Get More Website Traffic by Making Your Online Store More Trustworthy

In our previous article, How Do I Get More Traffic To My Store and 7 Ways To Do it, we talked about the most effective ways to drive traffic to your online store. In this article, we will take a closer look at them.

The trust between customers and the brand is extremely important nowadays. A lack of trust can have serious consequences and can lead to a reduction in customer loyalty. If people don’t trust you, they’re more likely to buy products and services from businesses that will deliver on their promises. There are many ways you can build trust and loyalty. Customers create their expectations of your products and services and you must live up to their expectations. You should believe in your products and services. Moreover, you have to make sure that your website is trustworthy. Your website is the face of your company and it’s really important to leave a good first impression. A positive first impression could create a customer for a lifetime and that customer is more likely to recommend your online store to other people. With more visitors, you can get more traffic to your website.

We live in a global constantly evolving digital world where you need to create the right atmosphere for customers to trust your online business. In this article, we’ll answer the following questions:

Why Digital Trust is Important?

How to Make Your Site Trustworthy?

Before we get down to business let’s find out why having a trustworthy website is so important.

Why Digital Trust is Important?

Digital technologies have changed how we live in and outside our homes. These days you can purchase products and services without leaving the apartment. You can do it at any time of the day and even at night. The COVID pandemic has contributed to online shopping growth. Online sales have been rising steadily since then.  As an online store owner that provides products and services, you need to create a safer online shopping experience. One way to do this is to make your online store seem trustworthy.

Why is it important? Trust is the base of any relationship and it is crucial when it comes to sales. It affects customers’ buying decisions. By creating a trustworthy website, you are building trust between yourself and your customers. According to a Salesforce Report, 95 % of customers are loyal to brands they trust. Meanwhile, 92 % of customers are more likely to buy additional products and services from trusted businesses.

As I’ve said before your website is the face of your company. A properly designed and functional website represents your company, products, and brand. There are so many little details that affect your site's trustworthiness and you need to pay attention to all of them. “God is in the details.” Building a trustworthy website helps you get more traffic to your website. It can lower your bounce rate and reduces your shopping cart abandonment. Moreover, you can generate more sales.

Now that you know why trust is so important, it’s time to move on to our next question.

How to Make Your Site Trust Worthy?

Use HTTPS in your domain name

As the number of online shoppers keeps growing every day not many users are feeling secure. Back in 2014, Google recommended that sites use the HTTPS protocol.

Security has always been their top priority, and if you want to have a trustworthy, Google-friendly website then you need to switch to HTTPS. Google loves HTTPS - sites. The fact that Google uses HTTPS as a ranking signal shows how important it is to switch from HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure).

The process of switching from HTTP to HTTPS

1.       Buy an SSL certificate

2.       Install your SSL certificate on your shared hosting account

3.       Find all HTTP links on your website and convert them from HTTP to HTTPS

4.       When switching from HTTP to HTTPS, use 301 redirects to tell search engines that your site’s addresses have changed and that they need to remove the old URL from their index

By using HTTPS in your domain name, visitors will access your site knowing that their personal information won’t be stolen. In order to use HTTPS, you need to obtain an SSL certificate. What is an SSL certificate? SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It’s the standard technology that keeps the connection between a visitor’s browser and your web hosting server secure. How important is it for your online store? It is super important. If you want to improve your website traffic and sales, an SSL certificate is a must-have. Adding an SSL certificate to your domain lets your website visitors feel very secure while purchasing your products and services online.

How can you tell if a website has an SSL certificate?

When you see the small black padlock icon next to the site name at the top of the page, you know that the site is secure to visit. This is an example of a secure page.

It lowers the risk of phishing and cyber-attacks and it also improves your ranking in search engines. When you don’t see the padlock 🔒 icon in the address bar of your browser, and instead see a warning sign, the website you are viewing is not secure. Before you make any transaction with your credit card, you should always look for a lock icon at the address bar at the top. And there is one more thing you can do, which is to set up an SPF record to ensure a high level of protection for your site.

Optimize your domain name

In today’s overly competitive digital world, choosing a nice catchy, memorable domain name is super important because it makes it easier for your soon-to-be customers to remember your website so they can type it correctly. It’s one of the biggest and most important decisions you have to make as a website owner and it’s a perfect opportunity to make a perfect first impression. Your domain name is your online business identity and you need to think carefully while selecting one for your online store. Using this name, people can identify you over the internet. Choosing a domain name is almost like giving your child a name. There’s a lot of power in having a good one and it can make a difference when it comes to attracting traffic to your website.

Some tips for choosing the right domain name:

Choose an extension. Stick with .com because it is a widely recognized extension, it’s cheaper and it is more trustworthy. According to research from Domain Name Stat, 37 % of all domains use the “.dot.com” extension.

Other domain extensions such as .store, .online, .travel, .shop and etc. let entrepreneurs register domain names that are relevant to their business. If your targeted audience is American, then you should try .us for your website. If your business is located in Great Britain, try using .uk. If you are located in Germany, use .de.

Even though Google isn’t using these extensions as ranking factors, .com remains the best option for most businesses. It is the most common extension which can be used globally for all purposes. It’s better for SEO, marketing, and reputation. Dot-com domains are easy to remember. It’s also worth noting that most smartphone keyboards have a .com button. If they are not available, try .net or .org.

Keep it short, catchy and brandable

Short domain names are easy to pronounce and remember. The shorter your domain name, the lower the risk of mistyping or pronouncing it. According to research published by Domain Registration, the most common domain length for the top 10,000 most popular websites is just 8 characters. Have you ever noticed that the most successful companies have short names? Companies like Google, Amazon, YouTube, Twitter, Forbes, and Reddit have domain names that are 6-7 characters long. BTW, Growave.io has a domain length of 7. Aren’t they easy to type and remember? Even though short domain names under 6 characters are no longer available or they can be quite expensive, you need to aim for 7-14 characters.

Having a long domain name can make your site look spammy and that’s one of the reasons you don’t see those long keyword-rich domain names. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe once said that “less is more”.  

Google’s search advocate John Mueller says that having keywords in your domain name doesn’t affect your ranking.

“Just because a website has a keyword in its domain name doesn’t mean that it’s more relevant than others for that keyword. In short, you don’t need to put keywords in the domain name.”

Keyword stuffing isn’t good for your domain name so you need to pick wisely which keywords to use. Too many of them can hurt your position on SERPs.  

Having a short domain name is good for domain SEO but they also have to be memorable. Memorable domain names make it easier for people to remember your website. Thus, more people will visit your site and will help you build a strong and effective brand image. You don’t want your potential customers to mistype your domain name and end up on the wrong website. It can lead to loss of website traffic. You need to focus more on your potential customers rather than focusing on search engines. If you want to stand out from the competition then you need to make your domain name catchy and brandable. Pick something easy to spell and pronounce something that doesn’t sound like another business. Brandable domain names are unique and they may sound more attractive to your audience. That of course can help you get more traffic to your online store. You need to keep “Double letters” such as “ss” or “tt” out of your domain name. By avoiding them you will make your domain name sound more brandable. Plus, it makes it easier for your “soon-to-be” customers to type your name. Using hyphens and numbers should be avoided because it can make your brand look spammy. They are also difficult to spell and pronounce. Keeping your domain name short, catchy, and brandable is extremely beneficial for your online business. It makes it easier for your visitors to find, remember and share your website. Apart from having a good domain name, it is also important to have high-quality content that brings value to your customers.

Improve your website design

Having a beautifully designed website has a lot of benefits and when it is easy to use and navigate it can affect your online presence which includes website traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates. You are responsible for how your site looks and a nice design does matter. It’s the first thing your visitors judge you by and you don’t want to scare them off. It’s human nature that we are naturally attracted to beautiful things. According to Adobe, 59 % of consumers around the world prefer beautiful design over simplicity.

An outdated website design can seriously hurt your online business. It can negatively affect your website traffic, conversion rates, online sales, customer loyalty, and brand reputation. The best thing about having a nice modern design, it is great for user experience. Your web design and user experience are a match made in heaven. They are closely connected and a great user experience leads to conversions.

We could use this formula to improve your website design:

[Modern design + Great User Experience + High-Quality content + SEO value]

Of course, graphics, and animated elements can make your website look great but you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with them. You need to find a balance between using too much and too little. Too much animation can impact your website’s load time and a slow-loading website provides a poor user experience. Having too much text can certainly be a problem, too. Divide your content into reasonable chunks that are both visually appealing and easy to explore. Your landing page should only contain the most valuable information, as it tells your potential clients who you are. You can offer connections to other pages where your visitors can read more information if they choose. Your website should be modern and visually appealing while also being practical. It will improve your website’s user experience. With high-quality content, you can make your brand stand out. It’s all about persistence, quality, and relevance. You should write for your customers and the content you provide should address the needs of your potential customers. It’s not an easy job to do but hard work pays off. Make sure that your content is well optimized. Implement on-page and off-page SEO techniques. Promote your content on Social Media.

Make your site mobile-friendly. In the 4th quarter of 2021, 54.4 % of global website traffic came from mobile devices.

As you can see more than half of Internet traffic is mobile so it's really important that your site’s content is accessible and usable to your potential customers on their smartphones. 57 % of users wouldn't trust a business with a poorly designed website. Websites that are not mobile optimized provide a poor user experience. Beautiful, clean design works well on mobile devices and Google loves mobile-friendly sites so if you want to improve your ranking in the mobile SERPs you should definitely pay attention to your site's mobile responsiveness.

Conclusion

Your website is your business’s first digital impression and if you want to drive more traffic to your online store then you need to make sure that your site is trustworthy. Trust is everything in the world of data-driven customer engagement. You want your potential customers to believe you’re trustworthy and worth their money.