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How do I make a new business website trustworthy before I have reviews?

By Adam Collins, Founder, 3Fold Labs

"No reviews yet, and a customer deciding." over a house with siding and a window against a blue sky, with a phone showing a Hearth & Ridge Remodeling page with licensed and insured badges, project photos, the owner's direct line and a sample street address.

Short answer

A new business website earns trust before reviews by making you easy to verify: your real name and photo, your license number with a link to the public lookup, a verified Google Business Profile, real job photos, a written process, and accurate insurance wording. Never fill the gap with fake, bought, or family reviews.

What makes a website trustworthy when you have no reviews yet?

Things a visitor can check, and honesty about being new. The Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility, long-standing research from 2002, start with "make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site," show that a real organization is behind it, and make it easy to contact you.

Google's helpful-content guidance says trust comes from "clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site," and "of these aspects, trust is most important."

I'll be plain: 3Fold Labs is new and has no reviews either. Everything on this page is what I'm doing on my own site.

What can you show instead of reviews?

Specifics. Vague claims like "quality work, fair prices" read the same on every site. Specifics don't:

  • Your name and photo. A real owner, not a stock "team."
  • Real job photos with short captions: what the job was and where.
  • Your process, step by step, from first call to final walkthrough (more on what a contractor website should include).
  • Your license number, and accurate insurance wording that says what you actually carry.
  • Your service area, named plainly.
  • What changes the price, if you don't publish prices.
Before and after: vague claims and a stock team, vs your name and photo, job photos, process, license and insurance, service area and price factors.
Before you have reviews, show the specifics a visitor can check instead.
Specifics don't.

A website that proves you're real is mostly these pieces done well: Websites.

How can visitors verify you're real?

Give them records they can check without trusting you:

  • License lookup. In Florida, DBPR runs a public lookup that shows license type, number, status, expiration, and city. Florida's statute 489.119(5)(b) also requires the license number in advertising "regardless of medium." Check your state's rules.
  • Business registration. Florida's Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) lets anyone search corporation, LLC, and fictitious name records by name. Check your state's business registry.
  • A verified Google Business Profile. Google says verification "tells Google that you're authorized to represent the business."
  • Consistent details. The same business name, phone, and service area on your site and every listing.
  • The basics. HTTPS, a working phone number, and no typos or broken links. Stanford's guidelines say "typographical errors and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine."
Checklist to be verifiable: license lookup link, business registration, verified Google Business Profile, consistent details, and HTTPS, no typos.
These are records a visitor can check for themselves; the examples here are from Florida, so check your state's rules.
Give them records they can check without trusting you.

What should you never do to fill the gap?

Fake it. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) took effect 10/21/2024 and lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations. When the FTC announced it on 08/14/2024, it said the rule bans, among other things:

  • Fake reviews, "such as AI-generated fake reviews," or reviews from people with no real experience
  • Buying positive or negative reviews
  • Certain undisclosed reviews from insiders
  • Buying fake followers or views

Google's guidance adds that made-up names, "AI-generated headshots," and false credentials on author or team pages are deception. Skip borrowed logos and invented stats too. This is not legal advice; check your state's rules and the FTC's own Q&A.

Quote from the post: Saying you're new, with real specifics, reads better than borrowed credibility. Never fill the gap with fake reviews.
Fake reviews are banned under the FTC's rule, and being honest about being new is the better trade.
Never fill the gap with fake, bought, or family reviews.

Can you offer a discount for a review, or ask family to leave one?

For Google, no. The FTC and Google draw the line in different places, and Google's line is stricter.

Table of FTC rule vs Google review policies on incentives for any review, for positive reviews, family reviews and asking only happy customers.
Google's review rules are stricter than the FTC rule, so keep it simple: no incentives and no family reviews.
Google's line is stricter.

Swipe sideways to see every column.

FTC rule (16 CFR Part 465)Google review policies
Incentive for any reviewNot banned by the rule if there's no sentiment condition; disclosure still needed under the FTC Act, per FTC staffNot allowed: no incentives "such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services" for any review
Incentive for a positive reviewBanned (465.4), including implied conditionsBanned
Reviews from familyAllowed with clear disclosure, per FTC staffRemoved as conflict of interest ("familial relationships")
Asking only happy customersNo specific ban, but "could violate the FTC Act"Not allowed ("selectively solicit positive reviews")

Checked 10/20/2026. Details change; check the source.

Something can be fine under the FTC rule and still get reviews removed on Google. Keep it simple: no incentives and no family reviews. If you run intro pricing, keep it fully separate from any review request.

How do you get your first real reviews the right way?

Ask every customer, after every job, the same way. Google suggests sending your review link or a QR code and replying to reviews (more on how Google reviews affect AI recommendations). It also says "a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy."

  • First, finish the job and do the walkthrough.
  • Then, send your Google review link by text that day.
  • Ask everyone, not just the customers you think are happy.
  • Reply to every review, good or bad.
Flow: finish the job and walkthrough, text your Google review link that day, ask everyone, and reply to every review, good or bad.
Google suggests sending your review link and replying to reviews, and says a mix of feedback often feels more trustworthy.
Ask every customer, after every job, the same way.

Setting up a verified profile and review link is part of search visibility work: Getting found on Google and in AI answers.

Should you put reviews on your website once you have them?

Yes, for visitors, with two cautions. Google says a business showing reviews about itself, including through an embedded Google or Facebook widget, isn't eligible for star results in Google (see website vs Google Business Profile and Facebook). And FTC staff say a business that puts testimonials on its own website "is disseminating them," so it can be liable if they're fake or false. Show real ones, and don't expect stars.

How 3Fold Labs helps

If you'd rather not assemble those pieces yourself, that's the kind of site I build: one that explains your business clearly, shows what you do and where, and makes it easy to get in touch. You and I agree on the deliverables and cost before work begins. It won't replace reviews, but it gives a new customer enough to check you out.

Here's more on websites built to get calls.

FAQ

Is it OK to say my business is new?

Yes. Saying you're new, with real specifics, reads better than borrowed credibility.

Should I put a trust badge on my site?

Only one that links to something real, like your license lookup. I found no primary source on badges increasing calls, so I won't claim they do.

How many reviews do I need before people trust me?

I don't have a sourced number, and I won't invent one.

Sources

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