Iss Views is proud to announce that we have been accepted into Web Of Trust as a ‘Friend of WOT‘. An achievement I feel has been well deserved and earned. This status is only granted to those that have maintained an Excellent reputation, been a valued contributor to the WOT community, promotes a safe Internet and has pride in their service.
So, what does this mean for us and our visitors?
Well, it shows that we have achieved a level of trust with WOT and have their confidence in all that we do, which should give you peace of mind when accessing and using our site.
Ok you say, what exactly is WOT and how does it work?
Web Of Trust (WOT Services Ltd.) which is based in Helsinki, Finland, was started back in July 2006 as a means for Internet Users to assess the integrity of a website before they visit it.
This was accomplished by developing a rating tool that could be used by everyone on the Internet allowing them to add their own input and be able to access a site reputation scorecard. This tool was designed around a ‘traffic light system’ using circular icons where green shows a good site, yellow as indifferent and red as bad sites. One more was added using a grey colour to show a site that has yet to be assessed. These ratings would be applied in four different areas of a site’s scorecard reflecting trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy and child safety which would contribute to a sites overall rating which works the same way. (see picture on the right)
The WOT add-on runs on a variety of browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.), system platforms (Windows (all), Linux and Mac OS), and was made to be light on computer resources, easy to use and configure and helpful in determining good from bad sites when surfing, searching for sites (as shown in the image on the left) or using online mail.
When visiting a site that has been rated red, users are presented with a warning (as shown on the right) detailing what the problems are. You are then given the chance to view the scorecard to see more details on the site concerned, ignore the warning and simply proceed to the site or close the window and leave. The WOT add-on can even be configured with ease from your browser, to block sites rated red.
This is such a well designed and thought-out tool, I would not personally be without it when browsing the Internet. It has helped me avoid many a bad site and left me questioning some sites I regarded as safe. Because it was such an asset to me, I showed my appreciation by helping to add to the extremely large volume of sites that are already recorded in the database which is growing in numbers daily. I even took the liberty of regularly contributing to the WOT community forums too.
So, I see it benefits you and Internet users but what else does WOT provide?
Well, for a start it offers Trust badges in 3 levels. I will go through each one in turn:
Friends Badge (Free )
This is a Free Friends Badge that you can download and display on your site. Visitors will be able to see, at a glance, that you are a member of the WOT community and host a site that can be trusted. This will help generate more faith in your site than those that don’t use it, as you show support for WOT’s goal to boost trust on the web. This is perfect for forums or blogs that do not do any e-commerce.
WOT Reputation Badge (Small yearly fee)
This is an upgraded version of the Free Friends Badge. Ideal for small e-commerce sites on a low budget which shows that your site can be trusted and can generate an increase in sales.
Trust Seal (Monthly Fee)
This Trust Seal is caters more for larger websites which have 1000s of visitors a day and run high e-commerce sites. This seal can give you the edge over competitors and generate as much as an 11% increase in sales. When you join you get: Wot Seals to place on your website, A WOT Trust Certificate with your current WOT ratings and Reputation alerts to inform you of changes in your ratings.
This sounds good but I am not sure yet is it is right for me.
What is there to be unsure about? I feel that this is a tool that no surfer or site should be without. I have explained its use, benefits and advantages. It is down to you to decide whether you use it or not BUT I would say think hard and long before you dismiss this as you may live to regret that decision.
Ok, you have convinced me, how do I get this excellent software?
Quite easy really. Download the WOT add-on or take a closer look at the WOT Website and maybe even peruse the WOT Forum while you are there. Please do not forget to pass comment and rate Iss Views scorecard. 
