http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/internet/how-to-provide-effective-24-7-customer-service-through-virtual-chat-agent.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/how-to-provide-effective-24-7-customer-service-through-virtual-chat-agent.html Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:50:11 -0600
I know that customer service is not a new word for you and you might have read many articles or attended many seminars/conferences. However, here I want to address a very unique service, which can provide effective 24/7 customer service. That secret tool is – virtual chat agent service – EmailChatSupport.com

First of all, let me explain you - How does established chat differ from virtual agent based chat?

Live chat agents in a customer service role deliver most of the traditional chat out there.
Emailchatsupport.com virtual agent does not appear as an avatar, but rather a chat box.
Now, you might be anxious that intelligent virtual chat vs a live human chat can be a problem and make people turn off.
First of all, when it comes to our use of intelligent chat vs. a human chat, we believe in complete transparency surrounding the chat experience. During initial conversation with an emailchatsupport.com virtual chat agent, the agent itself will declare that it’s a virtual chat agent service. In our experience, many people like the chat experience and do not get turn off by it. Many of our clients have seen increase in revenue because of the emailchatsupport.com virtual chat agent and intelligent chats.
What are the costs associated with Virtual Chat agent service?
Traditional chat requires live operators & it costs between $2 to $6 per hour based on the complexity of chat messages. However, virtual chat agent service - Emailchatsupport.com works on a very low monthly subscription model – Monthly only $3.99.
How does one go about selecting the technology provider & implementing for virtual chat?
Depending on a company’s needs, there are two important criteria to evaluate when
`
looking for chat technology- the quality of the tech foundation powering the chat and the scalability and affordability of the service.
It is difficult & time consuming process to make perfecting the chat bot. It is also important to provide quality of the conversation for the success rate of the virtual agent. In order to implement the virtual chat agent technology, you must be prompt & regular to train the virtual agent. The emailchatsupport.com technology has been tested on thousands of chat messages on hundreds of production live web-sites.
I hope you get some insight into virtual agent chat service & start implementing it. You can get FREE 90 days evaluation at www.EmailChatSupport.com


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I'm your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run Infotrex Services(Managing Information 4 U) - http://www.EmailChatSupport.com and work with a small team of smart developers for supporting clients based in USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Ireland, Australia etc. We help all clients to succeed in their online business by SEO(Internet marketing), online support & intelligent Web application solutions.


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/know-your-online-visitors-through-virtual-chat-system.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/know-your-online-visitors-through-virtual-chat-system.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Do you believe that – by knowing your prospective customers more, you can win more business from them? If yes, continue to read and we will show you the ways to know more about your online visitors.
Let's take the real world scenario and try to mimic it in virtual world of internet. Just imagine that you are passing by the corner shop and at that shop someone invites you to ask something about products/services and show willingness to answer your questions.
Just think about it: What will be your reaction? Most probably, you will go to the shop, ask something and if your queries will be solved satisfactorily, then you will eventually get interested to buy the product/services from that shop. For most of the people, this will be normal & natural behavior.
Let's mimic this same kind of behavior in virtual world by virtual chat agent. If someone comes to your web site most probably, that person is having little interest in your products or services. So, the logic is simple: If you can somehow engage them in talking with you, then there are fair chances that you can get new business from that visitor.
So what will you do the engage them in talking with you? There are 2 options available to you:
1) Be online & chat with your visitor on your web site. There are many free online tools available which can facilitate this option. This can be considered as live chat operator services. Some good free tools are: Meebo.com, phpopenchat.org etc.
The advantage you can get is: You can have full control over the chat messages which are sent to your visitors & you can provide the best personalized talk. Many web hosting companies are using this option nowadays.
This option provides highly personal online customer care service. If you cannot do this first option, you can consider hiring dedicated live chat operators from outsourcing companies in India. One of the good company to use is: http://www.EmailChatSupport.com
2) Be online through virtual chat operator & let the virtual chat operator handle chat messages with your visitors.
The advantage you can get is: You do not need to be online all the time. The automatic chat agent will try to answer common questions through the automated system. However, with this option, you will not have full control over the chat messages which are sent to your visitors.
If you cannot do the first option, you can consider this another option as well as hiring dedicated live chat operators from outsourcing companies in India. You can try out FREE 90 days "Auto Chat System" from http://www.EmailChatSupport.com
Believe it or not, more and more young generation is going online & chatting is one of the highest activities they carry on online after the email checking. Somehow if you can engage them in chatting with you, you can make them your life-time customer. Good luck & happy business!!!

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I'm your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run

Infotrex Services(Managing Information 4 U) - http://www.EmailChatSupport.com and work with a

small team of smart developers for supporting clients based in USA, Canada, UK, Italy,

Ireland, Australia etc. We help all clients to succeed in their online business by

SEO(Internet marketing), online support & intelligent Web application solutions.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/surgery-abroad.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/surgery-abroad.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
"Hip resurfacing surgery is a comparatively new process in many country like, USA, UK & Mexico and so is not easily available in the country," says Ankur Patel CEO of Medicaltourismingujarat.com

Medicaltourismingujarat.com, a Gujarat, India-based medical travel facilitator that connect people from all over the world to reasonably priced and easily available health care services available in Gujarat India.

Even in the United States, the hip resurfacing procedure, which is an additional bone-conserving practice than total hip replacement, was approved by the FDA only in May 2006.

According to "Most of our customers from the US, Canada and UK seeking hip resurfacing prefer to go to countries in Asia and Europe like India, Thailand, Belgium because the surgeons at our partner hospitals in those countries are much more experienced than their American, Canadian or Mexican counterpart."

Hip resurfacing, which is suggested for the younger active patients, is a technology that replaces the worn surfaces of the hip joint with caps of high carbide cobalt chrome. It differs from the conventional hip replacement in that it removes only the unhealthy bone and preserves the normal hip bone whereas the conventional total hip replacement procedure sacrifices a large quantity of normal bone.

Attesting to the top quality of care he received in India, Adam says, "My surgery went very smoothly. Dr. Patel is a fantastically nice person, very knowledgeable and experienced. All the personnel at the hospital in Ahmedabad- beginning with maintenance and going throughout nurses, waiters, executive personnel, doctors, healthcare technicians, etc. - were surprisingly professional, kind and lovely people."

Experience comes with practice, being a relatively new process in USA there are not many orthopedic surgeons there who are well experienced in this surgery. In contrast - "Many surgeons on our source network, for example, have performed more than a thousand such surgeries each," says Patel.

Thanking Medicaltourismingujarat.com for all their efforts, Adam adds, "I want to give a very special appreciation and sincere thanks to Medicaltourismingujarat.com, since without all their efforts, hard work, consideration, serenity and compassion I would probably have not decided to have my surgery done in India. Thanks for removing all my concerns and leading me throughout the whole process."

The top quality of care along with the considerable price discrepancy is drawing thousands to request care abroad for orthopedic, cardiac, bariatric, dental, laparoscopic, cosmetic and further procedures through Medicaltourismingujarat.com

About http://medicaltourismingujarat.com
medicaltourismingujarat.com, Gujarat, India-based medical tourism and dental tourism facilitator, is a one-stop source for global medical and dental choices, connecting patients to foremost hospitals around the world, through a protected, easy to use and information-rich web portal. Medicaltourismingujarat.com offers many medical, dental, cosmetic and surgical procedures and help patients seek top quality healthcare in various categories such as orthopedic, spinal, cardiac, bariatric, dental, laparoscopic, cosmetic, etc.

Medicaltourismingujarat.com provide healthcare facilities located in all over Gujarat, India. To ensure that patients receive the best care possible, medicaltourismingujarat.com works mainly with carefully chosen panel of expert doctors & hospitals. medicaltourismingujarat.com caters to the needs of personage consumers, self-insured businesses, insurance carriers and third party administrators looking for reasonable medical travel and dental journey options.

Note : This is a fictitious story based on the medical tourism experience one can get by Medicaltourismingujarat.com

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Welcome to Medical Tourism In Gujarat.com. This web-site & project is conceptualized by Ankur Patel - CEO of Infotrex Services Pvt. Ltd.
Basically, we want to facilitate all NRI patients by providing the plateform to connect with expert doctors based in Gujarat.This project will also serve to provide you lots of information about medical care and achievements of expert doctors in Gujarat.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/10-best-tips-to-write-effective-emails.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/10-best-tips-to-write-effective-emails.html Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Nowadays, we communicate more and more through email. We use Email communication to write something to friends, relatives, colleagues or clients. Whoever the recipient of your email, it is becoming very important that you write email effectively. As you know, by writing effective email, you can save your time, other person’s time and you can win more trust & confidence from the other end.

Give Reply of Email As soon as Possible

More and more people contact each other through email. Even if they mention directly or not, they expect prompt responses. One of the study by Jupiter Research indicates that 35% of customers expect a reply within six hours, an additional 55% expect a response within 24 hours. Though many people focus on response time, content is just as important. The same study indicated that lack of a thorough response (45%) will cause on-line customers to view a company negatively when considering future purchases.

Learn the art of writing Email

Poorly crafted emails will generate additional emails back & forth, which potentially eating up more of your time. Worse, they can drive unnecessary calls to your most costly channel – your phone. And at that point, customers are bound to be angry and frustrated.

Here are some tips for writing email responses that are both thorough and appropriate:

1. Format your response so that it’s easy to read on a screen. Do not write email using very long sentences, which are lengthy horizontally. Each line must be short. Ideally, write 5-6 words in each line only and not more than that.

2. Make sure the subject line is concise and meaningful to the recipient…not just a generic
“Response from Marketing Team” But also be careful that it doesn’t look like spam.

3. Have one subject per paragraph. Mention this separately by blank lines, so that its easy to read and understand.

4. Be brief. Use as few words as possible to convey your message. More is not better when
it comes to email. An email is not perceived as an electronic letter.

5. Use simple, declarative sentences. Write for a third or fourth grade audience,
particularly if you’re creating templates that are sent automatically. You do not know the
education level of your sender or the sender’s level of comfort with the English language.

6. Be sensitive to the tone of the original email. If the sender is upset because of an error on
your part, acknowledge the error. Clearly state what you are doing to correct the situation.

7. Make sure you answer all the questions posed in the original inquiry. A partial answer
frustrates the sender and results in additional contacts. It also makes the company sending
the response look inept.

8. Make it clear what actions you will be taking next and when the writer can expect the
next contact from you.


9. Don’t ask for an order number/case number or any old information which you remember out of your mind only when one is included in the original email…sounds pretty basic, but sometimes people miss very obvious info in email.

10. Don’t just tell the sender to go to your web site. In many cases, they have already been to
the web site and couldn’t find the answers they were looking for. If you want them to go
back to the web site, provide a direct link to the exact information the reader needs.
For more information visit on: http://www.infotrex.com


--
I\'m your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/software/introduction-to-offshore-business-models-in-india.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/software/introduction-to-offshore-business-models-in-india.html Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Sometimes you feel like knowing more about offshore & outsourcing & you don't find anyone to ask for it? Being the CEO of outsourcing company (/www.infotrex.com/”>Infotrex Services Pvt. Ltd), many of times people like you, ask me this question in email or on phone- "Please tell me the way you operate the business & how to proceed further?"
Let me break the problem into different chunks & solve it.

Lets understand - different offshore business methods:

We work using 3 offshore business methods:
1. Fixed Price Model: You tell us requirements, we estimate the efforts, you approve it, we work on it and you pay fixed money. You hold all intellectual property. Generally, online bidding falls under this model, where a buyer wants the lowest fixed price from the bids of sellers.

2. Monthly Price Model: You have lots of work, which you want to get it done regularly. You hire a person fully dedicated to you. You pay monthly salary. Again, you hold all intellectual property.

3. Partnership Model: You have the idea, but not much money. You want to get it implement it. In this case, we will evaluate the idea, develop it jointly and market it. Intellectual rights(source code) will not be with you. It will be with us.
In broad sense, you can choose any of the above methods as per your needs and grow your business.

Now, how to proceed for outsourcing work. Here are some common sense suggestions.

1. Trust nobody. Not me and not yourself.
When you outsource your work, you have to be careful There are many people who are not competent but still want to have your work and try to deliver it. They may fail and learn from it, but for you it will be loss of time & money. Talk to the CEO or founder of the outsourcing company, see the portfolio & talk to the references given by the company.

2. Prepare some small problems and ask the outsourcing team to solve it. May be you can decide to pay for it and sometimes you can ask for FREE evaluation.

3. Start with small project modules and watch for several points like - communication, project requirement analysis, how good they research or ask questions, regular status update etc. Small things can become bigger in future, so before you invest more of your time & money into outsourcing, just be careful and see if the outsourcing team can deliver.
There is a lot to say for outsourcing business & how to work with around it. So€ far, if you use above 3 offshore business models & use 3 tips above to start outsourcing work, I am sure you will achieve greater heights in future for your business. Good luck!!!


--
I'm your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run Infotrex Services(Managing Information 4 U) - http://www.infotrex.com and work with a small team of smart developers for supporting clients based in USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Ireland, Australia etc. We help all clients to succeed in their online business by SEO(Internet marketing), online support & intelligent Web application solutions.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/7-best-tips-for-communicating-with-your-offshore-team-in-india.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/7-best-tips-for-communicating-with-your-offshore-team-in-india.html Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Being CEO of outsourcing company Infotrex Services Pvt. Ltd. I deal with many clients(based in USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France etc.) & our team here in India. I will share some of my insights and day-to-day observations, so that you can get benefited.

If you are reading this article, most probably you have faced some communication problem with your offshore team or you are considering to offshore your project work and want to learn effective ways to communicate to the team which is thousands miles away.

Lets try to understand the basics of communication and possible ways to make mistakes when communicating with your offshore team in India. There are 3 entities involved in any communication - 1. Sender, 2. Receiver & 3. Channel between Sender-Receiver.

Now, try to understand Sender (its you yourself!!!). Mostly you are born & brought up in western country, having some cultural inclination and English language knowledge. Receiver is mostly the person in India, who knows English, but finds it hard to understand American English accent as well as having different cultural & geographical understanding. Channels of Communication can be phone, email & chat most of the time.

Now, lets try to accept the fact that - when messages(technically communication signals) are sent from sender to receiver through any communication channels, then some sort of noise or distortion will happen and because of that communication will be broken. These kind of communication gaps can become critical for long term success or failure of the project or relationship between you and off the shore team.

So, here are best 7 tips:

1. Start initial communication on Phone It is easy to pick up a phone and start talking with someone who is ready to listen to your ideas or project requirements. If you can find someone from offshore company who can understand your English accent, that’s a very good first start. Nowadays many offshore companies have US phone numbers or Skype ID, so just find it out if any phone communication channel is available to offshore team and start using it first. If any offshore company is not providing phone support, then either they are not capable to understand western English or do not understand the importance of this communication channel. Beware of these kind of companies because in long run, you will find it very problematic to communicate because of time difference & cultural differences.

2. Start Email communication to extend initial Phone Communication If you have passed the first phase of phone communication, then next phase is to have some written text via email. Do not expect that the receiver (offshore team) will remember & understand 100% whatever you have discussed on phone. Nobody is 100% perfect, so accept this fact and try to fill-up the gaps of phone communication by writing email. This 2nd phase will crystallize your thoughts/ideas or project requirements and will provide written evidences for future use.

3. Start Chat Communication to extend Phone & Email Communication
Once you have passed first & second phase, then you should start feeling better if the offshore team is good at communication & understanding your project requirements. Now, you can have some chat communication with CEO or Project manager if still there are communications gaps exist. Chat communication is useful for quick confirmation, clarifications and project updates. Make sure to send all chat communication through email to all concerned people, so that everyone can be in a loop.

4. Have some central Storage of All Communication Once you have started communicating with offshore team through combination of channels (phone, email, chat), then it is very easy to get lost in the pile of digital papers. So, use Google Docs or some central web-enabled storage systems (Box.net, Microsoft One Note etc.) and collaborate with team members of offshore team. You may consider developing your own customized central storage for all communication.

5. Send same message through Phone/Email/Chat You may experience that many times the messages may get lost on other end. For example, many people just leave chat message or only voicemail or only send email and then expect timely response from the offshore team. Offshore team might be busy and the message can get lost (in bulk email or voicemail or chat) which exist in only 1 communication channel. So, make sure to send same message to multiple communication channels, when something is urgent and important. If important & urgent messages are passed more than one time, there are more chances that it will be received or heard on other end.

6. Be ready with emergency communication strategies We all live in the world where anything may happen at any time. Offshore team may face power outage, internet connection outage, social problems, riots, traffic jam, computer virus, network problem etc. So, you need to have some emergency communication strategies with offshore team. You have to accept the facts that - people live in other globe of the earth are also humans and nobody anticipate failure of communication channels in advance. So, be calm and patient when something goes out of control. This tip will help a lot once in a blue moon, but very important for overall success or failure of the project or relationship.

7. Make sure to close the communication loop this is the last and essential point for any communication. In very simple words, sender say something to receiver and then ask for receiver to re-iterate same thing to sender in their own words or own ways. If both messages from sender to receiver & receiver to sender are almost same, then it is considered that the communication loop is closed. For clarity of all communication messages, closing the communication loop is very essential. Sometimes, this seems wastage of time & efforts, but believe me - in long run this last tip will make the big impact.

Use all simple 7 tips above and share your stories with us. We would be happy to learn further from you. If you are interested further on this topic, you may read other similar article at:http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/c051201a.asp


--
I'm your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run Infotrex Services(Managing Information 4 U) - http://www.infotrex.com and work with a small team of smart developers for supporting clients based in USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Ireland, Australia etc. We help all clients to succeed in their online business by SEO(Internet marketing), online support & intelligent Web application solutions.


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/software/7-best-tips-for-communicating-with-your-offshore-team-in-india.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/software/7-best-tips-for-communicating-with-your-offshore-team-in-india.html Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Being CEO of outsourcing company (Infotrex Services Pvt.Ltd.), I deal with many clients(based in USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France etc.) & our team here in India. I will share some of my insights and day-to-day observations, so that you can get benefited.

Lets try to understand the basics of communication and possible ways to make mistakes when communicating with your offshore team in India. There are 3 entities involved in any communication - 1. Sender, 2. Receiver & 3. Channel between Sender-Receiver.


Now, try to understand Sender (its you yourself!!!). Mostly you are born & brought up in western country, having some cultural inclination and English language knowledge. Receiver is mostly the person in India, who knows English, but finds it hard to understand American English accent as well as having different cultural & geographical understanding. Channels of Communication can be phone, email & chat most of the time.

Now, lets try to accept the fact that - when messages(technically communication signals) are sent from sender to receiver through any communication channels, then some sort of noise or distortion will happen and because of that communication will be broken. These kind of communication gaps can become critical for long term success or failure of the project or relationship between you and off the shore team.

So, here are best 7 tips:

1. Start initial communication on Phone It is easy to pick up a phone and start talking with someone who is ready to listen to your ideas or project requirements. If you can find someone from offshore company who can understand your English accent, that’s a very good first start. Nowadays many offshore companies have US phone numbers or Skype ID, so just find it out if any phone communication channel is available to offshore team and start using it first. If any offshore company is not providing phone support, then either they are not capable to understand western English or do not understand the importance of this communication channel. Beware of these kind of companies because in long run, you will find it very problematic to communicate because of time difference & cultural differences.

2. Start Email communication to extend initial Phone Communication If you have passed the first phase of phone communication, then next phase is to have some written text via email. Do not expect that the receiver (offshore team) will remember & understand 100% whatever you have discussed on phone. Nobody is 100% perfect, so accept this fact and try to fill-up the gaps of phone communication by writing email. This 2nd phase will crystallize your thoughts/ideas or project requirements and will provide written evidences for future use.

3. Start Chat Communication to extend Phone & Email Communication
Once you have passed first & second phase, then you should start feeling better if the offshore team is good at communication & understanding your project requirements. Now, you can have some chat communication with CEO or Project manager if still there are communications gaps exist. Chat communication is useful for quick confirmation, clarifications and project updates. Make sure to send all chat communication through email to all concerned people, so that everyone can be in a loop.

4. Have some central Storage of All Communication Once you have started communicating with offshore team through combination of channels (phone, email, chat), then it is very easy to get lost in the pile of digital papers. So, use Google Docs or some central web-enabled storage systems (Box.net, Microsoft One Note etc.) and collaborate with team members of offshore team. You may consider developing your own customized central storage for all communication.

5. Send same message through Phone/Email/Chat You may experience that many times the messages may get lost on other end. For example, many people just leave chat message or only voicemail or only send email and then expect timely response from the offshore team. Offshore team might be busy and the message can get lost (in bulk email or voicemail or chat) which exist in only 1 communication channel. So, make sure to send same message to multiple communication channels, when something is urgent and important. If important & urgent messages are passed more than one time, there are more chances that it will be received or heard on other end.

6. Be ready with emergency communication strategies We all live in the world where anything may happen at any time. Offshore team may face power outage, internet connection outage, social problems, riots, traffic jam, computer virus, network problem etc. So, you need to have some emergency communication strategies with offshore team. You have to accept the facts that - people live in other globe of the earth are also humans and nobody anticipate failure of communication channels in advance. So, be calm and patient when something goes out of control. This tip will help a lot once in a blue moon, but very important for overall success or failure of the project or relationship.

7. Make sure to close the communication loop this is the last and essential point for any communication. In very simple words, sender say something to receiver and then ask for receiver to re-iterate same thing to sender in their own words or own ways. If both messages from sender to receiver & receiver to sender are almost same, then it is considered that the communication loop is closed. For clarity of all communication messages, closing the communication loop is very essential. Sometimes, this seems wastage of time & efforts, but believe me - in long run this last tip will make the big impact.

Use these 7 basic tips for successful communication with your offshore team in India or any offshore team through the world.

Use all simple 7 tips above and share your stories with us. We would be happy to learn further from you. If you are interested further on this topic, you may read other similar article at:http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/c051201a.asp


--
I'm your host-Ankur Patel-your outsourcing partner based in India. For my day job, I run Infotrex Services(Managing Information 4 U) - http://www.infotrex.com and work with a small team of smart developers for supporting clients based in USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Ireland, Australia etc. We help all clients to succeed in their online business by SEO(Internet marketing), online support & intelligent Web application solutions.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/web-hosting/40-simple-ways-to-build-trust-in-your-website-visitors.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/web-hosting/40-simple-ways-to-build-trust-in-your-website-visitors.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
It is absolutely necessary that your website must create the environment of trust otherwise, most of your efforts will be wasted. Have you ever thought – how to create the environment of trust for a website? Don’t be panic, its very easy to build trust for your online visitors.

If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


As you already know that - you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Building trust for your online visitors cannot be achieved by just a single action. Trust is achieved by many little actions you do throughout your website and when its taken together, give users a sense of stability, honesty and legitimacy for your business and services you provide.

If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


Another good or bad news is that only few website owners focus on building trust in the minds of their visitors. So, if you do it well, it can become a real and sustainable competitive advantage for your business and you can keep your competitors away.

Here are 40 simple actions you can take to get started.

1. Your website design is the first impression. Make sure it is professional and relevant to the subject matter.

2. Navigation must be intuitive. If visitors can't find what they are looking for easily, they will question your competence in providing what they want.

3. Make the website personal by giving it its own tone and voice. People buy people.

4. Follow the HEART rule of creating online content. (Reminder: HEART stands for Honest, Exclusive, Accurate, Relevant and Timely.)

5. Use language that is appropriate to the audience. It will build empathy.

6. Regularly add new content to your site. It shows that the business is alive and kicking.

7. Review all links. Doubts will quickly form in your visitors' minds if links don't work or, worse still, take them to error pages.

8. Good grammar and spelling matter. Errors give the impression of sloppiness and carelessness.

9. Don't make outrageous and unbelievable claims, like "Read this blog and you'll be a millionaire by the end of the week." People are used to scams, get-rich-quick schemes and rip-offs.

10. Publish REAL testimonials and third-party endorsements. Try to always use real names and link to websites where possible. Some sites show images of letters sent by happy customers.

If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


11. Publish case studies about customers you have helped, who use your product, etc.

12. Don't put down, curse or insult competitors. It's unprofessional. It is better to offer an objective comparison of competitive services or products.

13. Focus on building your long-term reputation, not on making quick sales.

14. Write articles for humans, not search engines.

15. Make your 'About Us' page personal and comprehensive. It plays an important part in making visitors feel comfortable that real people are behind the site.

16. Publish your photo or the photos of the key people involved with the site. Again, this reinforces the fact that there are real people behind the screenshots.

17. Clearly identify who is behind the site. Nothing creates more suspicion than a site that tries to hide the identity of its publishers.

18. On the 'Contact Us' page, provide an email form, telephone number, fax and address of the company. In Europe, it is a legal requirement for sites taking funds, but even sites driven by advertising will benefit from openness.

19. Provide a telephone number that people can call and talk to a person.

20. Provide Web addresses linked to the website domain, not addresses from free webmail services such as Hotmail and Gmail.

If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


21. Think carefully about reciprocal links. If your site is about organic food and you have links to Party Poker, people are going to question your integrity.

22. Think carefully about the adverts you display on your site. Ensure that they are relevant to your subject and audience.

23. Write and publish your privacy policy. Be clear about what you will and will not do with any personal data you collect. State that you adhere to all data protection laws. Make it easy to read and don't use legal gobbledygook.

24. Write and publish a security policy. State what measures you take to ensure that all transactions are secure as well as how well you handle customers data.

25. Ensure that you have a security and privacy policy which is linked from the footer on every page. Make the link more prominent on all the order pages.

26. Clearly publish your guarantee. I would recommend making it a 100% money-back guarantee if possible.

27. Clearly state your refund and returns policy.

28. If you use PayPal, put the PayPal logo on your site. If you have a merchant services account with a major bank like Citibank or HSBC, put its logo on your site.

29. Use Google search on your site for two reasons. First, it is a great search solution which will help your visitors find what they are looking for. Second, having the Google name on your site instills trust.

30 If there are well-known industry associations for your subject, join up and put their logos on your site.


If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


31. Have a forum on your site and respond quickly to questions. Have the attitude that you are happy to help others without receiving immediate reward. As the old saying goes, 'Givers always gain.'

32. Allow people to comment on articles. Interactivity and an exchange of views build community and a sense of involvement.

33. If people provide constructive criticism or comments in the forum, don't delete them, but respond with your point of view.

34. Use the words 'secure website' whenever you try to get any information from visitors, including newsletter sign-ups, forum input and payment.

35. On every page, state, "We take your privacy and security very seriously." Link the statement to the security and privacy policy.

36. If you are selling a subscription, offer a low-cost, entry-level option. This could be a one-day taster, 'a week before billing starts' or a monthly trial.

37. Only ask for information from customers that you really need. For example, for an email newsletter sign-up, the only information you REALLY need is an email address, so that is all you should ask for.

38. If you have pricing on your website, make it transparent. I recently went to buy a book which was advertised for $10. When I checked out, they added tax, post and packaging, and the final bill was $19.50. I didn't buy it as I felt they had deliberately tried to mislead me.

39. Start a small newsletter of your company/services & circulate it among your clients/employees. Also, publish it on your website regularly.

40. Allow people to “unsubscribe” from your mailing list. This may sound very obvious, but I have found that many websites still don’t follow it.

To ensure that you are continually improving your trustworthiness, every time you go to a website, ask yourself whether you trust it or not. Then ask yourself why you have formed the opinion you have.

If you want to know how your site ranks (in terms of building trust online), then visit: http://www.infotrex.com/siterank and know by yourself, where your site is ranking.


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