Are visitors coming to your website, but you aren’t getting as many new clients or customers as you thought you would? Are you scratching your head over why more people aren’t signing up for your mailing list?

Are you wondering why your competitors’ websites are more successful than yours? Do you really want to know why too many of your website’s visitors don’t end up doing business with you?

It’s all a matter of trust. People always prefer to do business with people they know, like, and trust. And unless your website shows your visitors how trustworthy you really are, you are going to lose business. Do you need to improve your website so that it inspires confidence in your visitors and helps them trust you enough to buy from you?

Who would you trust?

Imagine you urgently had to hire a salesperson for your business, and only two people have applied for the job.

One of them is very well-dressed, but she mumbles so much that it takes a lot of effort to understand what she’s saying.

The other candidate is very well-spoken and communicates very clearly, but he showed up to the interview unshaven and wearing his pajamas.

Which one would you hire? Could you trust either of them to be an effective salesperson for your business? Of course not!

Does your Website work for you?

Now, what does this have to do with websites? Well, you need to think of your website as being an employee of your business. Your website can be a salesperson, a customer service operator, and a cashier or checkout operator for your business.

Have you thought of your business in that way before?

Your website is representing your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And it’s either working for you or against you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now, many people don’t realize that their website can actually work against them. They think that their website will either bring in more business, or it will have a neutral effect on their business. They don’t realize that a website can have a negative effect on their business.

Better than nothing?

The truth is, a poorly presented website can actually lower your visitor’s perception of your reputation, your image, your credibility and your trustworthiness. And people simply don’t want to buy from people they don’t trust.

It’s actually better to have no website at all, than a poorly presented one. But having a well-presented website can do wonders for your business.

How are you being judged?

When the average visitor comes to your website, how do they judge how credible and trustworthy you are?

Stanford University did a large study on this called, “How Do People Evaluate a Web Site’s Credibility?” The 2,684 participants of this study were asked to visit two random sites from a list with 10 categories, then rank which site was the more credible of the two, and share their comments. I’m going to share with you some of the results of this research.

Is your Website dressed for success?

Now, have you heard the saying that “Content is King”? You’d probably expect that most people judge your trustworthiness by the content on your website.

Well, surprisingly, that’s NOT what the study found. It turns out that people really do judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a website by the way it looks.

According to the study, when judging how credible a specific website is, the participants commented on the ‘design look’ (which means ‘the appearance of the website’) more often than any other website feature. In fact, 46.1% of the comments were about the way a website looked. This included comments about the layout of the website, the fonts used, how much white space was used, the graphics, and the colors, and so on. In other words, nearly half of all site evaluators used visual cues, such as the site’s overall design or look, to assess a site’s credibility.

Looks can kill your credibility

Did you find that surprising?

Here are some of the comments that the participants made about different sites. Some of these comments are positive, and some are negative.

“This site is more credible. I find it to be much more professional looking.” 38 year old man from Washington.

“More pleasing graphics, higher-quality look and feel.” 52 year old woman from Tennessee.

“Just looks more credible.” 24 year old man from New Jersey.

“Actually, despite the subject of the Web site, it looks very credible. This may be due to the subdued color scheme and the font used on the left-hand side of the page.” 29 year old woman from California.

“I know this is superficial, but the first thing that struck me is the color difference. The site is a soothing green (sort of like money) while the other site is a jarring purple.” 56 year old man from Virginia.

“The design is sloppy and looks like some adolescent boys in a garage threw this together.” 48 year old woman from California.

“Not very professional looking. Don’t like the cheesy graphics.” 33 year old woman from Washington.

“Looks childish and like it was put together in 5 minutes.” 25 year old woman from Maryland.

Is your website wearing pajamas?

So, from these comments, you can see how having a website that doesn’t LOOK professional is like having a salesperson who turns up for meetings dressed in her pajamas. No matter how well-spoken she is, or how persuasive her argument is, her pajamas are screaming ‘You can’t trust me! I’m so unprofessional I can’t even look clean and tidy! And you’re not worth getting dressed up for!’

Now, I’m going to quote a few paragraphs from this study…

One of the overall findings from this study is that our participants relied heavily on the surface qualities of a Web site to make credibility judgments. Our result about the prominence of design look was not what we had hoped to find; we had hoped to see that people used more rigorous evaluation strategies.

However, our result is consonant with findings of other research that describes typical Web-navigation behavior as “rapidly interactive,” meaning that Web users typically spend small amounts of time at any given page, moving from page to page quickly.

If such rapid navigation is indeed the norm for most types of Web use, then it makes sense that Web users have developed efficient strategies, such as focusing on the design look, for evaluating whether a Web site is worthwhile.”

Our results about the connection between design look and perceived credibility suggests that creating Web sites with quality information alone is not enough to win credibility in users’ minds. In most cases Web site designers need also to focus on the impression that the visual design will make, creating a site that achieves what many of our participants described as “a polished, professional look.” …

Based on the comments we’ve read from this study, we speculate that once a site is above a user’s personal threshold to qualifying as having a “professional look,” then other aspects of the Web site come into the credibility equation. In other words, the visual design may be the first test of a site’s credibility. If it fails on this criterion, Web users are likely to abandon the site and seek other sources of information and services. (page 24, 26)

It’s important to note that looking good is often interpreted as being good — and being credible. Since at least the 1940s, social psychology research has shown that physically attractive sources (usually people) have been perceived to be credible sources (Benoy, 1982; Berscheid, 1981; Berscheid & Walster, 1974; Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972; Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991). This basic human processing bias— “looking good is being good” —also seems to hold true for evaluating the credibility of Web sites, especially since design look is highly
noticeable. (page 58)

(You can find the entire report online here)

Does your Website pass the first test?

So, according to this study, the first test of your website’s credibility for many of your visitors is the way your website looks. And if it looks unprofessional enough, your visitors may leave your site without even reading your content.

So, it’s vital that you not only have great content. You also need to present your content professionally by having a well-designed website. Remember to think of your website as one of your employees. You need your website to be ‘dressed for success’.

And I’m not talking about looking stuffy and corporate. Your website can look friendly, helpful and approachable without looking unprofessional and amateurish.

It’s essential that your website has a polished, professional look, not just high-quality information. Both are vital, but a badly designed site can turn away your visitors before they read your content.

Find out what they are at Things To Look For In WordPress 3.3 Beta 1.

Here’s an excellent video by one of my mentors – it’s a real ‘must see’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I saw a Bedpost store and their tagline while tripping around in New Zealand last week. I had to scratch my head a bit when I read the slogan.

Is it just me, or does it sound rather uncomfortable?

What do you think – does their tagline work or does it give you a sore back?

This logo’s design really popped out at me. Who said gradients and drop shadows are dead? They’re being used really well here.

Add a Download Link in WordPress 3.0 from Trisha Cupra on Vimeo.

Add a download link to a Word doc or PDF file in WordPress 3.0

Click here to view the embedded video.

There isn’t actually any video footage in the video – it’s just photos and some simple slides, and some background music.

But it answered a lot of questions I had, and overall I was very impressed.

Goes to show you don’t have to be a Hollywood film producer to get your message across in an effective way. Nor do you need a high budget.

What do you need? A digital camera (or relevant graphics, depending on your business), some background music, presentation software like Powerpoint or Keynote, a way to export/convert your slideshow to a movie file.

See also: Avoid Death by Bullet (Points)

It’s also important to have a well-dressed website. Clashing colors are so hard on the eyes of your visitors, and they won’t stick around long enough to read your marketing message if you have a downright unpleasant color scheme.

On the other hand, if you stick to using ‘safe’ colors like black and white with dark red or navy blue accents, you will probably blend too much into the crowd of other websites out there in cyberspace.

The same thing can happen if all the websites in your field are using a faddish color scheme like blue and orange, and you follow the crowd. Following fads can also make your site look outdated very quickly.

So, what you need is a simple color scheme that is classic and helps you stand out – in a good way. But with the millions of colors out there, how do you know which to combine?

A word about ‘web-safe colors’

You may have heard that there is a limited number of colors that are safe to use online. That may have been the case many years ago, but even that is debatable.

The fact you have to face is that your visitors all have different monitors with different brightness, contrast and color settings, and different video cards. Only designers have monitors that are ‘calibrated’ to show ‘true’ colors. So, your colors can’t possibly look exactly the same on every single monitor out there.

But your color scheme will look mostly the same on most people’s screens, and that’s good enough. So, don’t pay too much attention the ‘web-safe color’ theory.

Here is one technique you can use to choose your color scheme.

The Foolproof Photo Technique

This is one of my favorite techniques. Many websites have a ‘header graphic’ (a.k.a. ‘banner graphic’) at the top of the design. If you plan on using a photo for the header graphic, it’s much easier to choose this photo first, then derive your color scheme from it. It’s much harder to find a photo that matches an existing color scheme, than to find a color scheme that matches a photo.

Step one – find a suitable photo

The first thing you need to do is find a photo for the header. You can buy the right to use stock photos for $1 – $2 from Big Stock Photo and iStockPhoto. It can be tricky to find a relevant photo that suits the long, narrow dimensions needed for a header graphic. You may want some help from a good designer for this.

If you’re not using a header graphic in your design, but you will be using a certain photo on every page, then you can use that photo as the basis of your color scheme – it doesn’t have to be a header graphic.

For this demonstration, I’ll use a smaller photo (of the ‘wrong’ dimensions for a header graphic) to show you how to create a colour scheme. Normally you would crop the photo to the right dimensions to fit your design first.

Step two – create a color palette

Now, if you have Photoshop or you hire a designer, you can turn the photo into a colour palette. (If you don’t, it’s a bit trickier, but you can skip this step and go to step 3.) This is done by using the Mosaic filter in Photoshop. Basically, it turns the photo into big blocks of colours.

Step three – use a color picker

Now you’re going to choose three to five of these colors with a “color picker” to create a unique color scheme.

You can use the eyedropper tool in Photoshop, or if you don’t have Photoshop, you could use a free Firefox extension called Colorzilla (and open your image in Firefox – or just go to your website if your photo is already on your site). You need to find out the hex code of the colours you want.

Or use an online tool that turns photos into color schemes. Here’s one that is pretty good:

http://www.aminus3.com/color/scheme-generator/

The hex code is the 6 digit alphanumeric value next to the # sign – for instance, white is #FFFFFF. That’s the code you’ll need to put into the code of your website.

You can safely use these colors for headings, subheading, backgrounds, buttons, links, and so on in your web design, knowing that the colors harmonize with each other and perfectly match the photo.

Here is the original photo again:

Here are the colors I chose:

And here are the hex codes for these colors:

#5c7ba1

#98ae1a

#b2ab6e

#a58738

#4e6389

Notice they are a bit different from the ones automatically chosen by the online tool. Choosing colors in Photoshop or just by using a color picker directly on a photo gives you greater flexibility.

If you would like some help using this technique, please leave a comment below or email me at me@trishacupra.com

No, not emails that literally bounce. I’m talking about emails that people try to send in reply to a message they received, but nobody ever gets it. Why? Because the message was an automated email from a ‘no reply’ address, and all messages addressed to it end up in a blackhole in cyberspace.

You may have seen these types of email addresses before. Sometimes the email address itself is a message in itself – like no-reply@website.com. Some say, “This is an automated message… do not reply” and some ask you to click on a link to reply using an online form instead.

Do you have a ‘no reply’ email address? Even if you don’t, it’s quite possible that people could get a ‘no reply’ email when using your website. I’ll get to that shortly.

When you send someone an email, you’re in a conversation with them. You send them a message, and hopefully they send one back, and so on, back and forth. It’s a lot like throwing a ball back and forth between yourself and the other person, with the ball being the message.

Are you dropping the ball?

But if you use a ‘no reply’ address, instead of you being there to catch the ball, the ball bounces off a brick wall in front of you. You never get the message, and the other person wonders why you dropped the ball.

I’m assuming you have enough sense to not email people using a ‘no reply’ email account, because you know there’s no point starting a conversation with someone who can’t respond.

But, you may be sending your website’s visitors ‘no reply’ emails without realizing it.

What could be sending no reply messages to your visitors?

Think of all the situations when your visitors could possibly be receiving automated (computer-generated) messages that they can’t respond to.

Automated systems (like some WordPress plugins, mailing list services such as AWeber, and online store programs) very often send a type of confirmation message after a visitor takes a certain action, like signing up or making a purchase.

Act as though you are a new visitor to your website. Carry out the actions that your visitors do, and see what automated messages you receive in your inbox. Look carefully at the email address that comes up when you click ‘Reply’. If it’s not one of the addresses you use for your business, then you have a problem!

Here are some things to check:

1. Sign up for your own mailing list (eZine/newsletter) and look at the confirmation email you get. Click ‘Reply’ and send a message in response. Where does that email end up?

2. Do the same for any autoresponder series you have set up (like an e-Course or a scheduled set of follow-up messages). What happens when you reply to these messages?

3. When you receive a copy of your eZine/newsletter, what happens when you click the reply button? Where does the reply end up?

4. What message do you get after you buy a product or service from your own website? Does your online store system send messages that can’t be directly replied to?

5. Do you use a support ticket system? Can people reply directly to emails generated by the ticket system, or do they need to click a link to go back to your website an fill in an online form? (And if you do make them click a link, I can tell you that personally I find that a hassle.)

6. Send messages via your online forms on your website.  Do you get an automated message from your website saying that the message was sent successfully? Maybe you even get a ‘carbon copy’ of the message you sent via the form – but can you reply to the email?

7. Do you have a blog? Can people sign up via a service like Feedburner to get your new posts by email? If so, sign up and see if the emails that are sent by the service can be replied to.

8. Also, if you have a blog, do you have a feature that allows people to be notified of new comments? What happens when you try replying to one of these ‘new comment notifications’?

9. In the same vein, if you have a forum, what automated messages get sent out by your forum? What happens when someone tries replying to a message notifying them that there is a new reply on a thread? If you send emails to all your forum members via an admin panel, can people reply directly to those email?

Depending on your type of website, there may be automated messages that I haven’t mentioned. But now that you’re really thinking hard about it, I’m sure they’ll occur to you.

Help! I can’t reply to this message properly!

Did you find that your website (or a service provider your website uses) actually does create some automated messages that have a ‘no reply’ address?

Here’s what to do:

1. If the messages come from your own website, check the settings in your Control Panel. If it’s created by a WordPress plugin, check the options for that plugin in your WordPress admin panel. Look for a way to specify the ‘Reply To‘ or ‘From’ address of the messages.

2. If the messages come from a service you use, like AWeber or Feedburner, log into your account and see if you can change the settings for the ‘Reply To‘ or ‘From’ address of the messages.

What if it’s unavoidable?

There are times when you just can’t change the ‘Reply To’ email address that an automated system generates. Here’s what to do if you’re stuck:

1. Can you switch to a system that does the same thing, but lets you use your own address for replies? If you’re using a WordPress plugin, check out other plugins to see if there is a more flexible alternative.

2. Can you contact the developer of the system (such as the author of a WordPress plugin) and ask them to help you? Tell them you would really prefer that the messages the system generates have your own ‘Reply To’ address. Ask them if there is a setting you overlooked – and if not, ask them kindly what the chances are of them making it possible in the next update. (Be especially kind if the system or plugin is free – they’re not making any money so don’t pressure them.)

3. If it’s a 3rd-party service that’s sending the ‘no reply’ messages, contact them and ask them how to change the ‘Reply To’ address. If it’s not possible, check out their competitors – it may be worth switching.

If all that fails? The Last Resort…

If there really is no hope of changing the ‘Reply To’ address, here’s what to do…

Make it extremely obvious that replying to the message is completely futile, and provide an email address that you can actually be contacted with.

And because you are inconveniencing your email recipient, it doesn’t hurt to throw in a bit of your sense of humor. Here’s one that made me smile when I saw it yesterday:

If the system doesn’t let you mention your real email address at all, anywhere in the message, then it’s time to seriously considering ending your relationship with that system.

Ask me for advice

Before divorcing the source of your automated messages, leave a comment here on this post (under a false name if you like) and I’ll let you know if there’s any hope of salvaging the situation.

And if you have any tips of your own, please mention them here in the comment section!

We used to fear bullets, now we fear bullet points. At least I do.

Much like websites, Powerpoint (and Keynote) presentations are brutally awful unless they are well-designed.

Before you design your next presentation, I implore you with all my heart to check out these two lifesavers first:

1. It takes less than 10 minutes to watch this video on YouTube on how to avoid creating the PowerPoint Presentation from Hell.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Go buy this book. It will revolutionize the way you create presentations – and I do mean that in a good way.

Beyond Bullet Points