[thelist] Do SSL and Visa/MC Seals Help?

[Fred Jones]

A certain marketing person has suggested to my client that he should
put seals/logos of Visa and Mastercard and his SSL provider on his
hosting site. This person says it adds "third party credibility."

I Googled for this and all I can find is opinions. Most seem to
suggest, "It may help and why not do it?" and only a few note that it
may detract from a site design. I personally never look nor care for
such logos, but I'm a web guy so I just look for https. In fact, in my
opinion, an SSL seal detracts from a site and makes it look less
professional. But perhaps that's just me.

You certainly don't see Visa/MC/SSL seals on HostGator or MonsterHost
nor on Amazon, however. I understand that those sites may be
inherently trusted because people know their names, but anyhow you
still see that the big boys don't use these seals/logos.

I look forward to any thoughts or actual studies regarding this.

Thanks.