Website has been playing a greater role in the face of business lately, especially with the emergence of blogs and content management system (CMS), companies and individuals have been more upfront about who they are and what they do.

With a high Internet penetration rate in Singapore, 58.9% broadband and 35.5% dial up service in Sep 2006; whether you realized it or not, people do google, and visit your web site before visiting your store. And your site is most likely the first contact with visitors, readers, and potential customers.

Thus what you put up there on your website is important. The design, layout, and content play an important role to build trust with your potential customers.

So what makes a website more trustworthy than others?

It all voices down to the dos and donts in web design. Sourced from User Interface design newsletter, November 2006, published by Human Factors International,
in a study of trust and mistrust of on-line health sites, the design and content were the most prominent factors, specifically as follows:

I was looking for an Interior Design (ID) company some weeks ago for a small flat that I have just bought (Yeah, finally my first home ever). I found out that many of the ID companies, in fact a lot of companies in Singapore, do not pay enough attention to their website. With shoddy design, haphazard layout, and poor content, they are really missing out on potential customers to their competitors.

I ended up visiting IDs whose websites convey trust that they can do a good job for me. And whether you can close the deal, it is now up to you, the customer is now at your door step.