7 Essential Trust Signals to Include on Your Company Website

For small business owners, managing a website can feel like a high monthly cost. But when you compare that to the cost of having a slow or poorly designed website, paying to keep your site updated is actually the smarter choice. A well-maintained website helps bring in better, more relevant leads. In other words, investing in your website helps you build a strong and reliable way for new customers to find you.

But what trust factors should you add to your website to attract these high-quality leads? Today, we’ll answer that question by sharing 7 important trust signals that we always make sure to include on the websites we manage here at Aus Asia.

1. External Trust Signals

You don’t want your company website to feel like it’s on its own. It should show that your business is active and part of your industry. A simple way to do this is by adding trust signals such as badges, certificates, or images that show your business is reliable.

Trust signals can also include legal details, like showing that your business has insurance. This is very important for trade and service businesses because many customers look for insurance before booking a job.

2. Case Studies & Client Logos

Another strong trust signal is support from other brands and businesses. This is why many small business owners add their clients’ logos to their website. When visitors see these logos, they feel more confident because they know other companies have trusted you, so they can trust you too.

Detailed case studies also help build trust. For example, if you offer trade or repair services, you can add a gallery with ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos on your website. You can also include a short explanation of the job. This shows future customers that you do quality work and that they can rely on your services.

You can also look at our basketball coaching digital marketing case study. It clearly shows how the project started, what we planned, and the results we achieved.

3. Company Policies (incl. T&Cs)

When you buy something from an international online store, what’s one of the first things you check? Most people look at the shipping policy. In Australia, we all know how annoying it is to suddenly see a $20 shipping fee we weren’t expecting!

Policies like shipping, privacy, and terms and conditions are important trust signals for any website. Even if people don’t read them, having these policies shows that your business follows the rules and takes customers seriously. It also shows that your company meets the legal requirements set by the ACCC and other government or industry groups.

The good thing is that making these policies isn’t very hard. You can work with a lawyer who knows consumer law to help you write them. Once the policies are finished, you usually won’t need to update them again unless you add new products or services.

4. Authorship & Staff Profiles

Google now uses the E-E-A-T framework, which includes Experience as the new “E.” This means company websites need to show who is creating the content they share. Giving credit to authors is not only fair, but it also makes your content more trustworthy. Google can see that the content comes from a reliable source, which can help your website rank higher in search results.

You can make this even better for your website by adding staff profiles. These profiles let visitors see the people behind your business and help them feel more connected to your brand. Staff profiles also improve your site’s visibility because your team members become part of your online presence. Just make sure the profiles are clear, professional, and well-organised!

5. SSL Certification

This one is a bit technical, but it’s very important. Sometimes, when we try to visit a client’s website, we see a warning that the site is not secure – and the client doesn’t even know! This warning can scare visitors away and make them leave the site quickly, which is bad for getting new customers.

The good news is that fixing this is easy. You just need to renew your SSL certificate. This usually means updating a file called a .crt in your website’s domain control panel. If you use a website builder like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace, it’s even easier.

Pro tip: Not sure if your SSL certificate is working? You can use online SEO tools to check your SSL and run other website tests.

6. Up-to-date Contact Information

You might think this is obvious, but it’s surprising how many websites have the wrong phone number or address. This might not seem like a big problem at first, but it can cause bigger issues later. For example, if someone tries to visit your business using Google Maps and ends up at the wrong place, they might leave a negative review.

The same goes for people trying to call you from your website. If the phone number is wrong, you could lose lots of potential customers. Don’t let this happen! Always make sure your ‘Contact’ page is up-to-date.

7. Reviews & Testimonials

Finally, clients want to qualify your business by conducting as much research as they can before they make a purchase. In some cases, this can include jumping on Google Maps to read through your Google reviews, or perhaps even doing a little search through Reddit to see what comes up. In most cases, however, you want to keep your site visitors on your website rather than giving them a reason to jump to another platform, which is why on-site testimonials and reviews really are worth their weight in gold.

You can see this at play most prominently in e-Commerce sites. Clients can scroll through customer reviews and photos to see legitimate user-generated content that advocates for your brand and products/services. Having access to these third-party testimonials directly on your website can help your clients compare your own promotional imagery to photo reviews and determine with just a few quick scrolls whether they want to do business with you. Make it as easy as possible for them, and the leads will convert!

Want to Build More Trust on Your Website?

Learn the trust signals every company website must have and utilise it with the help of Aus Asia Online today!

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To Sum Up

These days, we’re all used to doing business online, whether it’s booking a table at a restaurant or buying new clothes. But just because people visit your website doesn’t mean the information you provide is exactly what they need.

Trust signals don’t change a lot between industries, but if you get the basics right, you can start improving your website even more. With the right updates, your site can go from being a trustworthy page to a powerful tool that brings in new customers.

Ready to turn your website into a trustworthy, lead-generating machine? Contact Aus Asia Online today and let our team help your business shine online!