Wikipedia’s definition of credibility is “the believability of a source or message and is composed of of two primary dimensions: trustworthiness and expertise.”

How do you enhance your trustworthiness and expertise, your credibility?

In order to meet prospective clients, I attend networking events. Those meetings may be the only face time I have with a prospect before we decide to do business together. Sure, it helps if I am nice, friendly, and well-dressed. But what happens when the prospect returns to their office and pulls out my card? If they are serious about doing business with me, or perhaps even if they are just curious, they will pull up my website before picking up the phone or sending me an email. I am not selling anything online – no custom made t-shirts or books here – so why visit my site?

Visiting a service-based site is a way to determine whether or not the business is one you want to work with. If you’ve just met someone at a networking event, they may look presentable and are well spoken, but what happens if you return to your office, pull up their card and realize their website is poorly written, slow to load and disorganized? What if they don’t have a website and they have an old fashioned aol.com email address?

What do you think of them now?

Now imagine you’ve just met someone at a networking event who was well presented with interesting things to say. You return to your office, pull their business card out of your wallet, and type in their site’s URL. You instantly view a clean, easy to navigate, and attractive website. What a wonderful follow-up to the impressive in-person meeting you’ve just had! In your mind, that person’s business is a credible one. And credibility leads to trust, which is one of the pillars of persuasion.

Credibility web sites are the most common type of web site for service-based businesses. I wouldn’t have thought this when I started my business, but I have come to realize that they are also the least understood type of web site.

The internet actually makes it easier for you to make your business visible to your customers, potential customers and the public. It is important for you to ask yourself, “What do I want this visibility to do for my business?” Think, for a moment, about what you are trying to express about your business on your web site.

You can use the internet to:

• Find new customers

• Pitch your service

• Position you and your company as a resource or expert on a specific topic

• Establish your credibility

Credibility helps you demonstrate your capabilities to potential clients; clients can become repeat clients and can generate referrals to help your business grow.