| 1) Fogg, B.J. (May 2002). "Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility." A Research Summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University. www.webcredibility.org/guidelines |
Web Site Credibility - Why it is Important in Your Planning
The Stanford Research Credibility Project (1) >
An extensive study by Stanford Research over the course of three years and 4500 evaluations, showed some important guidelines for building credibility in a web site.
The following guidelines are summarized here and four are commented on in the "Orchid notes" on the left and right column of this page. These are a part of the planning process that we incorporate when setting up the content and ideas for your custom web site.
1) Make it easy to verify the accuracy of information on your site.
2) Show that there's a real organization behind your site.
3) Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
4) Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
5) Make it easy to contact you.
6) Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
7) Make your site easy to use -- and useful.
8) Update your site's content often (at least show it's been reviewed recently).
9) Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
10) Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.