Remember the old days? When you were seeking information on a topic or looking for that perfect gift, you knew exactly where to go. The librarian went to grade school with you and the department store clerk coached your son’s Little League team. You knew you could trust their judgment and advice. Today, we are constantly bombarded with information and advertising from every corner. With the advancement of the Internet, that has never been more true. Anyone can put anything on the Internet…and they do!

When we are putting our own sites online, we know that we are trustworthy. But how can we show that to our website visitors? People today are being taught evaluation techniques to implement when reviewing websites. If we understand what they are looking for, we can be sure to provide them with that information. There are four specific keys to website evaluation: Authority, Accuracy, Currency, and Objectivity. Let’s look at each of these very briefly.

Authority

When designing and creating content for your website, make sure you include exactly who you are. You might be surprised at the number of websites that share information or attempt to sell a product and yet never clearly state who they are or who the parent company is.

Accuracy

Hire a proofreader. Seriously. Many people do not take the time to have their website proofread and the typos and grammar errors that are usually sprinkled throughout are the biggest credibility killers.

Currency

People like to know when certain information was published. If you are blogging, the date of the post is usually displayed. However, if you are writing articles for your website or elsewhere, including the date of the article is paramount to keeping you credible in the eyes of your visitor.

Objectivity

Presenting your information with a minimum of bias is not as easy as it sounds! Your desire should be for your visitor to recognize the value of your information—not because you spoke passionately, but because you took a step back and shared the whole picture.

This is just a small taste of what you can do to increase the credibility of your website—and you! If you would like more information on this topic, please visit http://increasingwebsitecredibility.com