This post is just as applicable to a nonprofit as to a business.

from Smart Blog on Social Media:

Does your business look trustworthy online?

A recent survey found that 75% of Web users admit to making judgments about the credibility of a company based on the appearance of its website, said Tiffany Jonas, president of Aio Design, during her presentation, “Building Online Credibility: Dos and Don’ts for Small Businesses,” on June 11 at the National Association of Women Business Owners‘ 2010 Women’s Business Conference in Washington, D.C.

Moreover, researchers have found that 50 milliseconds is the average amount of time it takes a Web user to judge a website’s visual design. That means it doesn’t matter how strong your content is – if your website looks shady, most people aren’t going to stick around long enough to read even one word of it.

If that’s not a reason to make sure your website looks trustworthy, then I don’t know what is.

The first step to looking trustworthy online, said Jonas, is being there in the first place. Nowadays, if people look for your company online and don’t find it, they will think it isn’t legitimate and won’t likely go any further.

Even if you have a site, plenty of design mistakes can send up red flags in the minds of Web users, explained Jonas.