If you are in an online business with your own web site, it would help greatly to build an online community with your visitors. The pathway to a good online community is to build trust in your visitors, your future customers. Here's a simple formula to get you started.

Sweep the "front walk" each day as you begin work. On your site check for "broken links" (links that don't go where you intended for them to go) and fix them. Test your opening page's load time. Remove or reduce any images that seem to slow it down. (Reducing images is a matter of having a service analyze your site for images it can cut down in number of bites. A good source for this is Spinwave Image Crunchers, http://www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html.)

Ensure your visitors' return. Spot-check your copy for errors that may have escaped you previously. Freshen your copy regularly and somewhere on your page promise weekly updates. Insert a "this site last updated [date]" statement and keep it current.

Provide interactivity to your visitors-ways for them to communicate with you. The two easiest methods are a simple "comments" email link and an online survey. There are several sites that write interactive forms for just a link back to their site. The one I use on my site is Freedback.com, http://www.freedback.com.

Respond to your prospects as they write in. Answer each email or send a thank you for each survey responded to with a personal email of your own. Personalize any and all outgoing communication. You may even add a personal touch to auto responder messages. Let your customers know you are there to help. If your product is the solution to their desire, all's the better. But if you need to refer them elsewhere, don't be afraid to find where to send them and do so. Your reputation as an honest, sincere businessperson will grow as a result.

When you make sales, be sure and thank your customer personally for their purchase. Here's a great opportunity to make "back-end" sales. Offer them coupons or special prices on your other products. Ask for questions or concerns and a testimonial from your customer. They will no doubt tell others about you and your high level of trust.

These are just a few steps on the pathway to online community and trust. As your knowledge and skills improve, no doubt you will learn more about this topic. But do look for ways to foster trust in your prospects and customers. In so doing relationships with them develop that will improve your online efforts over and over.