10 Ways to Ruin Credibility and Lose Trust

I’ve always liked top 10 lists and i know many others do as well… not the ones solely created for link bait though! But if done with good intentions, like the list below, they can be very valuable!

Today I noticed a few good examples of people who will never be successful online until they realize that what they’re doing is not helping anyone. I’ve added them as well as several others I’ve seen over the years… here they are:

1. Act like someone you’re not! This is something many people do without realizing it. Don’t get on social sites etc. acting like you’re some big successful business man if you’re not! Just be a nice, helpful person and HELP PEOPLE! That’s what’s important! I guess many people speak and act like the person/people they want to eventually be like. BE YOURSELF! There are many people more successful than I am, but I’m Josh Spaulding damnit… they can never be me and I can never be them… I am perfectly fine with that and you should be too! Be yourself because fake people are easy to detect!

2. Promote a product, whether it’s your own or someone elses, that promises to increase blog comments (for example) when the blog you’re using to promote it has a total of 5 or 10 comments. That’s one example, but you get the point. Today I followed some guy on Twitter and he had an auto DM sent out to new followers promoting a Twitter Ebook about getting “Thousands” of twitter followers. This guy had 300 followers… come on guy, you might as well say “I have no credibility, why are you even following me?”

3. Make a claim with absolutely no proof or means of backing it up! This happens ALL the TIME! Just login to any of the more popular Internet Marketing Forums (excluding my Internet Marketing Forum) and you’ll see thousands and thousands of “THIS is how you do it” with absolutely no proof, other than “My guru said so!” Give me a break… be your own guru and find out for yourself by DOING it and you’ll start making money and building trust!

4. Create a website with no Contact, About or Privacy pages. This is one many people just forget about. I’m guilty of it from time to time as well, but it’s important. I believe search engines look at this, although that’s just an educated guess and many people, especially on an e-commerce site look for little things like that when deciding whether or not to make a purchase or enter personal details.

5. Publicly “Rant” about everything that you don’t like! It’s one thing to clarify a myth or clear confusion, but to just moan and complain about people and things you don’t like just annoys most people. Be positive, people LIKE POSITIVE THINKING! I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this one from time to time as well, but I do make a conscious effort to hold back and I only rant on rare occasions these days.

6. Take refunds and/or constructive criticism personally. You simply can’t take things like that personally in this business. It doesn’t matter how good your product, blog, Website etc. is, you’re going to have people who don’t like it and some people who just legitimately don’t need the info… there’s nothing wrong with that! It doesn’t mean you’re bad or producing bad content, although that could certainly be the case as well. You’re not always right either. There will be times you KNOW you’re right and those who argue have no proof, just let them know that you would be happy to accept their logic if they can simply provide proof… then move on.

7. Promote products without actually reading/using them! Obviously this isn’t important for affiliates sites and other sites that aren’t meant to be authoritative (there are many different business models out there.) But if you’re in a niche where you’re trying to build authority and trust, you must be honest with your recommendations! If you’re recommending products people who follow you will know when you’re being honest or not! Whether you realize it or not, people can tell if you really did read/use this product or not! Be honest… there are very few products out there with NO flaws! Your reviews should reflect that.

8. Present your content in an unprofessional “ugly” way. I know many people disagree with me on this and that’s OK This is something I’ve realized after years of testing. Obviously this isn’t always the case, but in many cases, especially for first time visitors, a site that is professionally designed will gain you more trust and credibility than one that is not!

9. Do audio and/or video when you’re a horrible speaker. If you notice, I don’t do audio or video. The reason being, I’m a HORRIBLE speaker… I’m much better off typing Video can be a very effective marketing tool, but it goes both ways! It can also ruin, or at least hurt, your credibility. Not long after I launched Article Marketing Domination I decided to split test the sales page with a video I personally did. The results were horrible! The video KILLED conversions because I should have never done it myself. If I had a talented speaker do it there’s no doubt in my mind conversions would have increased rather than decrease.

10. Fill your site full of ads. Something many people seem to believe when creating their first website is that the more ads they have the more money they’ll make. That’s simply not true and in many cases not only will you see lower conversions, you’ll see less and less visitor retention (people won’t come back.)

There you go… do you have one to add? Let me know what you see others do… things that you believe ruin credibility and cause that person to lose trust in the comment field below… there may be a X ways to build trust coming up in the near future.

photo credit: JJZ

Related Articles by Categories