Lead generation is not a pushing game but more of a pulling game.

You can’t go out there and force people to visit your blog and read your content. You’re going to have to find ways to attract them so that they themselves would voluntarily check you out and (hopefully) leave information that you can use to sell them things in the future.

For that to happen, you’ve got to give them reason why they need to pick your site among thousands of possible other choices. And the one thing that can give you that edge? Credibility.

BJ Fogg, a leading researcher on website credibility, says there are 4 types of credibility:

Presumed credibility – General assumptions (e.g. A brand we’ve heard of is more credible, unknown brand is less.) Reputed credibility – Third party reference (e.g. Your friends said service X is great or terrible.) Surface credibility – What we find on simple inspection (e.g. The website looks quality or “this is confusing.”) Earned credibility – Personal experience (e.g. Friendly customer service or text full of typos and factual errors.)

Based on these, here are five questions to ask to gauge your website’s credibility, according to a post at Yola.com:

1. Does your website look professional?

First impressions last, and unfortunately your website visitors will judge your business in 90 seconds or less. Make sure your website looks clean and the layout is clear. The typography used should be easy to read. The colors used on your website are also extremely important and brand colors can have a huge effect on how a visitor feels when they land on your website. Also pay attention to the content and navigation, these are two very important factors that make up a good website.

2. Do you demonstrate that you’re a real organization?

The simplest way to demonstrate this is by adding your address and contact information to your website. This will instantly show visitors that you are a real organization and not a faceless website.

Visitors will feel more comfortable dealing with your organization, if they know they can contact you easily by phone or email – even if they don’t at first. Contact information will go a long way to boosting your long-term credibility.

3. Do you make it easy to verify the information on your website?

When presenting any information on your website make sure to reference your source. Citing information will increase trust and show evidence that supports your claims. However, make sure your sources are credible, as you can lose credibility purely by association.

4. Do you update your site regularly?

Most importantly, make sure your contact information is up-to-date and opening hours are correct on your website. If you collect leads via a form or email address, make sure your form is working correctly and that your mailbox will accept incoming email.

5. Are you endorsed by any third parties?

You can tell your visitors how great your organization is; but if you are endorsed by a third party, you will reap greater rewards. A simple way to do this is by adding testimonials from real people to your website. A list of happy customers endorsing your organization will help to build trust with prospective customers and will also show that other people have purchased your product and/or services.

See more at: Do Visitors See Your Website as Credible?…