Does Your Search Marketing Ooze Trust

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

The economy has been down and everyone has felt the pinch over the last 12 months or so. Things do seem to be on the up side these days and so with Christmas looming on the horizon, how well prepared is your search engine marketing and optimization? I was struck by a couple of statements on Search Engine Journal about landing pages. The first says a lot about the current state of search marketing:

Landing pages are becoming overly complicated data dumps where the short attention spanned consumer is left to sort through the pop-ups, multiple focus points, talking heads and flashing pictures.

There is certainly a lot of overkill when it comes to landing pages. The post on SEJ centers around seven tips to increasing landing page conversions. I won’t go into the tips here except for one, the last one on the list actually. the tip suggested we ‘evoke trust’.

The recession together with a bit of internet fraud has made consumers a little more cautious in the their online dealings. Developing a ‘trust factor’ is becoming one of the most important aspects to running an online business.

The SEJ post suggested a number of options including adding badges or logos for professional association memberships and accreditations. What was missing from the list was the suggestion to provide for, and to encourage, customer feedback. Provide a good clean easy to follow structure to your website together with a variety of recommendations from happy shoppers and you may get a boost in your trust factor that lifts you above your competitors.