The Importance of Building Credibility Online

At the end of the day, your business’ good name is about the most important thing you have going for you. And in the online world, protecting that good name can be a full time job. How you maintain your web presence, and monitor customer reaction to your business can be the difference between a stellar online reputation in your industry and a reputation that actually harms your business more than it helps.

The Importance of Online Credibility

There are several reasons why maintaining online credibility is so important to your business.

· Bad news travels fast. If you lack in online credibility, the news of your issues will spread quickly throughout blogs, message boards and customer review sites. It won’t take long before visitors are no longer flocking to your website or blog.

· Your competition is watching you. Your competitors are constantly reviewing your web presence, looking for opportunities to “one up” you in every way. A lack of online credibility gives them the window they need to jump ahead of your business on the web.

· It’s a cost-effective way to stay “healthy”. Maintaining the highest level of quality is the best way to keep your business strong – all while doing so on a budget. Adding content, responding to feedback and providing great customer service all require minimal investments, and pay big returns in the long run.

How to Build Credibility Online

The following represent some simple techniques for building a first-class reputation online.

· Keep your web presence fresh. The most credible websites and blogs – the ones that customers and clients visit again and again – are those that feel as if they are constantly updated and refreshed. Stale, out-of-date, content and information is a death knell for a web site – especially in the case of a blog, where visitors are extremely savvy about how often it is being updated. Fresh information means that your business is devoted to its web-based customers – a fact that is not lost on them.

· Authoritative Content. One of the most powerful ways to establish credibility online is to turn your website into a one-stop source for relevant information related to your area of expertise. This is accomplished by developing and maintaining an article archive containing impartial content about your products, business or industry. Writing authoritative content actually serves two purposes – it builds credibility online AND (provided that the articles are keyword-rich) establishes your presence atop the major search engines.

· Customer Reviews. If you sell a product or service online, chances are that customers are providing feedback somewhere in the web-o-sphere. The job of credible online businesses is to monitor these reviews carefully and act on them in specific ways, including:

o Respond to negative reviews – when a customer writes a negative review, open up a dialogue with that individual. See if you can determine what it was about their customer experience that led them to post a negative review of your business. Offer them a chance to come back and try you again. Entice them with an offer.

o Maintain a dialogue – let the web community know that you are a business that responds to its customers. Be active part of review communities such as Yelp or Yahoo! Reviews. Be an active poster on these boards and your reputation will grow in any business climate.

· Customer Service. In 2009, customers have come to expect top-flight customer service from their online vendors. It is therefore important to be there, via phone or email, whenever your customers or clients have a question about your business. Treat your online “shop” like a brick and mortar presence and watch your reputation grow!