WebProNews

A Breakdown Of Trust In Advertising

One of the core messages in my book Radically Transparent came courtesy of Edelman data which demonstrated that consumers overwhelmingly trusted recommendations from "a person like yourself." Two years after that data was released, new numbers from Nielsen suggest that trust in others has increased dramatically. In fact, 90% of consumers now trust recommendations from people they know.

Online Opinions One of Most Trusted Forms of Advertising

Nielsen released some interesting findings from a study (pdf) on consumer trust and advertising. The most important takeaway is that consumer opinions posted online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally. Right off the bat, this tells me that:

Do Your Customers Trust You?

There is an interview on Open Forum in which Seth Godin interviews Richard Branson. The question is: Why is small business is better than big business? Branson explains how he structures Virgin so that it is a series of small companies. People know each other by first name. People need to know each others strengths and weakness, and collaborate, and be responsible for the work they do. Branson believes this open small company results in a better service to clients.

Are Brands Really the Solution to the Internet "Cesspool?"

In 2008, Eric Schmidt called the Internet a cesspool and said that brands were the way to sort it out. Popular blogger Michael Gray aka Graywolf says that big brand media sites are "the real cesspool of the Internet."

Mahalo Employs Botnet Criminal

An employee in Mahalo's IT department, John Schiefer, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for launching a botnet attack. He was charged and agreed to plead guilty back in 2007. In the meantime, he got a job at Mahalo and has been working there up to his sentencing.

Do Your Customers Trust You?

Making a purchase online, especially a substantial one, can be a nerve-wracking process for a consumer. The primary problem, aside from price, is trust. Shoppers negotiate their relationship with the vendor in much the same way they negotiate relationships with any stranger: by seeking information. What an online vendor lacks (and what becomes a disadvantage) is one-on-one interaction with the customer. As such, the customer must put forth additional effort to find out about a product for sale. Making this task easier can make all the difference in closing a sale.

People Don't Trust Your Blog

Forrester Research has released a report (you must fill out a form to get it) that details how much people trust different information sources. At the top of the list is email from people they know. At the bottom are company blogs. This is precisely why company blogs should be treated more like emails to friends.

Sex, Lies, And Wikipedia

Before we get into this (and this is a guiltily delicious journey you may or may not decide to take), please consider what level of perfection you expect your Web icons—even the ones who refer to themselves as "spiritual leader"—to be on. While you're doing that, pretend he's not a Web icon, and decide what is forgivable in a regular (mortal) man.

Spam Taking Advantage of Trust

I am going to go on record offering you this powerful life-changing advice that will be the most valuable information you ever consumed. Sound familiar? If you pay attention to spam you can view the trends and see where it is going before it even goes there. One of the big trends that is rarely talked about is how hard spammers hunt hard to find credible sounding words. In spite of being on the do not call list, every day I get a call from the message center, the card center, the consumer center, or the national consumer protection foundation, etc.

Trust and Authority in Google's Algorithm

If you’ve ever been to search engine conference and attended a site review session chances are you’ve heard panelists mention duplicate content penalties and filters. For “normal” people these problems are real, however with Google a double standard exists for trusted authority websites.   Case and point the SERP for [Green Real Estate] screen shot below: