Have you ever arrived at a website only to decide that you don’t want to work with the people whose site you’re seeing? There are a lot of little cues and clues that can lead you to distrust a site. Some have more to do with the website creator while others are simply mistakes in website design. You probably know a trustworthy website when you see one, but you may not know why you find it to be trustworthy looking.

1. Have a Real Address

If you hide your location, it feels like you’ve got something to hide. Put your location out there and visitors will feel that the website creator is someone with a legitimate, trustworthy business.

2. Invest in Website Design

Visitors will feel more confident if a website has clearly been designed with care. Trustworthy websites weren’t quickly thrown together. Good website design will also feel familiar, even if the content and layout is unique. And familiarity will also make people feel they’re looking at a trustworthy website.

3. Speed Matters

Websites that take a long time to load are not just annoying. It shows that the website creator isn’t interested enough in the comfort of the visitor. You want to show you’ve taken this seriously and invested in a fast loading server. That means 2 seconds or less.

4. Add New Content

You already know how important new content is for SEO purposes, but do you know that having regular updates to your blog will also make it feel more trustworthy? When you’re interacting with your readers and visitors on a regular basis, you’re disclosing things about yourself as the website creator and business owner.

5. Have a Face

A website is just a website. Having a human face to put with the business will give people something to latch onto. If they can’t walk in and meet you face-to-face, the next best thing is to see a photo so they know you’re a real person with a real business. A trustworthy website is a site with people as well as personality.

Website design is very important. Imagine arriving at a site with tons of ads, cluttered information, grammatical and spelling errors, and slow loading times. Do you stick around that trustworthy website or do you go elsewhere? The look and feel of a website informs the way people feel about the website creator.