yes, 'community') is the concern for legitimacy of websites and privacy issues. Visitors often think "How do if I know if you are who you say you are?". Ironically, all you need to do is "Show them you are who you say you are". Here's how:

Good-looking sites work better.

Lots of people judge a book by its cover. The look of your website is half the battle. Don't underestimate the power of your first impression. There are some basic 'look and feel' elements that seem to put confidence in visitors:

  • Your body text should be an Arial or Times New Roman font, generally not too big.
  • Dark, typically black text on a white background is good.
  • Use navigation styles that people are familiar with:
  • Bars across the top of your page
  • Vertical menus down the left of your page
  • Don't use dodgy or poor-quality graphics
  • Utilize 'white space'. (White space is empty space.)
  • Use a mild colour scheme. (I like blue, but red and green pastels are good too.)

If you're applying a couple of the points above, you are moving ahead of more than half the sites on the internet. (There are billions of web pages out there that really suck.)

I love Google! Google.com's design is not overly simple, and not complex. People like it for its usability and what content there is. It is fast, relevant and gets to the point without distraction. Thanks to the strength of Google's content, it is one of the most visited places on the web. Simple designs similar to that of Google are acceptable!