I first saw Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab on Grokdotcom’s “Stanford’s 10 Guidelines for Increased Web Credibillity” by Jeff Sexton where they have a 65 slide show, which is definitely worth watching but it is kind of long so I included the short list here:

Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of your information.
2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
5. Make it easy to contact you.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
7. Make your site easy to use — and useful.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
9. Use restraint with any promotional content e.g, ads, offers).
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

These guidelines are based on three years of research involving more than 4,500 people. Want to read the additional comments and supporting research on each guideline?

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