Editor note: This article has been updated to provide more in-depth information and accuracy as of 2018

Whilst your website may be the main contact point between you and your customer, it is absent of human connection.

When you meet a client face to face you get to understand each other on a personal level. Not only are facial expressions and body language a clear indicator of what both parties are feeling, the simple act of meeting with one another is personal.

Your office, building, stock, staff and facilities also act as physical indicators. You are able to build trust with physical belongings as it shows you are 'real', not just a website.

What if your website is the only method you have of attracting and converting leads?

If that's the case, your website and its perception are crucial to your ROI and conversion rate. If you are unable to create a perception of trust, customers aren't likely to do business with you.

How do you check if your website is trustworthy?

Is your phone number and address shown on the website? If not, it should be.

The exception to this is obviously if you do not have a number or physical address. Some businesses operate solely online, which in this regard, makes it slightly more difficult to create trust.

Users like knowing that there is someone they can contact if they need to. Whether or not they ever plan on doing so, the ability to have that option puts their mind at ease. Especially if it's their first time on your website.

Purchasing online requires sufficient trust to make the final decision. What if there is a problem with their order or the system isn't working? If they don't have someone to contact they are likely going to boycott their purchase and/or kick up a fuss with the brand.

Customers also make decisions based on that of their peer's experiences. If you are amassing negative reviews, this will impact on the number of purchases you receive in the future.

If you do have a physical address like an office. Include it on the contact us page. Add your phone number to each page to ensure that the customer feels reassured no matter the page they're on.

Make it easy for your customers to contact you.

Following on from the last point, if you do have a physical location, include a map.

Having a map on the contact us page reinforces that you are real people in a real office. We include this on our website for the same reason.

Your customers will never pay you a visit unless it's for a specific reason. In that event, they then have directions to where you are located, making it much easier to get in touch.

Googles recent update saw none secure websites flagged as not secure. If there was ever a giant red symbol that said "do not enter information on this page" it would be this.

Google is a well-respected brand. It is highly unlikely that someone is going to ignore this message unless they have been on your website and used your services before.

If you're unsure what this looks like or entails, you can read more about it in our previous article Google's Deadline for Its Final Security Warning.

In order to solve this, you will need to obtain an SSL certificate that protects the encryption to the site. There are multiple ways of doing so:

Depending on where your website is hosted, you may be limited in your decision. If you are struggling to find this information and are looking for assistance, contact us on 01332 477575 and we can help.

When your website is running on Https://, you can rest assured that your customers will see the green padlock in their address bar and immediately feel more confident about their purchasing decisions.

It's important to note that you will see this message regardless of the content on your website. Previously, this message would show if you were taking user information of any kind. However, it will now show regardless.

One of the most common deterrents for users is the appearance of the website. What is the design and layout? Is the user navigation easy to follow or are pages hidden?

Older websites may find that functionality no longer works after Google reCAPTCHA and maps have updated. Previous flash widgets will also no longer work.

If a user lands on your website to find it's core functionality broken, they will leave almost instantly. Not only does this look bad for your business but it also tells them that you aren't concerned about its appearance.

If you aren't concerned about its appearance and functionality, it's highly unlikely that you care about its security.

Not only this, but the general usability of your website has a big impact on perception. If your website is hard to use and navigate then it is not only taking additional time to find what you are looking for, it makes it seem untrustworthy.

Maybe you're making things difficult to find for a reason?

By accurate, I'm referring to the spelling and grammar on the website.

It is not uncommon for illegitimate businesses to use .co.uk / .com domains to host websites for scam purposes and/or to hide their true identities.

The easiest way to notice this is through the grammar and spelling of the content on the website. Is typical grammar missed from sentence structure? If so, it's unlikely that the business is who they say they are.

General spelling mistakes can often be overlooked. In many cases the original publisher missed them. Some sites are also created hastily to make live in which these mistakes are common.

Whilst issues like this don't always point to untrustworthy, it will pain a negative perception of the brand, which is equally worse.

It is recommended that you scan your website and work through every page. Update all inaccurate content to avoid the perceptions mentioned above.

The final point to evaluate is the idea of freshness.

Businesses that have websites for illegitimate reasons will rarely update their web pages. The easiest way to monitor this would be to check their articles section.

Have new articles been published recently?

Alternate method users could take to view the legitimacy is to look at the articles page.

The articles page will likely show whether the website owner/business is regularly updating the website. This is a clear indicator that there are real people behind the website.

They may also opt to check your social media profiles, looking for social widgets to share content. If you are open about your social profiles that immediately invokes trustworthiness.

The reason? If there is a problem, the users have a direct, open channel to contact you. If your website did have an ulterior motive, you would not provide your users with an option to contact you where thousands can view the message.

Use these elements to analyse your website and judge it's trustworthiness. If you're missing some of these then consider updating your website with the relevant information.