Can I Contact You?

The internet is an odd beast. It can provide extreme accessibility and still provide (almost) complete anonymity. That’s okay for most people, especially if you are very respectful and/or worried about your family’s privacy. But at some point, you need to let down the iron curtain.

You need to have your contact information, visible and prominent.

I have heard from professional bloggers, PR reps, and blogger liaisons that one of their biggest frustrations is the ability to quickly and easily find your contact information. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

I took a look at all three of my sites (including this one) to determine how easy it would be for someone who didn’t know me to contact me. On this site? Not very easily. I had overlooked one of the most basic principles for connecting with others. I do publish my email address. I am on Twitter and Facebook. But when someone wants to work with me, I want them to be able to write an email or pick up the phone. This is my business and that makes sense.

As a result, I went in search of the best means of providing communication channels. Let’s look at my own sites as an example.

all.things.fadra

It’s a personal blog where I literally write about whatever is on my mind. Sometimes it’s something that makes me laugh. Sometimes it’s something that makes me cry. Other times, it’s just fun and maybe informational. I do get contacted by brands from time to time through email.

On this site, I’ve added a page called Contact. It includes links to my email, Twitter, Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, and About.me page. It includes my full name (my choice) but excludes my phone number. I also made sure that my Social Media icons were simple and accessible. I’ve included the icon for my Gmail account. A one click way to send me an email.

AndNobodyToldMe.com

I also co-manage a site of contributing writers, all mothers with different stories confessing the things that nobody told them about motherhood. Rarely do we get contacted by brands. We primarily get contacted by women (and some men) who are interested in contributing.

Most people will contact me or my partner directly on Twitter since it’s a fairly well-known partnership. We intermix our personal Twitter accounts and the site’s Twitter account. We do, however, still provide a Contact page with links to our email, Twitter, and Facebook page. We also have a fill-in form on this page, just below the fold. Also, notice the large social media icons providing quick links to our active accounts and our email (envelope).

Social Dialect

Finally, take a look around here, at Social Dialect. There have probably been some changes since you were last here. I realized that here, on my business site, I had failed to make my contact information quickly and easily accessible.

Since this is a WordPress-powered site, I asked around for a good plug-in to use. Some of the recommendations I got included: Contact Me, Fast Secure Contact Form, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, and Custom Contact Forms.

In the end, I chose the Contact Me solution. It allowed me to create a button on the side of the website that provides a pop-up contact form. It also automatically added a Contact page for me. I was able to customize the appearance of the form (including my email, phone, and other social media profiles). I was also able to integrate the same form into my Facebook page.

So what’s the right solution for you? You decide, but I recommend a few things:

• Visit your site (or ask a friend/colleague) and see how quickly and easily your contact information can be found.
• Don’t make a contact form the only way someone can access you. If you are worried about spam, there are other protections you can use to keep your email from getting spammed.
• Test your links! It’s important to make sure the links to your email and all your accounts actually work correctly.
• If you have nothing else on your site, make your email address easy to find!!

Since I put my own blogs to the test, I thought I’d put a few more out there to the same test. I went to my Twitter stream and picked a few bloggers at random and clicked through to their sites to see how easily I could contact them.

Blog #1: Contact Me tab was visible and easy to find. When I click on it, it launched an email client with the email address populated. Not my favorite method but acceptable.

Blog #2: Link from Twitter went directly to the Contact Me page. This blogger means business! Warm message along with email address and a bolded statement with a link to download her media kit. Unfortunately, the link didn’t work.

Blog #3: No immediate contact information found. This is a more prominent blogger. Her email address is interspersed in her About page. It’s also included in a footer as one way to Connect with this blogger. It’s subtle but accessible. More appropriate for her level of blogging.

Blog #4: A templated site included a Contact Me option in the tabs. When clicking on it, she includes a business and personal email, Twitter information, and Facebook information.

Blog #5: A simple site with posts, About Me, and Contact. She’s particular in her wording about who she wants contacting her and for what reasons. She’s doesn’t want spammers and instead, chooses to spell out her email address, commonly accepted choice.

Take a look at your site through external eyes. Can I contact you? Through what methods? And do they work?

I’d love to hear if you passed the test or have suggestions of your own to share.

Tagged as: contact information, contact page, making yourself accessible, social media icons