Bet you didn’t know that Stanford University did a bunch of research into the question of what makes a Web site credible. You do now. Three years of study, incorporating about 4,500 people. Here’s the link to more info, including 10 guidelines for building the credibility of your site.

The good news is that what makes a site credible pretty much boils down to common sense: “Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem” and “Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site” seem to go without saying. The bad news: Some of the research is six years old, an eternity in online terms.

Still, common sense is timeless, isn’t it? One hopes … even if it’s not always all that common.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 4th, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Internet Stuff.