Achieving Credibility on the internet, Is it all about Aesthetics?

Achieving credibility on the internet is just as complicated than achieving credibility in person. In a way however, achieving credibility between the two are very similar.  A Stanford study by Stanford Web Credibility Research  found that design of a website had the highest affect on credibility. Aesthetics are very important when it comes to websites. This applies to the real world because if you do not look presentable or like you "fit" whatever job or idea you are presenting, it's much harder to gain an audiences trust. If I saw a person dressed as bozo the clown discussing astrophysics, I would be very confused.  Table 1 below shows other parts of a digital website that affect its credibility. The actual content of the website including motive of the company and information are the next important part.  In the grand scheme of things, Aesthetics superficially of the website and the way content is presented are important in a consumers experience with a website. 

        
(Fogg et al., 2003). 

I think it's worth pointing out that at this point in time, this study is indeed a little dated. I would argue that it is still relevant because the extent to which we use the internet has changed, but we still prefer websites that look clean, professional, have good content, and are easy to read. 

If  would like to reference the full article,

Fogg, B.J., Soohoo, C., Danielson, D.R., Marable, L., Standford, J., & Tauber, E.R. (2003) How do users evaluate the credibility of Web Sites? A study with over 2,500 participants. Proceedings of DUXU2003, Designing for User Experiences Conference.