Several years ago, Standford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab performed a research study on over 4,500 people to see what factors are most important to establish a website’s credibility.  These are important factors to consider when pursuing any new business or project’s web design.  Although this study was completed in 2002, the basic foundations for establishing trust and credibility with your online visitors have not changed.

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site — You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material.
2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site — Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site’s credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide — Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don’t link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site — The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies.
5. Make it easy to contact you — A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose) – We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose.
7. Make your site easy to use and useful — We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently) – People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.
9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers) — If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem — Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to keep your site up and running.

This information is posted with permission from Stanford University and can be found in its entirety at http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html.

If you own a business with a name that blends in with every other Tom, Dick, or Harry Enterprises, it may be time to rethink your branding strategy.

On ranchers’ livestock, a hot branding iron makes a permanent mark by burning through the hair and into the skin.  If the branding iron isn’t hot enough, it will only make a temporary mark that eventually fades.

Let’s face it, when many of us small business owners start our companies, we don’t really consider the power of a great brand name.  With all the other “stuff” going on as businesses are being hatched, we often don’t take the time or invest the resources to come up with a hot brand name that sticks.

Some of us opt for the simplest of brand names, such as Bill’s Tour Guides or K&S Hair Salon.  Some opt for mystery names, such as Industrial Solutions or Southern Sales, which tell potential clients very little about the business or products.

If you are starting a business or want to heat up your brand, then think red hot.  You need a name that will burn on the minds of your potential clients.

Your brand should define who you are and what your company does and do it in a way that is memorable.  The brand also needs to conjure up the right feelings and emotions about your business.

There are many different strategies for developing the perfect brand name for your company or product line.  Here are a few examples.

• Address Client Concerns – lets them know ahead of time that you won’t disappoint
  • One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning
  • Speedy Printing
  • FedEx
• Build Trust or Stability – make your client confident in you and your product
  • Duracell Batteries
  • Under Armor
• Be Visual – put an image in your customer’s mind
  • Blue Dot Technologies
  • Two Fat Daddy’s BBQ
  • Redhead Web Development
• Be Creative – this usually requires a larger marketing budget, but can be powerful
  • iPod
  • Kindle
  • Starbucks

Steps to Build a Brand That Burns

1. Brainstorm – throw out all of the words that describe you.  Throw out all of the words that describe your product or business.  Then throw out all the words that describe the emotions, thoughts, or feelings you want your client to have.  Write them down or enter them into your computer for later reference
2. Thesaurus – get out the thesaurus and look up catchy synonyms for any of the words generated during your brainstorming
3. Test Word Combinations – combine some of the above words as direct sum combinations, as in Blue Fin Salon.  Also combine some of the words as melded word combinations, as in Invisalign
4. Get Input – from friends, family, potential clients, business owners, or advisors.  Something that sounds really good to you might sound really bad to others
5. Domain Check – this is one of the most important parts of the process.  You need to secure a domain name www.mybrand.com that uses a majority of your brand name, if not the entire brand name.  Potential names should be checked as you are thinking about them, so you know what is available.  If your brand name isn’t available, keep thinking.  A great web tool for searching domain names on the fly can be found at www.ddwhois.com Also, check out www.makewords.com to find word combinations and domain names with one tool.
6. Trademark Search – you need to run a trademark search to see if anyone else has a registered trademark using your brand name.  Visit the US Patent & Trademark Office search site at http://tess2.uspto.gov/.  If you want to register your name, consult a qualified trademark attorney
7. Search The Internet – even if your name is not registered, someone may be using it already.  Perform a Google search of the name in “quotes.”  This will turn up any exact word combinations of others who may be using the name.  If someone is using the name already in a similar industry, it is probably best to steer clear.  When in doubt, consult an attorney

Think hot when developing your brand name.  If the brand really burns, it won’t fade.

If you want assistance with branding, new product concept development, product launch, or business start-up, contact Redhead Web Development for help.  Redhead specializes in online and offline marketing strategies that can elevate your business.  Visit www.redheadwebdevelopment.com or call (417) 272-1932.

Have you ever seen those cool flow charts that some people create for sales presentations or company meetings?

Those kinds of flashy charts can make people look really prepared and really smart.  However, if you’ve ever tried to create one with Microsoft Word or some other standard program that we all have, you know what a pain it is.

Well, I found the answer in a little tool called Bubbl.us.  I began using this little gem several months ago, and it has saved me tons of time and has been a great resource for sharing ideas and concepts with clients.

It is an online flowchart and visual mapping engine with drag and drop features that make it super simple to use.

If you have an idea, you need to try this tool.  It can be used for:

• brainstorming
• mind mapping
• project mapping
• organizational charts
• divisional charts
• workflow concepts
• marketing concepts
• planning
• website navigation
• seo strategy planning
• and lots of other stuff…

The other nice thing…it’s entirely free.  www.bubbl.us Now we all can look smart and be smart too.  Check it out!

If you own a business in Springfield, MO or any other Springfield for that matter, we can help put your business website at the top of the list on Google and other search engines.

Search Engine Optimization is a discipline that requires a little bit art and a little bit science, and is a field which is constantly changing.  The professionals at Redhead Web Development practice SEO every day.  We know what it takes to get the job done, we stay current on the latest SEO trends and tactics to make sure our client sites get to the top and remain at the top.

We are not a robot reseller.  Search engines don’t like off-the-shelf search engine optimization and link generators.  We perform SEO services the old fashioned way — manual link building, copywriting, customized tags and a whole host of other tactics.  This insures that your site gets the best indexing and the best position.

Put us to work on your website.  We guarantee first page results and keep you informed of your site’s progress.  You will receive regular reports of updated search engine rank for all of the tracked keywords.

In addition to SEO, Redhead can give you a complete website redesign, e-commerce shopping cart, content management systems, branding, logo design, and other marketing services.  We are a full-service web design and web development company.

Contact Redhead Web Development for a quote today.

Redhead Web Development created an SEO (search engine optimization) campaign that has given PFT Diagnostics a Top 5 position on the first page of Google for the search term “pft filters”.  This position has given their website a boost in traffic, along with a marked increase in sales leads and converted business.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a specialized combination of web design, web development, and internet marketing that is used to help websites achieve first page positions on Google.  The goal of any successful SEO program is to put the client’s website on the first page of Google and other search engines.

This campaign started with keyword research to determine the most commonly searched keywords for PFT Diagnostic’s target market.  After these search terms were identified, Redhead put into action an SEO plan that included website optimization, content writing and re-structuring, article writing & distribution, and link building.

In addition to first page results for “pft filters“, Redhead Web Development helped the company to land on the first page of Google for:

• pft equipment
• pft equipment repair
• allflow filters
• Morgan Plethysmograph Simulator
• Body Box 5500

PFT Diagnostics is an authorized distributor for Morgan Scientific and AllFlow filters.  They work in the specialized field of respiratory medicine.

If you would like to give your business a website traffic and sales boost, contact Redhead Web Development today for a free SEO consultation.