• Who do you do business with?
  
  
• Do they have a website?
  
  
• Are they someone that you would recommend?
  
  
• Would they be willing to exchange website links with you?
  
  

People are continually seeking information, and when they arrive on your site they are looking for information about you, your company, organization or ministry. Why should they trust your website over others on the web and purchase products from you? Because of your trustworthy business acquaintances, and online relationships that you link with. These links would be visible on the resources page and easily accessible from the home page. Your online integrity shows, in whom you identify with. Recommended links & resources create confidence in your online visitors.

The resource or links page can be crucial in gaining immediate trust from your website visitors. This page would include businesses, organizations, ministry connections, affiliates and people you would highly recommend for their field of expertise. In order for you to be considered a backscratcher, these websites would also need to put a link back to your site on theirs. A very easy way to obtain a link back is to send a simple email letting them know you have placed a link to their site on yours and would they mind putting a link back to you on their site. A good rule of thumb is to check their website in 10 days or so to see if your link is listed on their site.

Checking the links listed on your resources page from time to time is a very good idea. Often if someone is on your site and he or she finds more than 2 dead links; they will most likely click off your site without a second thought. These dead links give the appearance that the site is not well maintained and therefore your credibility is slowly on a decline from their perspective.

Of course there are several other essentials that should be included on your website to increase integrity and credibility as well. Some of these are:

• Site map- is a list of all pages on your site. No frills on this page, just straight text. This is great for quick reference when viewers only have a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the site. Search engines can easily scan this page as well for better indexed listings and rankings.
  
  
• Bookmark page- this helps the visitor put your website link in their favorites for future visits and a quick reference.
  
  
• Contact page- this page should have as much contact information as possible; a cell phone number, pager number, mailing address, fax number, etc. When applicable provide a map to your ministry, organization or place of business.
  
  
• Privacy policy- this gives the website visitor some insurance that you keep their information in the strictest of confidence.