Regardless of the nature of your online business, your credibility is open for attack from many different fronts and if it is destroyed your business will be in ruins.
One of the ways to begin protecting your credibility against spurious attacks is in having a good reputation to begin with. Once people have it entrenched in their minds that your business is reputable, it is unlikely that a few attacks online can put a question mark on your site.
One of the best ways to build your online credibility is to get into offline ventures that are fairly simple to implement. Tell people what you are going to do, and do what you tell them. Do not make promises you may not be able to keep.
The road paved with good intentions leads directly to the town of ruin and once people start to doubt your intentions, getting turned around on such a narrow highway can be difficult.
If you promise to deliver a product or service within seven days, eight days is not close enough. Five or six days are better because when you exceed the customer's expectations, there is no reason to question your reputation or credibility.
For some reason if a product is not shipped in time to arrive when promised, take the hit for any extra charge to expedite the process. The additional cost of shipping will be minor compared to the loss of a customer and your reputation.
Your online presence will end up being a representation of you and your company, whether on purpose or by the virtue of your personal blog sites. If you make a mistake, there will be something written somewhere that will detail that mistake.
While the easiest solution is not to make any mistakes, the reality is that mistakes will happen. How you react to the mistake as well as how you handle the criticism, will say a lot about your ability to build an good credibility online.
In the beginning, companies tend to make more mistakes as they go through a learning curve. If you make a mistake and a disgruntled customer makes it known to the internet world the best approach is the (mea culpa) approach. Apologize. A simple "I'm sorry" will not do it. You will have to explain the mistake, how it happened and what steps you have taken to ensure it will not happen again.
You can also include any steps you took to make amends to the customer, without mentioning them by name or ID, to let people know you are serious about being a good online retailer.
In any business you have to stand for something and online businesses can have a far reaching impact through the internet. Understand that not everyone will agree with your stand, regardless of what it is, but they will recognize that you are willing to stake your reputation on that subject.
You may not earn their loyalty or their business, but earning their respect can go a long way in building good credibility online.
Godfrey Thaxter is a Marketing Consultant who provides
articles, tips and resources to help new online marketers
get started right with their internet home business.
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