5 ways to establish trust online

Establishing trust online is key to building a relationship with visitors to your estate agency website. Creating a good impression online is a lot harder than face to face interaction. Despite the enormous rise in popularity of online shopping over the years the level of trust has stayed the same.

The distrust comes from the media coverage of scams and general bad internet experiences you may have heard from your friends and family.

Although it may be difficult to gain the users trust, there are many things you can do to help build on it.

Here are five ways in which you can help build the trust factor on your website:

1. Make it personal

Help the user feel like they know you, help them understand about the business in as much detail as possible. Don’t just use your about page to promote what services you do, mention how long you have been established for, who works at your estate agency and include testimonials.

A staff profile page can be hugely beneficial and doesn’t require much effort to set them up. All you need is to have a short description of each of your employees experience and credentials with a photo of them. This shows the visitor that you are a real business and helps them see you are an approachable company.Â

2. Professional Presentation

Although design is a big part of the trust factor, not even the most creative and unique websites can disguise bad grammar and spelling mistakes. If a business can’t even proofread their homepage content or address its audience appropriately, how is the user going to trust that company to sell their house?

3. Up-to-date Content.

Out of date content makes your website look poor and unmaintained. Your website is your online store front and should be maintained to the same standard. Ensure content is kept fresh and up-to-date as well as including your latest testimonials.

4. Be Contactable.

You need to be easily contactable. Clearly provide a telephone number, email and even social networking contacts throughout your website so your customers can get in contact with you easily.

5. Protect Personal Data.

Web savvy users want their information kept private and don’t expect their email address and telephone number to be passed on to any other affiliates. If you do pass on or sell data, ask for their permission first. Make your privacy policy clear and understandable and only ask for the information you really need.

By Luke Stanley
SEO Consultant