EP 053: In the first episode of this 6 part series on the 6 Principles of Influence in Website Design we discussed Reciprocity and the benefits of giving away as much free content as possible on your website as it subconsciously influences people to give back to you.
On this episode we are going to discuss the 2nd principle of influence, which is: Authority
Just to give people a bit of a backstory as to why I believe I’m the Authority on this topic is because we have designed hundreds of websites over the past few years for some high level marketers and their clients in all types of industries, not just for internet marketers, and we have been observing what works in website design. What I have realised is that the websites that get the best results are those that subconsciously use the power of psychology in the design to influence people to take action.
So just to recap here is list the 6 Principles of Influence in Website Design that we are covering in this series… (one topic per episode.)
What is Authority?
The definition of Authority is: the power to determine, or otherwise settle issues or disputes. It is also an accepted source of information or advice from an expert on a subject.
Metaphor:
Think of Authority like a chair: It needs legs to stand up. When authority does not have support it becomes useless.
So the goal with your website is to build authority through support elements so that visitors see you as the credible source for information, which will inevitably mean that you will be trusted more.
People trust credible, knowledgeable experts. Think about people in the offline world that you would automatically trust just because of their position of Authority, like a doctor, pilot, police, judge etc. and that’s mainly just from the fact that they are seen as an Authority by society as a rule.
We have many ways to build authority on your website which we will share….
Let us know what you thought about this episode. What did you learn or how are you using ‘Authority‘ on your website.
If you want to see some case studies of how Greg and his team get amazing results for their clients, click on this link.