How to Tell If a Website is Legitimate

Visual Cues Can Help You Determine How Much You Can Trust a Website

M.
Sometimes with all the web pages on the internet it can be hard to determine if a site is in fact legitimate. While not always hard and fast, there are some clues that can help you tell whether a site is respectable or not. Here are some things to consider while you are surfing the web.

The site should have decent design that flows well visually throughout the page. Some webmasters tend to throw up a page that almost seems similar to a school project and expect the sites' visitors to take it seriously. While sometimes this may be the case due to lack of web programming knowledge, any business or entity worth its weight will take the time to make sure that their web site is well constructed from a visual point of view. Broken links, missing images and error messages that seems to stay on the page for any prolonged amount of time are also seemingly unprofessional. The website should be visually appealing and easy to navigate. An overabundance of advertising can also signal that the owner of the website is more interested in monetary gain than the actual relevant content of the site. Many internet users would agree that too much advertising is a turnoff and most web site owners should know this. Anyone who keeps this many advertisements on a site may very well just not care. They might just be in it for those occasional clicks on their advertising which gain the owner a few cents.

If a site is offering services or goods for sale, the sites' shopping cart area should match the overall design of the main page. Transactions should be concise and easy to manage. Various forms of payment should be accepted and it is nice if a site is affiliated with any 'safe shopping' sites or has awards for excellence in business. These things are usually listed at the side or bottom of the web page. For a business site, you will want to confirm that all the necessary information about the business is included in the site like postal mailing address, phone numbers and email contact along with some sort of customer support. Questions regarding products should be handled promptly and accurately in a friendly manner.

Spelling and grammar on the site should also be accurate and textual information should be easy to read and understand.

These are a few basic tips to get you started, happy surfing!

Published by M.

Married mother of three living in Wasilla, Alaska.   View profile

28 Comments

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  • blanx 3/11/2011

    is this website legitimate???http://acryfromthewilderness.net/tJHwt25pDuPxC0O1l3DYBuXQExnQCLa0z2m5Bvf4CxnYmvj6BeyYyvjwCZ0.6b641

  • Yes! 11/27/2010

    I could hardly read the information due to all the adds moving around on the screen. I'll be searching for this answer in another place. It's good advice I guess even if its about the page your currently reading.

  • Think before you write 4/5/2010

    its funny how this article is talking about to much advertising is a turn off and they have lots of advertising everywhere around this site.

  • patm 3/15/2010

    does anyone know it trailerhitchhelper.com is a legitimate site

  • h 3/14/2010

    "Many internet users would agree that too much advertising is a turnoff and most web site owners should know this. Anyone who keeps this many advertisements on a site may very well just not care. They might just be in it for those occasional clicks on their advertising which gain the owner a few cents."

    And then this article is engulfed in ads lol

  • Bma 2/26/2010

    does anyone know if see tickets is legitimate ?

  • DAVID LONG 2/26/2010

    IS BESTCDDVD.COM LEGITIMATE? THIS IS AN ONLINE SHOP THAT LOOKS OK BUT I DON'T KNOW ?

  • Steve 2/6/2010

    Is Nobody beats the WIZ a good retailer

  • Jan 1/22/2010

    Can anyone tell me if the www.psedata.com is a good source to start working from home, is it legtimate, or someone has any experience with this website?
    Thank You

  • Sam: 1/10/2010

    hi, can anyone tell me if this website: http://www.electonlinesdhbhd.com is a legitimate online business because im gonna buy a camera from that site. i was just thinking if this is a spam because the price for slr camera is very cheap than usual. thanks

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