When someone shows their trust in us, we tend to trust them in return. This neat psychological truism has been (mis)applied by con artists for generations... and can work equally well on your website.

Just to demonstrate how it works, let's first consider the dark side: how you might — if you were a con artist — use this technique to steal a camera while on a tropical holiday. Eight easy steps:

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Over the past couple of years, I've been shifting my focus from creating sites that are merely "usable" to creating sites that actually motivate visitors to take action. In other words, to persuasive web design. From "can do" to "will do".

A great primer in the field is Dr. Susan Weinschenk's book, "Neuro Web Design: What Makes them Click?" An absolutely fascinating read, the book opens with the concept that we actually have three brains:

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Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of making the user experience a core value. Today I'd like to discuss another shift in mindset that must occur before a user-centered web design process can succeed.

Design and development of a modern website is too complex a task to just "pull out of the air" and get right the first time. No matter how clever and well trained your team is, there are simply too many elements to consider (many of which, including user expectations, are in a constant state of flux).

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For years, I believed my mission as a usability professional was to act as a user advocate. In fact, "User Champion" was once part of my official job title. At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, I now believe this concept is wrong-headed.

If you position yourself as an advocate for the user, you will often encounter resistance from the development team. They don't want to change course just because some self-proclaimed "user advocate" believes certain changes are necessary. They may not be convinced you're right; they may believe that they themselves know what customers really want. And they'll push back.

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If you're serious about bringing usability practices into your organization, there's something you need to know before you even get started.

To succeed, you're going to have to shift the core belief system of your organization. If you can't pull this off, you'll encounter resistance at every turn, and your project is destined for failure.

Below are some of the fundamental shifts that must occur before a true user-centered web design process can succeed.

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Even die-hard web usability zealots agree that being easy to use is just a starting point. To be truly effective, a website must also be beautiful, inspiring and (in most cases) persuasive. But very few people are experts in usability, graphic design and marketing. That's why:

• Usability professionals tend to make designs that are easy to use, but very conventional and uninspiring.
• Art directors and graphic artists tend to make designs that are beautiful and innovative, but hard to use because they don't work they way users expect.
• Traditional marketing folk (who are usually the most knowledgeable about marketing strategies and the psychology of persuasion) often know little about usability or graphic design... and can't make either type of web site!

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In a recent project, a client asked me whether I'd recommend getting rid of his Site Map. We had just conducted a series of user tests, and the client noticed that not a single subject ever looked at the Site Map. Not even when they were hopelessly lost.

Following the "less is more" principle of design, he argued, didn't it make sense to eliminate rarely-used features like Site Maps?

Though I understood his position, I strongly recommended he retain his Site Map. Here's why:

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When you come up with a web design or marketing concept, how do you know if it's any good? You're too close to it to be impartial.

You can ask your friends and coworkers. But they're probably too close to it too. Plus, they might try to spare your feelings and not tell you that your concept is obviously flawed.

Web design and concept development can be a lonely business. Especially for small to medium-sized concerns. Wouldn't it be great if you could get impartial opinions and advice from outside design professionals?

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Unsure why more visitors aren't converting? Want to know more about designing landing pages? Enjoy laughing maniacally while bending people to your will?

…Yeah, us too.

After the success of our last course on online persuasion, we're putting it on once again. On Thursday, January 28th, we're hosting Michael Straker's The Art and Science of Online Persuasion: How to Get Your Visitors to ACT. Read on below for more info:

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Web users tend to scan content (usually in an "F" pattern) rather than read it word-by-word. So we must present the most pertinent information where they're most likely to see it: right at the beginning.

Last week, I touched on how this principle applies to Title Tags. But really, it applies just about everywhere:

• Main Navigation
• Secondary Navigation
• Product Categories and Subcategories
• Menu Items
• Title Tags
• Page Titles
• Headline and Subheads
• Bullet Points
• Lists
• First sentences of paragraphs
• FAQs
• Inline Links

Below are several tips on how to make your meaning clear to users in the fewest possible words.

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