Expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness are the three pillars for SEO, but what makes a website trustworthy? Think of Tom Hanks and how people innately trust him. Applying some of those traits -- respect, authenticity, consistency -- to your website go along way to making customers trust you.

1. You Are
What You
E-A-T

2. Nykea Behiel
Director of Marketing, Rock & Bloom

3. Marketing
Campaigns
Brand
Identity
brand identity creation,
brand refresh, key
messaging, company and
product naming, websites,
collateral, video
marketing strategy,
campaign planning,
research and analysis,
persona work

4. Expertise - Your content must reflect that you are an expert in your field
of business.
Authoritativeness - Google pays much attention to the quality of a
page’s content and what its users are saying about it.
Trustworthiness - Google puts high stakes on the trustworthiness of a
website.
The Three Pillars of SEO
You Rank What You E-A-T

5. Expertise - Your content must reflect that you are an expert in your field
of business.
Authoritativeness - Google pays much attention to the quality of a
page’s content and what its users are saying about it.
Trustworthiness - Google puts high stakes on the trustworthiness of a
website.
The Three Pillars of SEO
You Rank What You E-A-T

6. The Three Pillars of SEO
You Rank What You E-A-T
Expertise
Authoritativeness
Trustworthiness

7. Who do people trust?

9. What Makes a Website Trustworthy?
What Makes a Person Trustworthy?
What makes a person trustworthy?
1. Respectful
2. Consistent
3. Caring
4. Grateful
5. Positive
6. Authentic
7. Available
8. Honest
9. Compassionate
10. Kind
What makes a website trustworthy?
1. Respectful
2. Consistent
3. Caring
4. Grateful
5. Positive
6. Authentic
7. Available
8. Honest
9. Compassionate
10. Kind

10. The top metric measuring trustworthiness
is user engagement

11. How Brands Can Increase Trustworthiness
Be Like Tom Hanks
1. Content
2. About us page
3. Credibility and PR
4. Social proof
5. Meet expectations
6. Implement SSL
7. Be consistent
8. Be authentic
9. Have a site that’s easy to navigate
10. Be active and engaged on social media

12. How Brands Can Increase Trustworthiness
● Content!
1

13. How Brands Can Increase Trustworthiness
Content That Speaks Their Language
Content
○ Emphasize your unique selling proposition (USP)
○ Make your copy customer centric
○ Tell stories that matter and resonate
○ Know your audience
○ Make sure it’s accurate and up to date

14. USP &
Differentiation

15. Unless you can pinpoint what makes your business unique in a world
of homogeneous competitors, you cannot target your sales efforts. A
business can peg its USP on one of the Four Ps of marketing: product
characteristics, price structure, placement strategy (location and
distribution) or promotional strategy.
Unique Selling Proposition
The Fundamentals of Brand Storytelling

16. Unique Selling Proposition
Standing Out
We’re number two.
We try harder

17. Unique Selling Proposition
Standing Out
Melts in your mouth,
not in your hand.

18. Unique Selling Proposition
Standing Out
You get fresh, hot pizza
delivered to your door in 30
minutes or less or it's free.

20. Be Known For Something

21. Customer Centric
Copy

22. ● Use language that lets people be part of your story
Customer Centric Copy
Talking to Your Customers
More Less
You, your, yours I, us, my, me, we, our,
mine
Common
I.e. use
Complicated
I.e utilizes
Casual Jargon
Positive Negative

23. Tell Stories that Matter

24. What are some of your stories?
Origin Story
Nutcracker Story
Everest Story
Batman Story
Story Arc
Stories That Resonate

25. Telling Your Story
Hook Problem Resolution CTA

26. Up To Date
And Accurate

27. ● Name
● Address
● Contact info
● Hours of operations
● Statistics
● Social links
● Blogs and info
Up to Date and Accurate
Creating Trust in Your Content

28. Who is Your
Audience?

29. Customer Personas
The Fundamentals of Brand Storytelling

30. Customer Personas
The Fundamentals of Brand Storytelling

32. Have a Good
About Us Page
2

34. ● Who are you?
○ Personal bios
○ Company history
● Why are you doing this?
○ Your story
● What makes you different?
○ Why not your competitor?
About Us Page
Creating Trust in You and Your People

35. Credibility
and PR
3

36. Credibility and PR
Proof You Are What You Say You Are

37. Social
Proof
4

38. Social Proof
People Trust Other People
● Reviews
○ 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business
● User generated content
○ Businesses are making $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer
marketing
○ 70% of millennial consumers are influenced by the
recommendations of their peers in buying decisions
○ 30% of consumers are more likely to buy a product recommended
by a non-celebrity blogger.

39. Social Proof
People trust other people

40. Social Proof
People trust other people
Input
● 81 influencers
● 167 pieces of content, and more
than 162 Instagram stories
Output
● 70,000 direct engagements
● 507,909 total impressions
● Reach of 1.5 million people

41. Meet Expectations
5

42. Give People What They’re
Looking For

43. Meet Expectations
Give People What They’re Looking For
● Give people what they’re looking for
● Anticipation and personalization
○ If someone always orders vegetarian pizza, send them a
note when it’s your special

44. Implement SSL
6

45. Implement SSL
You Just Have To
● Keeps data secure between servers
● Increases your Google rankings
● Builds/enhances customer trust
● Improves conversion rates

46. Be
Consistent
7

47. ● Consistency builds trust
● Purchasing is more an emotional decision than a practical one —
first contact isn’t always first impression
● Every encounter should count and be positive — website, ads,
social, sales, blog, phone, webinar, etc.
● Consistency makes you recognizable and trustworthy
Provide a Consistent Customer
Experience

51. Be Authentic
8

52. ?
?

53. ?
?

54. Scarecrow

56. Have a Site
That’s
Easy to
Navigate
9

58. Social
Media
10

59. Social Media
Be Active, Be Engaged
● Help others out on social media
● Respond to comments in your social media feeds, and on
posts that you publish online
● Publish posts and be active in your community

60. To Sum It Up
Ways to Increase Trustworthiness
1. Content
2. About us page
3. Credibility and PR
4. Social proof
5. Meet expectations
6. Implement SSL
7. Be consistent
8. Be authentic
9. Have a site that’s easy to navigate
10. Be active and engaged on social media

61. Similar to a plot, your story has to have elements that captivate a viewer.
1. Hook
a. Why should they care? Grab attention right away.
2. Problem
a. Explain the problem you are solving
3. Resolution
a. Explain how you solve that problem
4. CTA
a. At the end of each story should be a call-to-action. On something like an
Instagram post, this can be implicit. On a website or blog, it should be
explicit — likely am actual button
Telling Your Story
The Fundamentals of Brand Storytelling