Does Website Look Like A Scam?

With so many websites selling services and “stuff” on the internet these days, it can be difficult for consumers to make a decision as to which is the best to do online business with.Does Your Website Look Like A Scam

One thing is certain, if your website gives visitors even the slightest inkling that it is a scam site, you are bound to lose lots of potential customers. Take a look at these common characteristics of shady online businesses and be sure that you are not guilty of appearing spamming or scamming.

Too! Much! Emphasis!

The first thing you might notice when you click on a spamming site is lots of vibrant color, different sized fonts, text in all capital letters, cheesy graphics for emphasis, and flashing lights. It may remind you of a disco dance club with all of its visual stimuli trying to pull your eye immediately to the ‘BUY!’ link.

While there is nothing wrong with drawing attention to your call to action, if you make it more subtle it will denote a professional, trustworthy company. Stay away from an annoying mixture of too many vibrant colors and varying fonts. Use classic combination's and keep graphics to a minimum; they should enhance, not overpower the text. Try to refrain from using exclamation points where they are not required.

Pop-Ups

A pop-up message that tries to convince a visitor to stay on your site, make a purchase, or join a subscriber’s list can be an excellent tool to increase conversion rate. However, if they are not done right, they could be viewed as a real annoyance and evidence of a site that is going to send spam email messages in the future.

The worst sites keep pop-ups appearing from the moment of entrance to the home page until the unlucky visitor entirely shuts down their computer. Use more than one pop-up and risk being viewed as a scammed.

Make pop-ups appear only at the last possible moment – when the visitor is about to leave the site. Restrain yourself from adding them to each link or when someone first lands on the home page.

Free Offers That Aren’t Really Free

Your site is bound to get a bad reputation if you fall back on that old scam standby of offering something for ‘free’. We’ve all seen these websites. They offer something of great value complimentary, then ask for a credit card to pay for future orders. Of course you can cancel your subscription at any time – if only you can figure out how to do so.

When you offer a free item, be sure there are no strings attached other than the visitor providing a name, address, and perhaps a brief bit of personal information such as interests or hobbies. The idea is to induce the visitor to take their free item, but then come back again and again to make future purchases. If your initial visitor finds a reason to trust your company, it is much more likely that they will become a loyal customer.

Perhaps the best way to figure out what you don’t want your site to be is to visit some of those obvious scam websites. Use what you see and read as a template of everything wrong – then do the opposite and enjoy a better online reputation. Becoming trusted by your clients is the best way to win their confidence and trust so that they do buy from you when ready.

Have a most outstanding day.