Can You Trust That Site ?

Knowing which sites are trustworthy is very
important to anyone who works online. After
a while you begin to develop some touchstones
to apply when deciding whether a site is legitimate
and worthy of your trust.

I have had very few problems with purchases made
online, but it can happen to you and me both.

Here are five things to look for in a site:

1) VIRTUAL DOMAIN NAME-- Does the site have
a virtual Domain name like this ?

http://www.goodbusiness.com

Or is it based at a free host address like this?

http://www.angelhair.com/9985409/?cgi/interpol/geodcities.com/xppd.gsr/

Well, I don't know where your thinking is, but I am definitely
going with the identifiable virtual address here as an indicator
that they are legitimate.

They at least thought enough about their business to invest
a few dollars in a name.

2) TESTIMONIALS-- Are there any good testimonials of others who
have done business with them ? Can they be contacted ?

If there are, chances are you are on the right track to
having a good experience with them yourself.

Beware, however, of made up testimonials that cannot
be verified.

3) HOW LONG ONLINE-- How long has the site been online ?
This may take a little researching on your part, but it may
well be worth it to know how long this business has been
making it's offer for products, software and/or services.

An easy way to verify how long the domain name has been
registered is simply to a search at:

http://www.allwhois.com/

You will find lots of information including who owns the domain name,
their address, who hosts the domain name, and when it was registered.

It can give you some useful information about the genuine
nature of the site.

4) CONTACT INFORMATION-- Can you contact the webmaster
either by phone, fax and /or email.

Personally, I like dealing with those that give you all of
the above information. There is something comforting to me
that I can call or e-mail the site manager if something goes
wrong with my purchase.

5) CREDENTIALS-- There are several "credentialing" sites
online. There intention is to offer some validity to the site
by tracking complaints from former users.

If the site does offer such a service, by all means check
out what others have said about their experience with the
business.

A note: Not all legitimate businesses offer such a "seal of
approval". I assume because there is usually a cost involved,
or they just don't feel that they need it.

While this article is not all-inclusive, it is intended to give
you a "heads-up" when surfing to unknown areas of the
internet and experiencing dealing with new sites that
you discover.

Larry Johnson, author

(You are free to reprint this article or display it on your
site by including the resource box below)

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