The idea of bringing a certified badge to a website isn’t new. Badges on websites from TRUSTe, VeriSign and McAffee are commonplace on sites to certify that the site is secure. But Y Combinator-backed startup Enernetics are hoping to make these badges more mainstream with Trustmarker. Trustmarker allows anyone to create and implement a “trustmark” on a site that can be used to denote a relationship, distinction or certification. For example, on Trustmarker’s homepage, there is a Y Combinator mark at the bottom of the page to denote that it was incubated at YC.
The idea behind Trustmarker was born at Enernetics’ C02Stats, which measured how green a website or service was and created a stamp of approval for an energy-friendly site. Trustmarker allows any organization to create a branded Trustmark that can be embedded on a site easily. The Trustmark is hyperlinked, so the owner can generate traffic to their site, access analytics of who is clicking on their site, and can control who can show their Trustmark. Owners can also earn money by charging licensing fees to use a Trustmark.
Sites simply embed the Trustmark with a line of Javascript. For the sites who display a Trustmark, the startup offers analytics on how the mark helps their visitor engagement and conversion rates through integrated A/B testing. Sites can also customize the appearance of the Trustmark to match their site.
For now, the ability to create and use a Trustmarker is free but the startup plans to add a premium version of the service in the future. Trustmarker’s technology is compelling and easy on any business’ wallet. Offhand, I can think of a number of real world examples of how Trustmarker’s technology can be used as a cost-effective way for a blog, review site, or conference to bring a certification or distinction to a business’ site. And the certifier gets traffic, for free. Seems like a win-win situation to me.