Various studies have been conducted to find out just what influences people’s perception of a website’s credibility:

• Stanford-Makovsy Web Credibility Study 2002: Investigating What Makes Web Sites Credible Today
• What Makes A Web Site Credible? A Report on a Large Quantitative Study
• The Elements of Computer Credibility
• Elements that Affect Web Credibility: Early Results from a Self-Report Study (Proceedings of ACM CHI 2000 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, v.2, New York: ACM Press)

We don’t know if Fever app is any good, but the sleek user interface and website make a great first impression.

One interesting finding of these studies is that users really do judge a book by its cover… or rather, a website by its design. Elements such as layout, consistency, typography, color and style all affect how users perceive your website and what kind of image you project. Your website should project not only a good image but also the right one for your audience.

Other factors that influence credibility are: the quality of the website’s content, amount of errors, rate of updates, ease of use and trustworthiness of authors.

1. SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITES

The Website is the new store front. It’s vital for a small business websites to make a powerful and lasting first impression. If you drive up to a store and it looks run-down and broken, are you going to feel good about going inside?

WE OFFER PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGN SERVICES

Our designs are always professional and attractive. You don’t want to build a web site that makes your company look cheap or insignificant. You want to please your clients, not frustrate them. Our web sites are pure pleasure to surf, informative, and we always make it easy to find what most people are looking for.

2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

How many of you prefer to use Google over the Yellow Pages.

The American Dialect Society has just recently named “Google” the word of the decade. The previous decade’s word was “web”. Did you notice the trend?

Social Media Optimization is another service that we are starting to get a lot of requests for. A recent survey of online retailers found that 86% of businesses already have a Facebook Fan Page, and 99% of businesses plan to get one this year.

It’s an immediate priority. We can help you with that.

3. STRATEGIC BRANDING AND CORPORATE IDENTITY

If you want your business to be attractive you’ve got to look sharp! Most companies understand that it’s important to promote your brand. ITS been proven to be effective countless times. Our most successful clients get a world class logo to go with their new web site

How to refer business to us:

Now giving us referrals is very easy. All you have to do is find someone who wants to be more successful in business. Any business owner who wants a raise is a good candidate. People who are truly serious about succeeding in business will have a polished and professional image online and in all their marketing.

If you meet someone who has an unprofessional email address (like hotmail or Verizon or Comcast) on their business cards, that is a serious problem. It’s likely they don’t have a website, or if they do, they are very ashamed of it. Send them to us and we will help them to grow.

1. Logo
2. Typography
3. Colors
4. Brand
5. Quality
6. Community
   
7. Culture
   

7 Ingredients Of Good Corporate Design.

Here’s how:

1.You’ll want to adjust your “notifications”, that way you won’t get an email notification each time something happens on facebook. That gets annoying and will control your inbox if you don’t change it. Then, bookmark facebook in your browser, so you can quickly go to it whenever YOU want.

2. You’ll also want to control your “privacy settings” to limit who can see you, talk to you, see pictures of you, etc… I limit everything to “Only Friends” so only people who you’ve accepted as Facebook friends can see your wall/status/etc…

If you want to know how to do this and more, here’s a good guide:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

If you just want the quick links:

• search privacy settings page
• Profile Privacy page.
• Photos Privacy page
• News Feed and Wall Privacy page

Oh, and by the way, NEVER accept someone as a friend that you don’t really know!

Become a Fan of WorldLight Media

By: Sprigley Allan, SDSU ‘11
Morality and ethics in business can be an interesting discussion. You should not overlook the clear connections between entrepreneurial character traits and their related moral virtues. A student interested in entrepreneurship is taught both, the practical traits of business success as well as the ethics and moral virtues they should stand for. Although most conventional wisdom suggests teaching these two topics as separate ideas, not all agree. According to The Journal of Private Enterprise these topics should not only be taught together but that they are mutually supporting. The following table itemizes both the necessary traits of a successful entrepreneur and the corresponding moral virtues.

Together the left and right side of the above chart constitutes an entrepreneurial code for business ethics. According to The Journal of Private Enterprise, the list of virtues listed above is both very Aristotelian (Aristotle, 1984; see Aristotle’s discussions of courage in Book III, pride as the “crown” of the virtues, truthfulness, and liberality with respect to money in Book IV, justice in Book V, and phronesis or practical wisdom in Book VI of Nicomachean Ethics) and very Objectivist (Rand, 1964).

This conjunction of entrepreneurial traits and moral virtues shows the fallacy in believing that success according to business criteria and success according to ethical criteria can not be one in the same. Whether entrepreneurs are developing their business plans, dealing with investors, employees, competitors or customers it is imperative that they have a strong foundation in ethical business practices.

Ethics are a classic example of something that rests on a slippery slope. When an aspiring entrepreneur breaks any of these moral virtues or is deceitful in their business practice, the bottom line of their business ultimately reflects this. To assure the respect of their employees, investors and customers an entrepreneur must follow an entrepreneurial code for business ethics. What will you create?

By Dan Weil • Bankrate.com

The explosion of the Internet over the last 15 years makes a strong Web site essential for almost any small business to attain success, experts say.

“If you’re a small business that doesn’t have a Web site, I would say today is the day to get started,” says Adeo Ressi, co-founder of TheFunded.com, an online community for entrepreneurs.

“If you’re doing anything innovative — from a family doctor to something bigger — you would gain more benefits from it than if you’re running a drycleaner or something like that,” he says. “But people are using the Internet more and more even to find things like their local drycleaner. So the benefits are there for any business.”

The rewards of a Web site extend to nearly every element of running a business. “We haven’t yet created a list of comprehensive business functions that says here’s what you can do better online,” says Adrienne Becker, chief executive of Ideastox, a Web site where people can exchange business ideas. “That’s happening every day — on both sides of the (profit and loss) statement.”

Marketing advantage

The most obvious area where the Internet enhances your business is marketing, she says. “You can send a single message to millions of people without additional cost. It’s an economy of scale.”An Internet presence provides a stamp of legitimacy. “A well executed Web site can cover up that you’re just one dude (trying to start up a company),” says Lawrence Gelburd, an entrepreneur, who also teaches at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

“It’s speaks to the aggregate,” he notes. “That’s a fantastic way to hook up with them. Instead of starting an e-mail list from scratch, you can work with a company that has lists of clients’ e-mail addresses. They may not be willing to share or sell the list, but they may be willing to do e-mail blasts. You’ll have a Web site and can say to an investor, customer or supplier that you have e-mail blasts going out to 30,000 people per month.”

A Web site also serves as a high-technology version of a business card. “It’s often the first form of introduction that you have to people,” says Robert Bertsch, a founder of RaiseCapital.com, an Internet site that matches small businesses and investors.

“For investors using our site, if a business they’re interested in has a Web site, that’s the first place they go. For a startup or an existing business, a Web site is a way to communicate at a broad level to everyone. It lets them know who you are and where you are.”

The Internet also gives your business a permanence that is unavailable through other means. “When you have a Web site, you can put the address on all your business cards, pamphlets, billboards etc.,” Gelburd says. “Since you own the domain and Web site name, you don’t have to ditch it even if you move or change your name. It’s an electronic version of a catalogue that you can send to just those whom you want, and any typographical errors are a lot easier to change.”

Before setting up your firm’s Web presence, Becker advises that you dissect every element of the business to figure out how it can work online. “It’s a lot more than marketing,” she says. “There’s customer service, account management. It just depends on the nature of your business.”

Advantages of outsourcing

Experts recommend that you seek professional assistance in constructing the Web site. “You can set up your own site, but it will require fairly technical understanding,” says Ressi of TheFunded.com. “There are no flick-a-switch solutions.”

Ideastox’s Becker puts it like this: “As a senior manager of your business, to learn about a wheel that is already rolling down the hill is not the best use of your time.”

Bertsch points out that if you want to start small, you can begin with a one-page Web site. “That can be done in 15 minutes at a very low cost, as cheap as $100,” he says. “There are plenty of freelancers doing this. If you go to CraigsList, you can find people and check to see if others like their services.”

If you want something a bit more extensive, “for starting level businesses there are sites like elance.com and 99designs.com where you can get everything you need, sometimes for less than $2,000, sometimes even for less than $500,” Ressi says.

Of course you will want technology support in case your Web site ever encounters problems. “For an extraordinarily low cost — as little as $10 a month — you can find a variety of providers that will carry the expense of 24-hour backup so your Web site doesn’t go down,” Gelburd says. Often it will be the same company that sets up your Web site. Ressi uses GoDaddy.com for his site’s Web maintenance.

An important point to keep in mind during this process: “If you do use a third party to build out your site, you want to get the schematics and codes from them, because if they go out of business, bringing someone in to figure it all out will be extremely difficult,” Bertsch says.

Six keys for success

Ressi has several recommendations for the actual structure of your Web site. In general, “You don’t need anything flashy or special, it just needs to be very clean and clear,” he says.1. Skip the flash: “You should have a simple home page that clearly explains what you do. That’s probably the most important thing.” Some companies make the mistake of adding too many bells and whistles to the home page, Ressi says. “The problem with overloading the page is that visitors don’t know what you do.”

2. Detail your product: He says a page or series of pages should give a comprehensive explanation of your product. “The one thing that drives us crazy is that in some cases people don’t do that,” Ressi explains. “I recently went to a Web site to inquire about hosting an event. They gave the price but not the capacity of their space. It could have said they hold up to 50 people.”

3. List prices: Often prices aren’t listed on Web sites. Many businesses assume that by concealing information they will force potential customers to get in touch with them. “But in the modern world, the reverse is true,” Ressi says. “Instead, people will contact businesses that do give them the information.”

4. Talk about yourself: Providing background about your management team also is crucial. “If I’m going to do business with this firm, I want to know who’s running it,” Ressi says. “A four to five sentence outline is fine, but it’s critical to show who’s running the company.”

5. Give your contact information: He also suggests a thorough “contact us” page. “These pages generally have an e-mail address, a physical address and phone number,” Ressi says. “But few have simple Web forms to allow people to send e-mails back right on the site. Generally, readers are more comfortable filling out an online form than picking up the phone or sending a separate e-mail. When we didn’t have that form on our site, top CEOs from around the world asked why not.”

6. Use blogs: Putting a blog on your Web site also can prove beneficial. “If you are trying to innovate in your category, then you should have a blog and talk about the innovations you are trying,” Ressi says. “People will read it, learn what you’re doing, and then you have real shot in acquiring customers. Blogs are viral, especially if you link to other blogs.”

What business doesn’t need a Web presence? “I can’t think of any,” says Becker of Ideastox. “More and more people are relying on the Internet for their consumption needs. If you don’t have a presence there, you will almost certainly miss out on business — whether you’re a physician, an auto repair shop or a gardener.”

1. Delegate More
2. Become a Better Judge of People
3. Communicate Well With Your Board
4. Get Better at Picking Winning Ideas
5. Develop a Sense of Humor
6. Just Be More Patient

Wow, Inc., groundbreaking stuff here.

Well, the purpose of this post wasn’t really to criticize, but rather to illustrate that it’s not really what you do, but who you are that makes you successful. Something I’ve been realizing from reading several blogs, books, articles and web sites about business leadership is that everything that is being taught comes straight from the Bible. If we just focus on being who we were made to be, we’ll achieve whatever success we can handle. It’s that simple.

6 Ways to Be a Better CEO | Inc.com.

Here is an overview of some considerations when first sitting down to design a web site. I would tend to agree, however I would out Audience at number 1.

1) Layout

A great example: YouLove.us

2) Navigation

A great example: Alex Buga

3) Usability

A great example: Tutorial 9

4) Audience

A great example: Bell Hospital

5) Colors

A great example: Icon Dock

6) Browser Compatibility

A great example: My Ink Blog

Visit Source.

• Apr 7-8, Mesh Conference, Toronto, Canada
• Apr 15-17, The Next Web, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Apr 20-24, www2009, Madrid, Spain
• Apr 30, Future of Web Design, London, UK
• May 4-5, An Event Apart, Seattle, Washington, USA
• May 19-21, Where 2.0, San Jose, California, USA
• May 20-22, WebVisions, Portland, Oregon, USA
• Jun 23, Fuel 2009, London, UK
• Jun 22-23, An Event Apart, Boston, USA
• Aug 25-27, UX Australia 2009, Canberra, Australia
• Sep 2-4, ZA-WWW, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
• Oct 8-11, UX Challenge, Longyearbyen, Norway
• Oct 6-9, Web Directions South, Sydney, Australia
• Oct 12-13, An Event Apart, Chicago, USA
• Oct 25-29, ISWC 2009, Washington DC, USA
• Nov, Edge of the Web, Perth, Australia
• Dec 7-8, An Event Apart, San Francisco, USA
• Dec 9-10, LeWeb09, Paris, France