Have you ever had that paranoid feeling about a particular supplier or manufacturer? Perhaps you can’t put a finger on it; yet, you can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t seem right.  Such consumer sentiments are not foreign, especially when brands do not actively insert trust signals into their marketing endeavors.

Consider the following suggestions:

Visible Employees

Does your brand have an about us or other brand page that features executives and other staff members?  This is an important portion of the online marketing pie.  If browsers cannot ‘see’ your staff, find emails, bios, etc, they will begin to wonder why you would keep such information from them.

It’s much better to host high-quality pictures, all contact information (email, Twitter, Facebook), and include some personal information about them.  Aren’t you proud of your employees?  Don’t you want more people to know about your great staff?  Don’t you want to enforce trust?

Real Testimonials

It’s not uncommon to come across a website stocked with prior-consumer testimony, relaying how great the service/product supplier is.  However, it’s not uncommon to see testimonials ended with just a name, without any contact information, business name, etc.

Is it so farfetched to believe it could be make believe?  Why wouldn’t you give your readers more indications that the person providing the testimonial is an actual person?  That way, it’s a real testimonial, one readers can use to their benefit.  Otherwise, it’s just another piece of advertising.

Real ‘Experts’

Some brands use the term ‘experts’ or a similar derivation to attract the interest of consumers.  Your brand houses ‘experts’ according to whom?  For instance, in martial arts, you can’t take one class and then say you’re a ‘black belt.’  It takes years to get to the point where you can deem yourself ‘an expert.’  If your industry offers some sort of national or globally-recognized certification, then so be it.  Otherwise, leave the compliments to the consumers to provide.

Like the ‘faux’ testimonials above, it only takes a few keystrokes to call anyone an ‘expert.’