The Center for the Digital Future today released its results for the fifth year of their project, "Surveying the Digital Future" - http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/Center-for-the-Digital-Future-2005-Highlights.pdf . And what interesting results they are! More people are using the Internet for more things, more often, but even though it's their most important source of information, they don't trust much of what they read. The big question for every commercial website owner is, "Do they trust YOU?"

This article discusses the Center's findings, and provides some key information about how to make sure your site is one of the trusted ones.

The Statistics

78.6% of Americans use the Internet, and most of them would rather give up TV or their cell phone than their Internet. What's more, it's the most important source of information for more than half of users. But there's a catch. Internet users are now older (with consistent growth among older users) and wiser (the average user has been online for more than 5 years). So for the fourth year running, the number of people who trust only about half of what they read on the Internet is growing. Importantly, however, they DO trust their favorite websites... In fact, 81.3% of users believe the information they read on the sites they regularly visit.

In plain English, this means that if you can keep your visitors coming back, they'll trust what you tell them. And with credibility under your belt, selling is SIGNIFICANTLY easier, no matter what your product or service.

So the real question for online businesses is, "How do I keep 'em coming back?" And the answer is... QUALITY article PR and QUALITY content.

Quality article PR brings visitors to your site

Write helpful, informative articles and let other webmasters publish them for free, in return for a link to your website. It's that simple! Quality article PR increases your search engine ranking and visitor traffic by increasing your link popularity (see 'How to Top Google with Article PR' - http://www.articlepr.com/SEO_Article_Submission.shtml). Just as importantly, it gives you a lot of qualified referral traffic - visitors who are already loyal because you've given them something for nothing. Because your article is published on numerous (tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands) of sites, people from all around the world read it. If they like what they read, they click on your link in the author bio at the bottom of the article, and voila!, you have a visitor who's already impressed.

Quality content keeps 'em coming back

Of course, bringing in visitors is one thing; turning them into repeat visitors is another thing completely. To keep your visitors coming back, the content on your site needs to be great. And by "great", I mean helpful, informative, unique, and well written. Generally speaking, people won't come back just because you have something to sell them. But they will come back if you have something to TELL them. By providing helpful information to your readers - information that isn't so accessible anywhere else on the Net - you're on the path to turning a visitor into a customer. (Don't forget, this is the underlying premise of newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV.)

Quality is the key!

The most important thing to remember - whether you're writing articles or web content - is that it absolutely, positively has to be high quality. Quality, quality, QUALITY! I can't stress that enough. It's the quality - not the quantity - of your articles and content that really turns heads. Yes, it's true that content is king. Yes, your web content can lead to a high ranking, but only if it's good. Only then will other sites link to yours. And yes, article PR can give you a high ranking, but only if it's good. Only then will other webmasters believe it will help their visitors and decide to publish it (giving you the link in the author bio).

In other words, content may be king, but there's content and there's CONTENT. Contrary to popular belief, content will only significantly contribute to a high search engine ranking if it's high quality. Likewise, content will only turn visitors into customers if it's high quality. So to bring visitors to your website and to keep them coming back, to make your website one the trusted ones, make sure you write articles and web content which is helpful, informative, unique, and well written.

Happy writing!