What Influences The Trust Factor Online ?

Author : Bharati Ahuja

Trust is the topmost layer of the semantic web. It is like the cherry on the top of the cake which makes the cake look appealing. People do business with those that they like, know, and trust. If a consumer believes that a specific brand produces quality products or services then such a customer is most likey to become an online brand ambassador.

Trust is the end result of many factors in action. Trust is the emotional and logical aspect of the users decision to refer and recommend the site and content if he has been getting valuable information from the site.

Trust cannot be purchased, it has to be earned over a period of time via continuous and consistent efforts and reliable actions.

Potential online customers critically evaluate a site before finalizing the call to action on the web page.

Some of the factors the online customer may scrutinize and critically evaluate are:

• A good updated and a functional website: A website which is regularly updated with the latest stock and offers is more trusted than the rest. A consistent logo displayed on an overall web presence on across all platforms builds brand value and also helps customers have a better recall value. Being genuine and avoiding any over the top announcements and claims also adds to the trust factor.

• A blog that is regularly updated: A blog is a platform where you can share any news about the industry or about your company. Please do not make your blog a sales platform and avoid spreading sales messages. A blog is a place where you can establish the foundation for your online ‘Thought Leadership’. By offering information and by sharing your knowledge you show that you care and are willing to help your readers / customers / visitors. A person landing on any page of your blog via search engines or social media or via any media should get information about what he was searching for. This encourages repeat visits which lead to recommendations to others. A blog can also become a communication platform via comments.

• Social media activity: Social media is the best platform where your satisfied readers and customers are going to share their experiences. This same platform offers you also the option for sharing the content of your website and blog. Social media is not about likes, followers and the no. of people in your circle but about what people are writing about your business/ blog or products and how it is being further shared. Social Media signals in the long run are the main source which help establish the online reputation of a business.

• Reviews And Ratings: Reviews and Ratings where people have to login to express them have a better trust factor than the ones posted on the site by the website owners on the website. Though there is a lot of spam involved with this and this factor has to be taken with a pinch of salt it adds to the trust factor in a limited way.

• Testimonials: Testimonials from authority people of your industry and from satisfied clients who have a good online reputation does add to the trust factor and influence the user positively.

• Good Search Presence: Search engines are the place where all your potential buyers start from . If you have optimized your blog and website and are found by the searcher for more than 3-4 search queries made by him , it will surely sow the seed of trust in his mind and as he goes further and searches on social media and other platforms and again he finds the same presence it goes on adding up and develops an interest and curiosity to know more about your business and products.

• Secure Payment Gateway: A secure site where the user can share his personal details and credit card details securely without any fear surely again gains more trust.

• Quick response to the inquiry form filled by the user: An online buyer wants quick answers to his queries as he has multiple options available online. If you delay in providing the answers he is surely going to move on to the next option.

• Brand search results: Ranking for relevant search queries surely gets you the targeted traffic but when these potential customers want to know more about your company, they expect you to rank for brand search queries too. If your website does not rank for brand search queries then it has a negative impact on the searcher. Hence, ranking for brand search queries is equally important.

• Contact Page: A detailed contact page which explicitly has the address and contact numbers adds to the trust factor. If you do not share contact nos. and address and only have a form then it may be detrimental to the trust factor. Why should they share their contact information when you cannot share yours? Openness, genuineness and the willingness to offer answers will surely win the trust vote for your online presence. In this case being found on local search results of Google with all the details too helps in winning the trust of the online visitor.

• About us page: Last but not the least, though people are buying the products online they always are curious to know the humans behind the front end and feel confident when the ‘About us’ page has the details of the team offering the facility online. After checking out the products people may also check out the management and other team members online especially when the amounts to be online are substantial.

Just like in real life it takes time before your friends or customers can trust you , online too it takes time to build trust and then retain it. It may range between 2 – 5 years to build the initial trust and then to retain it is a constant exercise and is a continuous effort in proving them that their trust in you is not a wrong decision made by them.

If The Likes Are The New Links Then Paid Likes Will Magnify The Spam On The Web

In a recent article on http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/11/23/if-likes-are-the-new-links-content-quality-should-increase it was mentioned that if according to Bruce Clay Likes are the new links then the way the links are sold by many companies , the likes also will become a saleable product increasing the spam and low quality search results on the search engines.

More WebProNews Videos

According to me, undoubtedly the social and search integration with the social graph influencing the search results is something which is surely going to be woven in the search engine algorithms. In fact it already has been claimed by one of the SEOs that Twitter presence and engagement helped him in improving the SERPs.


(Read About It On: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023315.html)

But, the extent to which the likes, tweets, blog post comments, reviews, etc. will influence the rankings and how they will be woven into the algorithms will depend on the search engines and their access to the relevant data.

But, the most important point of concern is that if the likes too are bought by the companies like the paid links then the spam generated thus will result into a noise pollution on the web.

It is a big irony that the PageRank concept which was implemented by Google to fight the keyword spam which was resorted to by the web marketers and SEOs in early 2000, actually paved the way for a spammy link building industry.

Now, the social media indicators which should help in adding an opinion or additional valuable information to the links also have a possibility of adding volume to the same spammy link building industry. The whole concept of earning links and likes on the merit of quality content is being replaced by the concept of buying links and the likes by some of the web marketers just to give a quick boost to the SERPS of their client sites.

If, we want to avoid having a world wide web with social media sites ending up with fictitious accounts, search results with manipulated low quality searches, clients unnecessarily diverting funds to paid links and likes and other such influences which results in the spammers making money and an over all imbalance and clutter on the web then it is the responsibility of every web marketer and SEO to say NO to paid links or likes and educate the client with the facts about the search engine visibility and ranking ethics and convince them to take the right path to progress on the search engines.

If, this is not done then the SEO industry shall soon lose its credibility and people might give more preference to paid search which again will result into a lopsided growth on the web.



The Use Of Infographics And How To Optimize A Web Page Having Only An Infographic.

 Visual presentation of information is a powerful tool. Information graphics, also known as infographics, are a way of presenting information, data, or knowledge with the use of visual tools. Many people are familiar with basic infographics, like weather maps, which have small symbols to indicate areas of low and high pressure, as well as predictions for snow, rain, and sunshine.


Images speak louder than words. One infographic can communicate , help spread an idea and attract attention at a glance. If the graphic was to be represented by words then a certain attention span is required to read and digest the idea but a good colorful info graphic can easily attract attention and convey the message faster. That is the main reason people use slides during workshops and presentations.

Especially when the data is complex and involves jargon and step by step approach a pictoral representation can surely be the best way to convey the idea. Many bloggers have a trend of translating their posts as a graphic for reaching out .

If the blog post has a graphic and textual content there is a possibility of the post being ranked on the search engines under the blog option and also the image option with more viral possibilities and in a way which helps in getting links.

If you have a post where you supposedly have only a graphic to convey the message then in order to get the SEO benefit the titles. Headings, brief explanation, Alt text and preferably hotspots with an image map with important content on the image is very crucial for the SEO of the blog post.

Some Examples Of Infographics On SEO:

Hence in order to have a presence on all the search options it is essential to keep adding fresh content in various forms on the blog like videos, images, text, social media posts, news, discussions, etc. periodically.

Do We Really Need To Redefine SEO?

Whenever there is an update in the algorithms of the search engines or there is an update in some way or the other related to search , the blogosphere gets flooded with posts about what is SEO and why SEO continues to have its existence despite of rankings being affected and the display and presentation of search results being different, instant or real time.

This I think reflects in a great way the lack of awareness about the true meaning of SEO among the people who want to adopt SEO as a part of their online marketing campaigns. This in turn makes the SEO professionals and the companies jittery and they try all the ways and means to start sending messages over the web about what SEO actually means.

The search industry got its true existence because of the search engines and because of the fact that people flock the search engines when they want to find about the local or the global availability of some product or service.

With the improvements in the search results and the incorporation of speed in the display of search results the search behaviors are also changing and people are have diminishing patience to search for more beyond the first page and now it is beyond the first 3-4 results.

In spite of, all these changes and developments in the search scenario I think SEO still continues to have its own original true meaning and existence.

Now, what is the true meaning of SEO or SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. As the term suggests optimization – The best possible way adopted by a site to be visible and found on the search scene.

But, I would like to add to it that it not the visibility on the search engines only but on the web holistically in the best possible ways by means of links, references, comments, videos, news, blog posts, discussions, etc.

For achieving and forging the way ahead for such a presence we need a lot of effort , time, strategy, planning and a quest for a quality web presence which a true SEO will surely try to give to any website that he/she is working on for optimization.

As no search engine gives you a high ranking until you have ethical on-page and off-page optimization which proves that you are popular and recommended by the web world.

Way back in 2000 also SEO meant to achieve a quality web presence and now in 2010 also it has the same basic connotation with added value of additional search options as the web has grown multifold since its early days.

Though SEO is also referred to as advertising but it has a different twist to it than PPC, banner ads, affiliate marketing, etc. As the benefit of SEO does take time to accrue but goes on escalating with time . But, for other marketing methods the benefit stops or discontinues to flow when you stop paying.

I am not against any other marketing methods like PPC, banner ads, affiliate marketing, etc. but they have to be incorporated at the right time of the web journey of the website and then stopped or reduced . But SEO is such a method which starts with day one of your website and gradually goes on becoming richer and goes on adding value to your website and the effort of tuning your website in accordance to the search engine algorithms goes on continuously.

Currently, the SEO blogs mention that we need to change the definition of SEO, but I think that we need to understand and put forward the true meaning of SEO. AS the definition of SEO has not changed but its true meaning has got blurred by the shining reflections of the other media of marketing.

If SEO loses its importance and existence then the search engines will lose their true meaning for ranking websites keeping the quality web parameters in mind as they will become a platform for just displaying Ads. Only those search engines will survive in the long run which can rank quality searches and help people find what they are looking for on the search engines. Else search engines will be the domain of those corporates who can spend more for visibility.

Recently, we have seen what Yahoo faced by giving too much importance to banner ads. The same fate can be faced by search engines who will give more importance to paid search than organic search.

A proper balance of display of paid and organic search is needed from the search engines and the same balance is needed by the search marketers depening on the need of the website.

But what is of utmost importance is that the SEOs need to educate the clients regarding the differences between paid and organic search and also spread awareness about the same.

Let us make the web better and focus on quality rather than make it a money making machine only for some. As the SEO techniques offer a global platform and equal platform for SMEs who have limited budgets and is one of the best web presence stategies for  SMEs.

Domain Stacking Or Brand Stacking In Google Search Results And Online Reputation Management

Earlier this month Google introduced Domain Stacking in its search results. By Domain Stacking or Brand Stacking we mean that when you search for a particular brand then many search results on the first page are from one particular domain , depending on the brand popularity and authority of that domain.

Continue Reading »

What Is Landing Page Optimization And Why Is It Important ?

A landing page is the page on which the visitor to your website lands on or views as a result of clicking on the link available to your website from various sources.

A visitor can reach your website via various resources. It depends entirely on the footprints that your website has created on the web.

The major sources, from where the visitor can arrive at your website or your online office/store are:

Continue Reading »

How To Price An SEO Campaign

Every company has got its own pricing policies and especially when it comes to SEO many times the SEO companies and the clients who want to avail of these services are not sure of deciding upon the way the whole SEO campaign should be priced.

Any pricing for any service should be fair to the service provider as well to the client.

Continue Reading »

Just SEO Is Not Enough .You Need A Web Culture In The Organization For Overall Online Success. How Healthy Is The Web Culture Of Your Company?

If You Think That You Have Signed A SEO Contract And Now You Are Going To Win The Web Market Then You Are Wrong.

SEO is the art and science of understanding the technology, the EQ , the IQ and of course thereby the algorithms of the search engines to make the websites rank high on the search engines to tap the targeted market.
Continue Reading »

SEO – One Of The Online/Internet/Web Marketing Methods

Marketing is defined by various marketing experts as follows:

Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.

Kotler.

Continue Reading »

Conversion Ratio Analysis And Approach Towards ROI For PPC Or SEO

In a SEO campaign after the rankings are achieved, the first and foremost question on the mind is how are the conversions? The website owner starts calculating the ROI (Return On Investment) , his main concern is - has the amount spent on SEO proving to be an investment or was it a huge expense made by the company.

This situation is the most critical juncture of the whole SEO campaign. A s the conversion ratio depends on many factors. SEO is about making the website rank high and get the targeted organic traffic to the website. Once this is done the SEO mission is accomplished. But the client is not only happy with the traffic, what he needs is business, the conversions from these visits.

Continue Reading »

Do SEO Certifications Matter?

SEO – Search Engine Optimization is the art and science of making a website rank high on the search engines for the keywords targeted for that website.

A decade back when people started optimizing sites for search engines there was no formal training available and the main source for understanding the search engine algorithms and knowing what the search engine bots are looking for on your site was the search engine blogs and forums itself.
Continue Reading »

The Approach For Online Marketing – Focus On Content And Information

 Marketing is all about bringing the people to the product whereas Sales is taking the product to the people.

Basically, the sales force of your company and the marketing team of your company both have to focus on these two important Ps i.e product and people. Of course there are the other Ps like price, promotions, professionalism , place and profit which are also inter-linked to this whole process.
Continue Reading »

How And From Where To Learn Search Engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing web pages or a web site for top search engines. By optimization, search engines can easily locate the web pages and display them when searching for information.

By optimizing your web site for top search engines, they can index and easily locate it from among the billions of web pages. If your web page is embedded deep in the search results, it is unlikely that any person would visit the page for specific information. So, you need to make your site search engine friendly, and promote the traffic levels and search engine rankings.
Continue Reading »

BlueGlass LA, A Unique Conference On Digital Marketing - Featuring renowned industry speakers on Search Marketing, Social Media, and Entrepreneurship.

Last month four well-known marketing companies announced a merger into one new agency known as
BlueGlass Interactive.
Continue Reading »

Search Marketing A Valid Career Choice

If one fine morning you go to your parents and tell them that you have decided to be a search marketer then it is quite likely they will expect a detailed explanation about what this career choice is all about and what will the future be like a few years down the line.

Continue Reading »